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Bir Tawil is kind of a disputed territory, except that it's the exact opposite: both Egypt and Sudan say that the other country has sovereignty over it.

Is it possible for ordinary travellers to visit the place without special permission from Egypt or Sudan? That is, once you've done the necessary paperwork to enter one of the countries, you can get to Bir Tawil. In addition, is it possible to leave one of the countries without entering the other?

If it's not possible, are there any other such places? Wikipedia has a list of such places, but apart from Antartica, the other two ones (both in Europe) seem pretty small.

Golden Cuy
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1 Answers1

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This story about a man who visited Bir Tawil (and claimed it as the "Kingdom of North Sudan" so his 8-year-old girl could be a princess, but that's another story) says that permission for the Egyptian authorities was required:

This research led Heaton to seek permission from Egyptian authorities to travel to the remote, unpopulated plot of sand, explaining his cause ... Once he got permission, the former emergency services director for a local county headed to Egypt and spent a few days there before arriving at Bir Tawil.

Which is unsurprising, since it's an unpopulated border region and Egypt-Sudan relations are not great.

If you want to visit a terra nullius, Brezovica pri Metliki between Slovenia and Croatia seems like your best bet. No permits etc required (if you're already in Schengen), and it's only about half an hour from Novo Mesto.

JonathanReez
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lambshaanxy
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