Iraq

January 1^st 2023

Abadan, Iran – Basra, Iraq – Kuwait

Miles: 120 (200km)

Miles total: 15’340 (24’700km)

Basra and the border crossings in detail

Basra:

Our short trip through Iraq. Before we go, to by far the most chaotic border crossing of all our trips so far, here are our impressions of the city of Basra.

Compared to Iran, there seems to be a little more money available. You can see this next to the civilian cars, also on the police cars. The police in Iraq sit in new Toyotas while in Iran the chief of police still drives around in an old Peugeot. The infrastructure also seems to be a little better and individual housing estates are evidence of a little more financial resources. Nevertheless, miserable houses, rubbish, ruins and junk cars are omnipresent. Iraq appears to be more male-dominated than Iran. In contrast to Iran, practically only men work at the border crossings. Then there is the security situation. A heavy police and military presence can be seen in Iraq. Military with bulletproof vests and armored vehicles are not uncommon. We don't know whether this presence is generally so high, or just at the moment because of the "Gulf Cup" soccer championship that takes place in Basra.

The people themselves are generally friendly, but we felt a little more welcome in Iran.

We drive towards the metropolis of Basra via the modern, huge Shaheed Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr Bridge, which crosses the Shatt Al-Arab River.

It is already 4:30PM and we are looking for a hotel. On the iOverlander app we find a supposedly cheap hotel in the middle of the city. At the reception, we are taught better. $160 per night! The hotels are fully booked because of the soccer championship.

Without further ado, we decide to continue to Kuwait, although we would have liked to spend a day in Basra.

Border crossing Iran – Iraq:

Let's go back 6 weeks. If you come from organized Switzerland, you have the feeling when entering Iran that things could hardly be more chaotic and unorganized. Now we find out that border crossings in Iran feel almost as organized as in Switzerland; if you compare them to those in Iraq!!

10:15AM

Arrival. Departure Iran:

Many trucks and people on foot, but hardly any cars. An Iranian holds up a rope by hand, sees us, lets us pass, leans back and pulls the rope back up.

We drive a few hundred yards (meters), past individual buildings, to a building that is right on our way. Our visas are stamped there without any problems. Back at the Iveco, the friendly, uniformed Iranians tell us: "Now go to that building over there, Custom". We drive back, but see no customs building. We park, go in somewhere, ask where the right building is, a man accompanies us 50 yards (meters) and we are in the customs building. The Carnet de Passage (customs document for the vehicle) is stamped without any problems, a few sheets of paper are filled out and the nice woman examines the vehicle and the chassis number. The woman says: "Continue to Gate 3". We drive off to the only big gate we can find. We don't find any sign with "Gate 3" anywhere. Once again someone checks the Carnet de Passage and our stamped visas. We end up in a parking lot that is as big as several football fields. The square is full of trucks and we feel completely lost. We look for an exit and a Kuwaiti with his car follows us. We're like "ah good, we seem to be right" and he's like "ah they know where it goes through" but the truth is, everyone's confused cruising around. Finally, we find an exit (gravel road) and land directly at the Iran-Iraq border gate. Everything done quickly and easily!

11:00AM

We have to park the vehicle on the Iranian side and walk to the Iraqis. We go to the first office. Nobody speaks English! One takes our passports, is confused, waits 5 minutes, sees a colleague and tells him to take us with him. We go a few hundred meters, and he tells another one to take us further. This takes us into an alley full of barracks. Apparently, no one knows what to do with us. Complete unawareness of the employees, that's how it seems to us. We end up in an office in one of the barracks. This employee, in a long robe, finally calls someone over the phone who can speak some English. He explains to us that today (New Year's Day) is a holiday and he is not sure whether we can enter the country. But at the moment the employees are asleep anyway, and we should come back in an hour!

11:30AM

A few Iranians are standing back at the Iveco, fill out a slip and we drive 30 feet (10m) to the other side of the steel gate. Now the Iveco is also on Iraqi soil.

11:40AM

Wait an hour, cook and eat a soup and see the Iranian and Iraqi flags waving side by side out of the window. Is everything going to be okay, we ask ourselves?!

12:30PM

So, we go back to the barracks alley to the rundown office to the only man who speaks a little English. There we meet the elderly Kuwaiti again, whom we met on the Iranian side in the huge "Gate 3" parking lot. We are sent to a nearby barracks office where we hand in the Carnet de Passage and the man uses it to fill out his form. A very lengthy process as he cannot read the Carnet de Passage and is trying to translate with Google Translate! Now the older Kuwaiti is coming and luckily he can help us! He translates for us (especially the unknown car brand Iveco gives the customs officer a hard time) and we finally get a step further.

1PM

Back at the English speaker's office, we have to pay $100 (Temporary Vehicle Entry Fees). A stack of paper slowly develops from copies of our documents and receipts.

1:15PM

Several hundred yards (meters) back (near the Iveco) we go to the immigration office. We wait 5 minutes until someone gives us the form to fill out.

1:25PM

We filled out the documents. Wait.

2PM

Finally, we get our visas. The visa is stuck in the passport, filled out and stamped by the customs officer. Cost: $152.

2:10PM

Back in the container alley where we were an hour ago. Waiting as the staff are at lunch.

2:25PM

Again, we meet the lovely Kuwaiti who, like us, is trying to travel on. We go to one of the offices (in barracks). Now we have to pay $50 but we don't really have a clue for what. Something is copied again and the stack of paper grows.

2:45PM

Back to the vehicle with lots of paper. The Iraqi customs officer takes a quick look at our mobile home.

3PM

And back to the container lane. We're starting to know our way around the customs area :-). Waiting. All papers are copied three times and the Carnet de Passage is stamped (lowest section is not separated. Wrong handling actually!)

3:15PM

Hand in papers at an office next to the Iveco. In contrast to Iran, individual customs officers are not particularly friendly here. The vehicle is briefly examined again. One of the three stacks of papers is passed on. General confused standing around and chatting with the partly Iranian-unfriendly Iraqi customs officers.

3:45PM

We're finally leaving. At the penultimate checkpoint, the two other stacks of paper (copies of our documents with many signatures and a few stamps on them) are checked. We get in and could drive off. But we have to keep one of the stacks (with original receipts)?! We get out again and ask for one of the stacks back.

4PM

Finally go! The last barrier, where the passports are checked again. We can pass and we are finally in Iraq.

What an ordeal! 5 hours 45 minutes! 5 hours of it with the Iraqis!

Border crossing Iraq – Kuwait:

6PM

It is already dark when we arrive at the Iraqi border post. Once, out of the city (By the way, Basra is the second largest city in Iraq), the traffic lessened and we managed the 40 miles (70km) on the very good motorway quite "quickly".

We can pass the first barrier quickly, the officials are very friendly. Shortly thereafter we are stopped again. A few men are sitting around a small fire, none are wearing uniforms. Looks kind of dubious for a border post... Two jump up and want some papers from us. Nobody speaks English. We hand them our Iraqi customs documents, one of them takes a quick look, then clings to our window and tells us to drive off. Everything goes very fast, we can hardly keep up. After driving a few meters, we understand that these men are “border helpers”. We stop, ask for our documents back and tell the man hanging at our window that we don't want any help. Completely amazed and not at all pleased, but without further discussion, he lets go of us. Now we drive rather aimlessly over the rather dark, not very busy customs area. Past a cluster of shack offices similar to this morning's. We're feeling awkward... Finally, we're standing in front of an illuminated gate (exit gate!), where some uniformed men are standing around. We show them our documents and there is already a short vehicle search. But soon they notice that we haven't completed any formalities and send us to the barracks offices! Now the mess starts! In the only office where something is written (in Arabic), we stick our customs documents in. The officer takes a quick look at our papers and sends us to the right with a wave of his hand. It's not easy to find the right one among the 20 or so offices if nothing is written on any doors. In addition, most of them don't have windows, so you can't even see if anyone is in the barracks at all. To make matters worse, there are almost no other people here at this time of the day. On the way, we meet our Kuwaiti friend again, but he seems somehow stressed and doesn't want to/can't help us anymore. We walk around confused and see someone disappear into one of the barracks. Go after him! But here, too, we are obviously wrong. The young man in a long robe and coat, whom we followed, only says: "pay money". He doesn't speak much more English. We go outside with him, where some Kuwaitis are waiting in their car for a document. They help us with translation: we should pay the young man 20 dollars and he will help us to do the formalities. Trying this alone would be a waste of time. We're getting on our nerves and tired! We scrape together our last small dollar bills, as well as the remaining Iraqi dinars (received as a reward upon entry) and hand them over to the rather harsh man named Ali (about 12$ in total). We walk with him back to the first office (really now?), but are immediately sent away. Now he goes to another, slightly brighter area, where he sends Stefan to a tiny office. Now the strangest scene of the day begins. The first thing Stefan hears from the man in the office, in a very unfriendly tone, is: "money, money". Stefan gets back in the car and is about to throw in the beg and try again the next morning. Now Ali steps in. He and Stefan go back to the office, Ali encourages the man, helps him to put a stamp on the back of our documents and dictates to him the details that he has to fill out on an additional piece of paper! The man also demands money from Ali, but with a lot of persuasion and four kisses on the head (no joke!), it's finally possible without payment!!! From the way he speaks and moves, Stefan has the impression that the man in this office is effectively mentally retarded! Even Ali only says "crazy man"! We continue to passport control, where things are quick and orderly. Then again by car back to the barracks offices, first to the copying office, then to the already known offices, where again some stamps and signatures are made on the backs of our documents. Finally, we end up back with the uniformed men at the exit gate. Ali runs into an office with some paper, a police dog sniffs the outside of our car and then we can finally leave the country! It was very turbulent and nerve-wracking, but with the help of Ali it only took us an hour to leave the country. However, it seemed much longer to us!

Arrival Kuwait 7PM:

Now we continue to the Kuwaiti border post, where luckily the officials speak English and are very friendly and helpful! At the passport control we are through in about 10 minutes. We applied for and paid for the visa online in advance. Then it's off to customs, where the procedure somehow takes a long time! There are always waiting times, issuing the vehicle documents is a bit chaotic, then the car has to go through a large X-ray machine and a short vehicle search is carried out. We also have to go back to passport control because the customs officer only issued us a visa for 20 days and not for three months according to the online visa. However, we were informed that here at the border only visas are granted for one month from the date of issue! An extension would only be possible at the airport. The fact that visas are valid from the date of issue and not from the date of entry makes absolutely no sense, but there is nothing we can do here. We'll take care of that later. Last but not least, the chief customs officer would like to see us. We are led into his office, he offers us tea and tells us that he is the proud owner of 60 camels and would like to invite us to his farm. Now that is very unexpected! We really appreciate the offer, but it's already after 9PM and after 10 hours of border procedures, we're a bit tired... We politely decline the offer. It's a pity really, would have been interesting. He lets us enter despite the cancellation ;-). After three hours, we finally made it.

9:45PM

We are in Kuwait! Now we drive about 1 1/2 hours on an unexpectedly bad tar road full of potholes to the edge of Kuwait City. We spend a quiet night in a large parking lot of a shopping center.