Carnet de Passage
Do I need the Carnet de Passage to travel through Africa?
The short answer to this question is 'Yes', but there are quite some considerations to be made, demanding a longer answer. But first:
What is the 'Carnet de Passage'
In short, the carnet de Passage is a document issued by automobile assosiations to allow the temporal importation of private vehicles into foreign countries. In practical terms, the Carnet de Passage is a document accepted in many countries (mostly undeveloped countries) as a guarantee that you will not sell your car, once you are inside the country, without paying taxes.
The way it works, you first pay a bond or provide some kind of bank guarantee to your national automobile association that will issue your carnet de passage. the document has many pages (typically 10 or 25). Each pages has an entry slip and an exit slip. whenever you enter a new country where the carnet is required or accepted, at the customs office at the port of entry, you get an 'entry stamp' on your entry slip. Then, When you leave the country, you need to be very careful and make sure you get stamped the corresponding exit slip on that page. If you don't you are in trouble, because that country's customs office will not have any record the vehicle left the country with you. More accurately, you will not be able to prove you left that country with your car. In other words, you will not have valid proof you did not sell your car (without paying import taxes) while you were in that country. Even if you continue your journey and eventually get another entry stamp for your car's carnet de passage, it will not suffice as proof you did not sell your car. The customs office of the country you left without getting an exit stamp, will be able to start a claim against you. It may still be possible to explain the carnet de passage issuer you still have your car, but claim processing charges will be deducted from your bond. Moreover, now that your carnet de passage has a missing exit stamp, your bond will not be released for many years. In Spain, the royal spanish Automobile Club will hold on to your bond for 7-10 years). Also in Spain, the bank guarantee we had to provide was 3000 euros. Even worse, if we are not able to cancel our bank guarantee at the end of the year the carnet de passage is valid for, we have to pay 240 euros to the bank every year before the bond is released.
With all this in mind, it really makes sense to consider if it is possible at all going without the carnet de passage. Actually, I need to admit, I am not totally sure it is strictly required and you would not be able to make it without it. It became clear it would be safer, as it would save potential problems, so we ended up getting the carnet de passage. However, in most countries (if not all), at most borders, we had to ask, insist and explain (what and how) we needed the carnet stamped. We did it to avoid problems in case we get asked for it at some checkpint inside the country. there were quite some countries where nobody really knew anything, but in some others, we were occasionally asked for the carnet at a checkpoint.
It is, however, possible to argue they would ask for the carnet the same way they would ask 'you' (rich white man) for ten other documents: with the exclusive motivation of finding or pretending to find some issue that may inspire you to offer some bribe to sort it out. For example, they will ask you (rich white man) for car insurance. You may wonder how many drivers have car insurance in, say, cameroon? Then, why is it that they are so terribly concerned you may not have an insurance? Clearly, they hope they will be able to pint out and scare you thinking you do not have car insurance. Whatever you show or say, they will tell you it is not valid in their country and ask you: "hmmm, this is a problem, so... what are you going to do now? At this point, it becomes a matter of how strong you are. You may even show them a fake document, but state with firm voice your insurance is 100% valid, they will certainly not call anybody to verify the information. It is true
it is a bit more tricky to argue you are still complying with the law, even if you cannot show the required carnet the passage. At this point, you have a few options: you can simply avoid those few countries where it is actually required, or try to get a laissez-passer, Alternatively, go on a case-by/case basis and sort out the issue offering some little money whenever it happens: it would certainly add quite a bit of stress to your trip, but still save you a significant amount of money. Again, the carnet de passage is quite expensive: we paid about 300 euros to the Spanish automobile association issueing the carnet and about 300 + 300 euros to the bank issueing the bank guarantee of payment.
In what countries is the carnet de passage required?
in Western Africa, only in Senegal it seemed clear the carnet de passage was required. In Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin you can just get a laissez-passer (and pay a small fee that should be well under 50€). In nigeria, at the borders, they have barely heard anything about the carnet and we had to explain how to fill it out and process it. inside the country, at the checkpoints, it was not an issue either. In Cameroon they were familiar at the border with the carnet de passage. Inside the country, the carnet was one of the many documents they will usually demand. Cameroon being the African country where we found the most corrupt police, it comes without saying that they were asking for the carnet hoping to get some money in the case you did not have it. I still do not think the carnet de passage is required in Cameroon. You may very well be able to get a laissez-passer for Cameroon (we never asked since we had the carnet). Gabon is second, after Cameroon, in our ranking of African countries with the worst police officers. Therefore, all the statements made in this regard for Cameroon, apply for Gabon as well. In Congo Brazzaville and Congo Kinshasa, I would not expect problems traveling without carnet. In Angola it is not required, as no police officer will have any clue what that document was. Finally, in Namibia, at the border they were not very familiar with the carnet, but we were asked for it at some checkpoints. Now, Namibia is not as corrupt as Cameroon, so I do not know how it had gone if we had not had the carnet. I suspect it may be possible to get a laissez-passer at the border, if you do not bring a carnet de passage.
