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EgyptAt 3 am we drove from the car deck, following the donkeys and the rest of the Germans mobile zoo onto Egyptian, and African soil. We’re here – we made it to Africa, but we’re really not sure for how long. The bureaucracy is incredible, it took us 30 minutes just to figure out how to get our passports back – we then had to find the visa office – who told us to buy a visa in the bank and return… After a few queues, we had our visa’s, now for the car – eventually we found a tourist policeman, who took one look at the carnet de passage and called his boss. Bugger.
The boss arrived and with a big red marker circled the words “EX EGYPT” on the carnet – plan a) already screwed then. Playing dumb (which was our plan) was easy as we’ve only had a few hours sleep. The official who noticed that we had an invalid document for Egypt, apologised and said: Daniel and I were exhausted, it was the middle of the night, and it seems we’ve travelled for such a long way for nothing – there was no bribing these guys, they were doing their job to the letter – and not able to “work something out tonight” despite all our attempts. Sunday 8th April Daniel slept in the front of the land rover, I slept on the roof, At 8:50AM I awoke, surrounded by Egyptians, all with puzzled, curious looks, feeling not so refreshed we went (as instructed) to the Automobile Club of Egypt booth. No-one there – and mixed reports of when they would be there – some said 10am, others 1pm. We’re exhausted and nervous – still intent on bribing our way into the country, for now we’re forced to wait some more.
We’re now smoking about 40 a day each… There’s not a lot else to do whilst enduring bureaucracy. We eventually found a helpful tourist policeman, who listened, and suggested a few ways to get into the country – sounding promising – although his preference is for us to call the RAC in England and obtain a valid carnet – to do this, we’d have to wait 2 days for them to be in the office – it’s Easter Sunday today, and tomorrow everything will be closed. Oh and I’d have to find £36,000 from somewhere. The two day delay probably helped us – no-one wants us here any longer – we’re smelly, and we’re making the place look like a campsite. Eventually we were introduced to a man who can issue a new carnet de passage. – amazing. $400 and 2 hours later I had in my hand a carnet valid for travel in Egypt for 7 days. Outstanding – it looks as though we’ll get in after all. It’s difficult now not to get our hopes up – but we keep reminding ourselves that we’re not yet through – there’s still many steps before we can leave the port and the customs police. One of the final steps is to get Egyptian plates for M, I tried not to get my hopes up as we affixed the plates using whatever we could find (there’s no standard number plate fixings), but couldn’t help feeling we were just moments away.
Our fixer had to pull in a few favours to get us through, but at 3pm, after affixing our new Egyptian plates we were told to start our engines. Could this be it – have we done it? All we have left to do is hand the promised bribe over to our friendly policeman and we’d be in Africa – not just the port… It felt good driving through the gates – no, that’s an understatement, a big understatement. It was incredible, we’re in Africa, still seething at the Saudi’s for not letting us in and causing this 2 day nightmare, that’s admittedly ended in a great result.
It’s 3pm on Sunday afternoon now – we set off from Aqaba for Saudi Arabia on Friday morning – it’s been a long few days. Turning our third corner we caught sight of the Jordanian port we could well have been stuck at across the water – it’s been almost two whole days to travel what can’t be more than 50 miles. The fact that we’re on African soil finally is incredible – it’s so nice to be here… the scenery is stunning, the resorts on the red sea that we’re rushing past look so inviting it’s difficult to keep pressing on.
We headed north towards the Israili border and then started the climb into the mountains.
We intend to drive the 4 or 6 hours to Cairo, stop for food and start the drive south towards Aswan, it’s around 1700 kilometres, which if we make it would be a new personal record.
The drive to Cairo was uneventful, except for nearly taking off and killing ourselves on what can best be described as a ramp on the cairo ringroad – the ramp spanned all four lanes, the first I knew of it was when the wheels of the car 30m in front left the highway and spinned freely. We were seconds behind, but the adrenalin’s welcome. After eating, we headed into Cairo, looking to see at least one of the pyramids, its 11pm now, and very dark, spotting the pyramids isn’t easy in the dark. Daniel informs me after reading the guide book that they were the higest manmade structures standing until the Eifel tower was built around the turn of the century. We still can’t find them. The GPS took us to within 100m, but still we couldn’t see anything. We did manage to catch a glimpse of the silhouetted sphinx, before being told it’s closed and we can’t go in by some snotty touts. So after a very unsuccessful visit to one of the 7 wonders of the world, we were back on the road again. The drivers here are comparable to Albanians, they’re absolutely bonkers, driving with no lights and overtaking on blind bends are commonplace. It appears most drivers here are either blind or suicidal. It’s tough going, the roads have deteriorated, we’re now on a two lane road – which appears on all maps as the same colour as the good road we took from Sinai. Here there’s only one lane for each direction and hundreds upon hundreds of car destroying speed bumps, which come completely unannounced. At around 3am after crossing the nile to drive on the slightly quieter road to the east I began overtakeing a lorry, I was maybe 2m past the back of the long vehicle when a set of headlights blazed at me on full beam – no \more than 200m ahead. I was doing around 60mph, I assumed he was doing a similar speed – but I didn’t have time to judge, I was treated only to a brief burst of light before my right foot slammed on the anchors, the wheels locked and I managed to duck in behind the lorry I was overtaking. After emerging unscathed, I looked over at Daniel – who now sat bolt upright, eyes full of terror – he was after all closer to the action being sat in what would normally be the drivers seat if I was driving a left hand drive car… It was possibly the closest I’ve come to dying, the truck which hurtled past us just moments before our impending death sped past horn blaring and lights now on. I really don’t know why they don’t like to use lights; maybe they think they’ll wear out. In the morning the crazy drivers went to bed and we were left with the school run lot – thankfully slightly more reserved. Once the sun rose, we found ourselves in what felt like the lush green tropics. It’s great to see the palm trees growing along the nile – and it’s nice to be able to see the Nile on the brief occasion we cross or the trees part for a few moments.
I’d been driving now for around 15 hours, we’ve nearly been hit countless times, Daniel’s starting to dream whilst awake – with mild hallucinations, and the only break I’ve had was a few minutes after our near fatal collision. I’d promised myself that after the Albanian 19hour marathon that I wouldn’t do such things again – but the prospect of missing this boat is so horrible the thought continues to spur me on. We’d be stuck for a week if we miss it – and we’d be kicking ourselves that we’ve driven past some of the worlds most incredible sights. We started taking small breaks, stopping for tea in small Nile villages, always attracting virtually every village inhabitant, the conversation was limited given our state of mind and each estimate of how long it would take us to reach Aswan varied wildly. We figured at the rate we were progressing, around 12pm would be reasonable; the boat leaves at 4pm. On we pressed, but as the day grew longer, the police woke up. At around 9am (the same time as the security in Syria started their working day) at one of the many, many checkpoints we’d been passing all night, they insisted we wait for a security services convoy. Wait we did – they had automatic weapons and were fairly insistent, the convoy arrived, and sped off ahead at the lightning speed of 40kph, that’s it then – we’re gonna miss the boat. They changed cars at every town, new military escorts, often with sirens blaring whilst we meandered through the rural villages – a complete contrast to our earlier relaxed travelling. We didn’t want the convoy, we didn’t ask for it – and when we told them we don’t want to travel with them, they simply insist we must (although communication is difficult). We notice a change in the way we’re viewed – what would have been inquisitive happy smiling faces a few hours before have now become suspicious, hostile stares. We want to travel and meet people – it’s very difficult to do that when you’re escorted by men with guns who oppress their people. Egypt is currently trying to change the constitution which would give the police even more power – indefinite detention without charge being just one of the new powers. The police escort only stayed with us through the southern, central area of Egypt, this was a far more militarised zone than anything else we’ve seen here – there’s obviously some tension – checkpoints have constantly manned armoured positions, with the African equivalent of the stinger used in the UK to disable cars constantly held by bored looking soldiers. The departure of our escort left us with just a glimmer of hope that we’d make the ferry – possibly arriving at 3 or 4pm, we just have to hope that the ferry is running on African time. At 4 pm we were just 40 km from our destination – convinced we’d missed it I was slipping into panic mode – everything after this would become a major headache if the ferry’s left. Our original route through Saudi and Port Sudan would have put us in Addis Abbaba within 5 days of arrival in Sudan. If we miss this boat, not only will we have to wait 1 week for the next one, which takes an entire day to arrive, we’ll have to drive through the Nubian Desert – a very hostile place indeed, arriving in Khartoum 4 days later – it’s basically an 11 day setback. The last few miles passed very slowly – I was starting to get delirious, coke and red bull are the only things keeping me going – oh and daniels history questions, none of which I can remember the answers to. But saying that I’d have trouble remembering my name right now. We caught sight of the Nile near Aswan, and my heart sunk as I saw ships sailing – it’s not our boat (it’d be going the wrong way) but I know we’ve missed it. It’s 5 pm now, and our luck’s run out.
We arrived at the port at around 6pm, the last hour M had overheated constantly and we had frequent stops – the security guards tell us the ferry departed on time. The only thing to do was to find the best hotel in town – check in and drink a beer.
I’ll put to the back of my mind for the time being the fact that I now may not be able to get to Nairobi on time to meet Karin on the 1st May, I can already hear her voice in my head – I’d insisted that the 1st would be “a piece of piss – of course I’ll be there”. Our room in our hotel – the Marhaba, has a fantastic view–
after showering (believe me we were in need of it!)
we set in search of more beer – surprising after driving straight for 28 hours, but I’m no longer tired – 2/3 beers will resolve that issue, I slept like a baby, we both did – sleep has never been so good. In the morning we were able to see Aswan in it’s full glory – we’d both enjoyed the previous nights beers, retreating to bed after just three drinks. The previous night was a very busy night – presumably a public holiday. Our view is excellent, and for the moment I’m not going to worry about the delay
We’re going to enjoy the pool – eat well and relax for at least a few days – our only job that needs doing is finding out about the next ferry – there’s talk of one on Friday, which if true would be outstanding.
The ferry here is a monopoly – it’s the only way for overlanders to pass into Sudan. We’re told they’re building a new bridge and a new road to Wadi Halfa in Sudan – which will be open in 6 months, so our choice is either pay the extortionate price to get on the next ferry (which leaves – you guessed it on Monday) or wait for the road…! We left the luxury of the Marhaba after 2 nights and headed out to ‘Adams Home’, the Nubian campsite on the west bank of the Nile around 10km from Aswan. The campsite is the meeting point for all overlanders travelling south to Sudan, here they meet to try and find ways to reduce the huge cost of the ferry – it’s a battle of wills normally between those wishing to travel and the ferry company. Those who are prepared to wait get better rates we hear. We’re not able to wait, so we paid the £2500 (Egyptian pounds) for the first ferry out.
The campsite is 100m from the Nile, built 100 years ago by the owners’ father. Our host, who introduces himself as “Mr Adam” (not actually his name) is a charming, full of life chap – the site is run by his family, everyone chips in, and they manage to make us feel part of their family.
Inside the mud walls lies a tranquil courtyard, with plenty of shade in places it’s a great place to chill out. We’re looking forward to spending a few days here… At times we feel guilty for not helping out with the chores – that’s how at home we feel… The campsite was empty at first, but we were joined by 12 Italian caravans on the second night, which meant the site was fairly full
We decided to take a swim in the Nile – Mr Adam sent Ahamed (his nephew maybe)?
To show us a good place – off we went, asking about crocodiles as we walked. At the port they’d told us that there were 9m crocodiles in the Nile, the sailors only swam when the engine was running (crocs don’t like that apparently). This information was however from the other side of the High dam – which the crocs as yet apparently haven’t figured out how to cross.
It’s quite refreshing – the water’s clear and cool, but Daniel and I can’t get the thought of crocs out of our heads – so we don’t venture far (like that would make a difference!). The Nile’s a fantastic river – the lush green banks are in stark contrast to the baron desert just a few hundred metres away. This time of year here is great – everything’s green, villagers are busy harvesting crops – everything’s in abundance. The village just to the south of the campsite is a Nubian village – every Nubian person we’ve met so far has been full of joy and generally happy – they’re a happy, proud people, and very hospitable. One of the attractions of Aswan is the suspension bridge – which is nice, but I wouldn’t call it an “attraction”.
We both became ill unfortunately after 2 days here – maybe it was the Nile water, maybe something we ate – we hoped it wasn’t the fantastic Nubian food we’d both enjoyed the previous night. I’m fed up of being sick – and our stomach problems are compounded by us both getting colds. So we weren’t able to go to Luxor to see the Valley of the Kings, just a 3 hour drive away – we didn’t have the strength, our time was spent sleeping, playing guitar, chess and eating porridge.
We met two couples who arrived that week at the campsite, both driving to Cape Town in Land Rover 110’s, an English couple – Graham and Claire and a Danish couple – Kevin and Kristina. They’d met each other in Egypt and had travelled down together, I hope to meet up with them all en-route, although for the time being, I’ll be blazing a trail way ahead of them.
The problems I had with overheating on the 1000 mile journey through Egypt was a worry – now I had another problem, water is streaming from the water pump when the engine’s running – this could be a nightmare… After topping up for as long as I dare, I need to fix it. It’s a good feeling to have done it all myself – the friends we’d met at the campsite found it amusing that I was able to fix the car, communicate with our deaf mechanic and put out a fire that Daniel somehow started with our petrol stove all at the same time (the powder fire extinguisher came in very handy).
The ferry we’ve booked on Monday, is a passenger service only – so M has to travel on a barge on Saturday, she should arrive on Monday, one day ahead of us on the ferry. I don’t like leaving her with strangers – but with everything valuable locked safely in the back, I loaded her onto the barge and hoped all would be fine.
The rest of the barge is packed with fish food – I just hope that’s not M’s fate on this boat… It really doesn’t look that safe… With now only a few days left here – most of our week being spent moaning and groaning at each other in pain or discomfort, we decided we must see something historical, or “ancient shit” as we now refer to it. After talking with our very Egypt experienced fellow travellers, we decided on our last day not to go to Luxor to see the Valley of the Kings, but to travel instead to Abu Simbel, which had to be moved when they built the huge hydro electric dam. The site is impressive
But the best is inside – unfortunately you’re not allowed to take photos inside the temple, so here’s a few more of the outside, and its lesser known neighbour.
Our excursion that day, took us to other sights, another great “attraction” here is the High Dam, which is pretty bloody boring, unless you’re an engineer… They’re quite proud of it though – it was the first in Egypt.
The next stop was thankfully more impressive – the Philai Temple, just outside Aswan. Again, this was moved before the valley was flooded – they’ve built it again on an island (as it originally was), which means we have to negotiate with rather crazy river taxis… after haggling for what seemed like forever, we set off to cover the few hundred metres to the temple
After spending so much time negotiating with the river taxi, we only had 45 minutes to explore the site.
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I preferred this to Abu Simbel, and you were allowed to photograph the interior here…
After a long days sightseeing (14 hours in total), we were looking forward to some food, back in Aswan we tried out one of the riverside cafés and were surprised by the first item on the menu:
Daniel opted for the Beef and syphilis, I had crabs. After dinner, we’d arranged for a felluka (a small sail boat) to take us over the river at sunset to Adams Home, what we thought would be a nice end to a long day – when we arrived for our boat, after negotiating the price earlier – we found our man unwilling to take us to Adams Home, he now insists it would take 4 hours, after pointing out I could swim quicker than that he gestured for me to go ahead and then left – with two other passengers! Cheeky sod. We were left with the few captains who haven’t yet found a fare for the sunset – they haven’t found a fare, because their boats are lucky to still be floating…
With a few laughs (you have to at times like this) we jumped aboard our rickety old boat and sat in the middle of the Nile, waiting for some wind.
We watched the newer boats sail by… perhaps the lack of holes in their sails helped somewhat.
We were happy just to sit and enjoy the scenery – as was our captain…
We’re paying for 2 hours (around $5) but doubt we’ll last that long – the sun will be down soon and after that there’ll be not a lot to see.
The sun set – we managed (just) to make it to port, and jumped in a taxi the few kilometres to Adams Home. After saying goodbye to everyone at Adams Home, we had a decent nights sleep – and were ready for the ferry first thing in the morning to Wadi Halfa in The Sudan. The ferry departed at 4pm, we arrived at the port at 10am… First class was fully booked – so we had no cabin, we fought for some seats, and promptly lost them as soon as we went for a cigarette. The ferry’s packed, it’s getting busier by the second and the flow of goods being hauled in by stressed, extremely hot workers through narrow passages to the hold seems never ending. We were all amazed when the ferry left on time – a final flurry of activity and we were off – and at quite a speed.
Sunset was pretty cool – I’m sure we won’t sleep much tonight, there’s only floor space anyway – so we’ll no doubt see dawn too… We played a lot more chess (the score’s now 10-3) – talked about football with virtually everyone on board and were lucky to meet the man who’s responsible for quality control in the kitchen… What better person could order your food for you? We decided to sleep on deck – the space we had found earlier was now rammed, it was below, smelt of diesel and was too close to the stinking toilets. The deck was cool – and it actually got quite cold in the night, but you could see the stars.
To give you an idea of what the sleeping arrangements were – here’s a picture of those lucky enough not to have slept where the whole boat wants to prey. Take a moment to look closely if you don’t immediately see all the limbs
Just as the sun rose, we passed Abu Simbel, which we’d visited a short while ago, it’s nice to see it from the river – and at this time in the morning, there’s virtually no-one there… they’re all still sweating it out in the crazy wacky racing minibus journey from Aswan.
The sight of the great temples signalled the impending arrival in The Sudan, now only 40km away – it seems we’ll get in early at around 10am. They don’t let you off the boat for 2 hours though, and we need to “pass” an interview by the Sudanese police. |
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