Border crossing in Moyale (Kenya/Ethiopia)

Moyale is the only official border post between Kenya and Ethiopia. As a result, customs officials are used to the Carnet de Passage and it is quick and easy to have it stamped on both sides of the border.

Passports are also stamped easily by immigration officials, as long as your Ethiopian visa has been obtained in advance. Visas cannot be organised at the border. They have to be obtained from the Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi (or Khartoum, or elsewhere). We obtained ours in Nairobi and we got them after waiting for only one hour. You will need a copy of your passport, the original, an ID photo, and 20 USD. (It was more expensive for American passports holders). We were given a 3 month visa.

There are two sides to Moyale: Kenyan and Ethiopian. They are only a few hundred meters apart so all the admin work can be done fairly quickly.

Remember to start driving on the RIGHT side of the road on the Ethiopian side. We enjoyed the comfort of the tarred road after the long bumpy road from Isiolo! It is also worth noting that, fuel was quite a bit cheaper in Ethiopia than in Kenya.

There is no ATM in Moyale-Ethiopia, but you will probably be approached by people to change Kenyan shillings, US dollars or Euros, on the black market on both sides of the border. We changed just enough to fill-up our tank and get us through to Awasa, where we knew we could find an ATM.

There is no time difference between Ethiopia and Kenya. Ethiopian time is similar to Swahili time: 7am is the first hour of the day, 7pm is the first hour of the night, 12am is thus 6 o’clock, etc. Ethiopia works on a different calendar - I was a bit surprised when my passport was stamped with a date ending in ‘2001’.

PS: The Customs official will want to know which port of exit you are planning to use. This posed us a bit of problem. Our plan was to go back to Kenya after our visit of Ethiopia through the Omo Valley (famous for its tribes) in Southwest Ethiopia, and Lake Turkana in Northwest Kenya, rather than back through Moyale. We had heard it was possible: there is a road, and even a border post in Omorate on the Ethiopian side. Unfortunately, we were told by the Moyale customs official that there is no Customs office at the Omorate post, and that we had no choice but to come back through Moyale.

We did eventually come back to Kenya through Omorate. See more on the Border crossing Ethiopia/Kenya post.