When it comes to crossing borders in Africa, it helps to have your wits about you. These are some basic guidelines to help make crossing the Lebombo/Ressano Garcia Border Post (also called the Komatipoort Border), go smoothly.
There are also two other popular border crossings from South Africa into Mozambique – Ponta Da Ouro/Kosi Bay at the Kwazulu-Natal South African border, and the Giryondo border post in the Kruger National Park.
Navigating borders can potentially be a stressful experience, especially if you are unprepared to face the bureaucracy. The most important thing is to have all your papers in order. Here is a quick survival guide of tips to help things go easier when crossing the Lebombo/Ressano Garcia Border Post and travelling into Mozambique.
PLEASE NOTE: Border rules are constantly changing – this is a rough guideline.
You may make a declaration on the form provided to the effect that you have nothing to declare in excess of your personal goods, personal effects and that you have no commercial goods, firearms or prohibited and restricted items.
If you are importing any goods into Mozambique, make a full declaration and present your original invoices to the customs official.
You will be required to complete a DA65 Form (often referred to as a TIP – Temporary import permit) at the customs desk for all goods that you are temporarily importing into Mozambique. Typically you would declare the following items:
Remember that if you have declared an item for temporary import you must bring that item back with you when you exit Mozambique. If the customs officials discover that an item is not present you will either have to return to fetch the item or customs will declare the item imported and you will have to pay a fine and the import duty on the item before you leave the country. Your passport will be retained until these requirements have been met.
Remember that your vehicle contents and baggage may be subject to an inspection regardless of the type of declaration that you have made. In general all vehicles and trailers have to be inspected by a customs official on the Mozambican side in order to obtain a signature on your gate pass. This gate pass will be checked by the gate guard to ensure that firstly you have a customs stamp on it and secondly that you have a customs inspector’s signature on it prior to allowing you access into Mozambique.
Goods for which a permit or license is required.
Items which are prohibited or restricted may include the following:
Individual duty-free allowances MZN 5000 per person (Approx R 1500) are allowed monthly in respect of goods imported into Mozambique for your personal and family consumption only. RETAIN slips and present such when making border declaration.
When entering Mozambique you need not declare up to US$ 5,000.00 or the equivalent, in cash or travelers cheques. Above this limit you are required to make a declaration to the customs officials of Mozambique (Alfandegas)
Arrange with your bank that you have enough facility on your credit cards, debit cards or travel cards to cover all your travel expenditure. Local currency can be drawn at most ATM’s in Mozambique bearing the VISA, MasterCard or Maestro logos. Some ATM’s restrict the amount of cash that can be withdrawn per transaction.
It is always safer to obtain cash from an ATM, a registered money changer or a commercial bank. Avoid using the runners at the border post.
After you have left Komatipoort proceed over the Crocodile River bridge, and head up the hill to the Lebombo border post. (approximately 2 kms). This border post is open from 06h00 till 24h00. During the Christmas holiday period, it is expected to be open for 24 hours.
As you approach the border post you will see a gate in front of you (normally open). Proceed slowly through the gate into the border post. Keep left and drive right up to the border control office building. Park your vehicle as close as you can and have the following documents and items ready. Pen, passports (all travelers must report to the passport control officer), and vehicle documents (The information is required to fill in some of the forms) You WILL BE approached at this point by a tout offering you assistance and promising a speedy passage through the Mozambican border. Do not use these people; they are not official (even though it might appear that they have ID tags...) rather do it yourself.
Step 1 - Proceed to the passport control desk (immigration) . The immigration official will require that each person is identified when processing the passports.
Ensure that each passport is stamped
Check that you have all the documents with you that you brought into the border control office.
Step 2 - Leave the Lebombo border post and drive slowly down the hill to the Ressano Garcia border (Mozambique).
Step 1 - The Mozambican gate pass. As you approach the gate between the Lebombo border and Ressano Garcia border, slow down and look out for the gate guard on the Mozambican side. Stop a little short of him so that he may write down your vehicle registration on the gate pass slip and take note of the number of occupants in the car. The guard will hand you the completed gate pass.
Step 2 - Proceed up the hill towards the border control building. The border may be congested and a number of large trucks will be parked up the road in a line. Do not park behind the trucks, pass them on the left or on the right and park on the left as close to the passport control building as possible. At this point you will most probably encounter numerous runners hassling you, offering you passport assistance, the opportunity to change money and generally all types of facilitation services. Ignore all of these offers and courteously decline the services. These guys are persistent and sometimes it feels like mayhem, a lot of fraud occurs at this point!
Step 3 - Third party insurance. If you have not arranged compulsory third party insurance, you will need to do this first. There are a number of cabins on the left hand side opposite the passport control building where you will find a number of Insurance offices.
Step 4 - Get all your documents together, have a pen with you and proceed into the passport control office, go directly to the customs/”vehicular” desk. Ask the official for the vehicle import document. The document is a two page form with a piece of carbon paper. Fill in this form, return it to the official who will stamp it and return the top copy to you, he should also stamp your gate pass. Present any other documents to the official if requested to do so.
Step 5 - Proceed to the passport control desk (all travellers). Check your documents, at this point you should have the following stamped documents with you :
Step 6 - Exit the passport control building and locate a customs official (The customs officials wear a beret and light blue shirt with a name tag “Alfandegas”). Indicate to the official which is your vehicle. The official is required to inspect your vehicle and trailer before signing your gate pass. This inspection can be cursory or thorough depending on how busy the border is, if you are rude, or any number of trivial reasons. Be patient and be courteous always. Please ensure that you have declared obvious items like a car fridge, generator, etc. You will be fined and kept waiting, sometimes for hours if the official discovers illegally imported goods. After this inspection you may get in your vehicle and proceed to the exit gate.
Finally – Entering Mozambique
Step 7 - At the Ressano Garcia border control exit gate you will be stopped by the gate guard. Present to the guard your stamped and signed gate pass/customs slip. After the guard has checked that your gate pass has a passport and customs stamp on it plus the signature from the inspecting official you will be waved on, through the gate and into Mozambique. Beware! If you have paid a “facilitation fee” to a customs official to waive your vehicle inspection do not be surprised if another customs official at the exit gate conducts a secondary inspection non-withstanding that you have a signed gate pass. The customs officials are in cell phone contact and will often phone through your vehicle registration to the exit official if they feel they could extract a bit more cash from you.
Keep to the speed limits and respect the rules of the road. The national road going North (EN1) is the main transit artery. Everybody uses the road, locals on bicycles and foot, donkey carts, crazy taxi drivers, huge lumber trucks normally with a small herd of goats tethered on top, trans-africa busses that crab sideways down the road, animals, vendors and most importantly children. The national road (EN1) going North passes through each city, town or village and at each settlement you will be required to firstly slow down to 80km/h and secondly to 60km/h or less as you proceed through the town. The traffic police love to set up speed traps at these locations so beware! You can expect a minimum fine of MZN 1000.00 if you are caught speeding even if you are only 5km/h over the limit.
DO NOT PAY BRIBES when you are in the wrong. Pay what is due and request an official receipt.
Schools are often located at the outer limits of each town and you will sometimes encounter hundreds of scholars walking along the road from little toddlers to young adults. Kids are unpredictable and often little games are played by the kids as they chat and walk to and from school. Drive very defensively; give the kids a wide berth by moving to the centre of the road when necessary. Hoot repeatedly if you think a group are being distracted by games, laughter or simply being unruly and have not noticed your vehicle approaching. Watch their body language.
Schools are often located at the outer limits of each town and you will sometimes encounter hundreds of scholars walking along the road from little toddlers to young adults. Kids are unpredictable and often little games are played by the kids as they chat and walk to and from school. Drive very defensively; give the kids a wide berth by moving to the centre of the road when necessary. Hoot repeatedly if you think a group are being distracted by games, laughter or simply being unruly and have not noticed your vehicle approaching. Watch their body language.
Drive Safely!
Keep all your travel documents in an A4 folder/bag in an easily accessible position while you are travelling.
You will also need to make sure that you are in possession of the following items before you arrive at the border post:
There are a number of traffic police (white shirts) and police (grey shirts) checkpoints on the National roads and in and around Maputo and along the EN1 going North. You may be stopped and asked to present your travel documents. Be courteous, smile a lot and present the required documents as requested. Ensure that before you proceed you receive all your documents back.
in Mozambique towards your holiday destination.
Then it is up to you to Relax, unwind and enjoy!
Have the most wonderful experience in Mozambique
PONTA DA OURO BORDER POST
The Ponta da Ouro border post the main border post linking Kwa-Zulu Natal with Mozambique. This border post consists of Kosi Bay on the South African side, and Ponta do Ouro on the Mozambican side.
GIRIYONDO BORDER POST
The Giriyondo border post is the border post in the northern Kruger National Park linking the trans-frontier park in Mozambique.
