And so began one of the most bizarre 36 hours I’ve experienced in my life..
We arrived at the border in the morning, expecting hours of bureaucracy. This is Africa and so, naturally this turned out to be the case. Five and a half hours is probably a record for this border and while I was pleased to have cleared the border, we were knackered. So we thought we’d stop for a drink. We met a fellow overlanding Land Cruiser with its pleasant occupants Don and Andrea at the border and so stopped together at a small shop in a border town in Egypt. We were in front and next to us pulled up a blue non descript Chevrolet with five occupants, all dressed in white with berets and AK47s. At first we thought nothing of it; it’s not unusual to see weapons in Africa and people pull up to the car a lot out of interest etc. But then, as we left the shop it became very obvious that these chaps were tailing us. So further down the road, before we left the populous areas of the town I slammed on the brakes and pulled over suddenly to see if they would stop. They did. I got out and challenged them to find out why they were following us. They spoke back in Arabic only and seeing as my Arabic has suffered of late, we didn’t communicate in any meaningful way. We carried on driving and the car kept tailing us, occasionally very close and then with some distance. Every now and again we would stop at military and police checkpoints where we’d be waived straight through without time for us to ask what the hell was going on. We didn’t know what to think and thought we’d just roll with it. Then we lost them and we thought all was well. But some 30km down the road and suddenly another car suddenly appeared, full of men with guns and we carried on like this for some hours. We were hungry by now and needed to stop for food so we pulled into a busy looking roadside restaurant where I met a funny restaurant owner called Mahmoud (who later tried to set me up with his two teenage daughters..). He spoke little English, I spoke little Arabic but I gleaned from the conversation that the men following us were police and that all would be ok.
This pattern carried on with two further convoys (one of which we amusingly lost by taking a cheeky slip road without them seeing – boy were they relieved to catch up with us further down the road!) until we reached the small sea side town of Marsa Matrouh. Here we were taken to a big police station and finally it all came together after I spoke to the Chief Inspector of the area, who actually spoke good English after being posted for some time in the tourist capital of Luxor. Apparently the north of Egypt can be quite dangerous to travel through, something we had not read anywhere about or heard from anyone. So these trucks full of armed police were actually a private, heavily armed escort for us! But the story got more incredible as the night went on. The inspector asked us where we wanted to sleep. After we said the surrounding desert and wild camping he suggested otherwise and said he would spend the night looking for a site for us that was suitable. We drove around under police escort for much of the night to find a good spot. We went to one beach next to a navy base and the military got involved trying to find us a spot too. Eventually we found a spot with a view of the marina only for the inspector to sheepishly ask me whether I was happy that it didn’t have a sea view! Five officers got out, walked over the whole site to make sure there was enough space for us, enough sand to make it comfortable (no joke) and after a long discussion amongst themselves they checked with me to make sure we were happy.
The inspector then asked us if we needed anything. We needed a cash machine and a cold beer and he took us under escort through the manic streets of Marsa to find everything we needed. He even instructed one of his officers to close a busy street in the town centre so we could park our cars in peace to buy a few beers. Where on earth do you get service like that? It was now late and we wanted to sleep but it gets better. He told us they would now leave and he hoped we had good service (of course we did!). It was only when Andrea from the other car went to the loo in the middle of the night that we knew the inspector had instructed a new escort to keep watch over us all night. In the morning a further escort woke us up gently and escorted us to get petrol and take us towards Cairo!
I think it’s important to summarise what just happened here in a 36 hour window:
- Over 30 armed police were involved in Pat, Himba and my safety (probably more).
- 6 separate convoys escorted us across some 800km.
- They took us to numerous campsites to find the perfect spot. They even asked me if I wanted a sea view.
- We were taken in escort (with blue flashing lights) to buy a cold beer and provisions.
- An armed guard stood outside my Land Rover all night to ensure we were safe.
- All of the above would have cost tens of thousands in the UK yet not a penny here.
British police take note. That is what I call service.
Cairo
We eventually arrived in Cairo and boy what a contrast to anywhere else on the trip! Immediately there were tens of thousands of people at every corner, the roads were congested and completely bonkers (this place is harder to drive in than down town Bangkok!) and everywhere you look there were signs of unadulterated commerce in its purest form. This bustling city is bloody awesome.
I just wanted to buy a T Shirt and this is what I faced...
The Great Pyramids and Sphinx of the Giza Plateau
Boys will be boys!
No visit to Cairo is complete without a visit to the pyramids at Giza. A short cab ride from the bustling Cairo city centre, the pyramids are spectacular.
The Great Pyramid at Giza, near Cairo
But as good as the Egyptians are at commerce and police escorts, I’m afraid to say they’re not particularly good at preservation or running vulnerable tourist sites. This place is tourist central and despite being one of the first in (ahead of the coaches) at 7am we were soon mobbed by the masses of tour groups. We weren’t used to seeing many tourists, even in Cairo as they tend to stick to their hotels and the few places their multilingual guides take them so this was a bit of a shock to the system!
However, the pyramids were as grandiose as you’d expect them to be and the fact that (for an additional hefty fee..) you can actually walk into the burial chambers deep inside the pyramids was superb, especially as the tour groups don’t go into them.
The Sphynx and Second Pyramid at Giza, near Cairo
I had a funny experience in the main great pyramid of Khufu. As I climbed the claustrophobia-inducing entrance tunnel to the burial chamber, the lights suddenly cut out. With absolutely no light, you’re left to just sit in complete darkness in a tight tunnel and wait. In the distance all I could hear were the voices of the only other couple who were in the tunnel. The bloke kept shouting “hey big mac is that you, I’m so glad to see you’ve come to help!”. I walked over to them as (naturally or more by fluke) I had a small torch with me and they soon realised it wasn’t Big Mac but me. Big Mac was their guide who’s left them apparently..!
I thought I’d jot down some observations of Cairo and Egyptians in general from what I’ve seen so far and believe me I could write a whole new blog on the topic! :
1) Cairenes love to dice with death crossing roads. I’ll try and get a video but seeing a mother and young child weaving in and out of ten lanes of traffic trying to cross a road in peak rush hour is standard here.
2) People in Cairo cannot park to save their lives, or can they? You will never see parallel parking like it in your life. I took this video near our hostel but it’s seen on every street in the whole of Cairo. Every car sits two inches (if you’re lucky) from the next, bumper to bumper. No surprise then that every single car I’ve seen in Cairo has dents and scratches all over it.
3) Cairenes adore commerce. If you run a business and ever need to send someone for some sales training, you’d be best sending them here for ten minutes. Egyptians would sell you their left arm if they could and the various manners in which they transact their business vary from the slick to the bizarre, to the incredible. One such example:
I was in the old, Islamic part of Cairo in a market (souk) just wondering around when a man came up to me trying to sell some hideous jewellery. The conversation went a little like this:
Man with weird teeth: Hisssssssssss (they hiss to get your attention here)
Me: Hello
Man with weird teeth: You buy jewellery, it nice
Me: No thanks, bye bye
Man with weird teeth: It good quality, like rolex
Me: I’m sure your product is of esteemed quality, made by the finest craftsmen in Egypt but no thanks
Man with weird teeth: For you good price
Me: [at this point I began to laugh as I simply could not fathom why on earth this man really thought I’d buy a faux pearl necklace so I said] Why on earth, my friend do you think I’d buy this product. I don’t wear jewellery.
Man with weird teeth: You buy for your wife
Me: I don’t have one
Man with weird teeth: Girlfriend
Me: I don’t have one
Man with weird teeth: Mother
Me: She is allergic to jewellery
Man with weird teeth: Sister
Me: So is she
Man with weird teeth: You buy it because it very nice
Me: Go away my friend
Man with weird teeth: OK you buy rolex from my friend, very good quality
Me: No, please leave me alone
Man with weird teeth: Please you buy something
And so the story continued for a further 10 minutes before we both got incredibly bored, shook hands and both went our separate ways to reflect on our lives and what just happened.
4) Egyptians LOVE welcoming you to their country. Now don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of politeness and courtesy but once you’ve had your thousandth welcome you begin to get tired. I’m even convinced the little kitten that sits opposite the entrance to the hostel winked at me the other night and welcomed me to Egypt.
5) Egyptians use poor quality translation services. Look at this example. Enough said.
What on earth does that mean. Answers on a postcard!
6) Egyptians love a good feed. This was brunch. I ordered a bowl of hummus and some bread. This is what turned up..! Check out the mullets on the wall too..!
Small brunch then...
7) Egyptians love a bit of Baksheesh. That’s not a freaky kind of massage, but a tip which can (mostly) be asked for even when no apparent service has been delivered. Let me give you an example. If someone carried your bags to your room in a hotel or gives you a (requested) tour, you would naturally be inclined to give them some baksheesh, i.e. a tip. If, however, a young Egyptian gentleman decides to show you a pyramid from a distance of 400 feet , even though you can clearly see it from the international space station, I would argue you do not offer baksheesh but you can bet your bottom Egyptian pound that they’ll ask for it. I even had a child ask me for baksheesh today for saying hello to me.
8) Egyptians won’t take no for an answer (well, not without a fight..) – I played a little game whereby I’d see how many times I’d have to say ‘No thanks’ before street sellers got the idea. The best kind of street seller are the mobile ones i.e. without a shop front to hover near. They are the true soldiers of Egypt. This one chap followed me for what must have been three quarters of a mile, constantly trying to change his tactics, incorporating all the classics one learns to love such as the famous opener, ‘Where are you from?’ to more elaborate ensembles such as ‘Welcome to Alaska’ and my particular favourite, ‘The world is strange place’. This last one particular got me because I think it’s genius. Go up to someone, say a random yet enticing statement and gauge their reaction. He almost got me with that one. but I was strong. Anyhow, I got to 12 ‘No thanks’ before both he and I ran out of steam.
The Nile
One thing you have to do at some point in your life is travel the Nile by car or, as is more popular these days, by boat. Travelling by car, however gives you a very unique experience. Asides from being escorted by about 10 armed police patrols, camping in the desert and stopping at tea houses where they do not get tourists, it’s the accidental turn offs that I loved the most.
Oasis in the middle of the desert: The Egyptian Nile
One such turn off was intended to offer us a place to camp in the desert. Didn’t quite work out like that. The Nile valley is absolutely swamped with people, as one would expect. All life revolves around water and this is no exception. We turned into a small village thinking we could just drive through and find the desert on the other side and a quiet place to camp. However, when we turned off we did not expect the streets to narrow up rapidly, donkeys to impede progress big time, a railway track with train to stop us retreating or the hundreds of kids that suddenly materialise (how does this happen?).
Kate gets swamped by the masses!
So we tried to make a retreat only to find a railway line with the longest bloody train in the world to stop us. Luckily a nice local man helped guide Himba out of the narrow streets and kept the kids relatively under control. He couldn’t stop them climbing all over the car, scaring the living daylights out of me thinking I’d run them over. It was a great experience!
Another example of driving through a Nile valley village is best explained using video..
And so we began following the Nile down towards Sudan. The next bit of the blog consists mainly of photos as it would take me years to fill in all the details but at least I’m not whaffling..
Pyramid of Meidum
The weird looking pyramid at Meidum..
You could go inside this pyramid which was quite cool. A narrow passage and some claustrophobic stair cases led you to the main burial chamber.
Camping in the Desert
You may be wondering on a more practical level, where we sleep and eat when on the road. Well, unlike Tunisia and Libya where camping was the norm, especially in the desert regions, Egypt is slightly more security paranoid and so often the police convoys wouldn’t let us camp where we wanted. However a couple of times you can escape. This is one such example.
Conor with his boutique hotel arrangement.
Cooking is done on the road using a gas cooker, with support from decent mod cons built into the Land Rover. There are side tables to cook on, a large table to eat around, proper chairs (!), lighting, music, a fridge for cold drinks and food and even a projector that we host film nights with!
Himba loves the desert more than vanilla milkshakes.
Beni Hasan
These tombs were beautifully set at the interface between the Nile and the desert that surrounds the valley.
Desert vs Nile valley: Stunning contrast
The walk up to the tombs was pure pain in some serious heat but well worth it.
Walking up stairs in 40 degree heat is fun!
Luxor and the Valley of the Kings
Whenever anyone thinks of Egypt, the temples and tombs they have in their minds emanate from the Luxor regions. This is the heart of Egyptian history with more temples, tombs and statues than you can shake a stick at. On the Nile, it was important both strategically and geographically with it’s close proximity to building quarries. We visited both the East and West sides of the Nile and these are the various sights we saw.
Luxor Temple
Me chief, you tourist..
Incredible carvings on stone columns.
The avenue of the Sphinxes leading up to the Luxor Temple
Karnak Temple
The avenue of the Sphinxes starting at the Luxor temple originally led 3km to this massive temple complex at Karnak which once boasted the largest religious location even if compared to modern times.
These huge columns make Karnak famous - they were massive!
A guard walks around the huge Karnak temple complex.
Amazing hieroglyphics but they still look like modern day wingdings.
Bud shows how evolution has improved (in his words) his species.
And finally the mystery of how the pyramids were constructed is solved..
The Valley of the Kings
The lazy but sensible way to get to the Valley..
One of the two guardians to the Luxor Valley
I’d love to show you more pictures of the Valley of the Kings but unfortunately, having misread (!?) the no photo signs, I accidentally got my camera confiscated. I got it back after paying my naughty person fine..
Hatsepshut Temple
A stunning setting for a stunning temple!
One of the guardians of the temple.
Huge statues tower over the desert scape.
Himba with Conor and Kate looking on to the amazing temple.
Habu Temple
Amazing inscriptions, even in colour at this temple!
Impressive columns with hieroglyphics intact!
Beautifully carved stone columns graced all areas of the temple complex.
Habu temple was definitely a favourite. No other tourists in sight and yet more impressively preserved than the other temples in the valley as a whole made this well worth the visit.
The Temple of Horrors
Conor needed to have his beard trimmed. I said I’d accompany him. We found a small shop with a few old Egyptian men sitting outside so I took a pew with the oldies while Conor had his work done. I was busy trying to communicate with the Egyptian chaps when suddenly I felt a sharp sting on my left eyebrow. It transpired that while Conor was having his legitimate work done on him, another chap from the barbers had decided to operate on my face with nothing other than a roll of cotton thread. This, Kate later told me is called threading and nothing to worry about. Well I was worried when I felt half my face being ripped off. So I said to the guy ‘what on earth are you doing’ and he simply pointed to the chair next to Conor and said ‘we finish now’. Still in a state of shock and fearing having one eyebrow looking like an Egyptian electrical job and the other like some sort of meerkat, I sat down and this is what he continued to do to me…
And the scariest thing of all? I had to pay this man for doing this to me..!
Temple of Horus, Edfu, Southern Egypt
So after leaving Luxor we headed south along the Nile towards our next big stop Aswan, where we were due to catch the ferry to Sudan and stopped at Edfu to see the famous Temple of Horus.
The massive entrance to the Temple of Horus.
The intricate and huge carved pictures on the back wall of the Temple of Horus.
A funny looking eagle with a chef's hat at the front entrance to the temple.
So another drive, another set of convoys..
One of our many many armed police guards!
However, at one police check point where we were due to change convoys (again) I saw one of the chaps filling his old Chevrolet police car with water. You could clearly see the radiator leaking and he was just topping up with litres of water. The inevitable always happens and they broke down about 5 minutes out of town, much to our amusement!
As Pat always told me - buy cheap, buy twice!
Temple of Kom Ombo, Southern Egypt
A nice temple on a bend in the river Nile.
This is not Krusty the clown, it's me..
Front of the temple at Kom Ombo.
Temples of Abu Simbel, Southern Egypt
This had to be a highlight. Situated about three and a half hours south west of Aswan, this remote set of two temples on Lake Nasser had to be moved to a new location in the 60s when rising water from the construction of the Aswan high dam threatened to inundate it. The restoration work took 4 years and they pieced back together to the millimetre these stunning shrines.
Just stunning and look at the scale..
The sun hits the temple to create this stunning glow.
The statues at the site were wonderfully located.
Getting here for sunrise was well worth it!
Graffiti isn't a modern thing. Even those who (re)discovered the temples laid their claims bare
Aswan, Southern Egypt
We had a few days to sort all the paper work for Sudan and service Himba and so Aswan was a welcome break. We even managed to test the projector I bought for the charity project in Sudan!
World cup on a hotel wall. Priceless.
A final ride on an old school Nile Felucca and it was time to leave.
A felucca on the Nile at Aswan.
Sunset over the west bank of the river Nile in Aswan.
Feluccas lined up at sunset.
And so to Sudan and the next leg of the trip!
Mike,
Much enjoying the travel blog and your various adventures. However, Nick has just sent a photo showing Himba in distress. Hope no permanent or expensive damage. Look forward to more adventures of Krefta.
Regards,
Julian.