Egypt
(No pictures - Johan's last film was lost during the Israel border post search and I had nothing left)
The ferry across Lake Nasser was really nice and interesting. We relaxed, enjoyed the views and had some informative discussions with a couple of fellow passengers. It really looked appealing to ride the bikes across the desert. We just could not understand why the whole area to Aswan is restricted.
We had an interesting conversation with a black guy from Southern Sudan. After years of hatred, killings, wars and oppression in South Africa, we could really relate to the plea of this young African fellow from Southern Sudan. According to him, the black Africans have no rights, no schools, no health care, no votes, no representation in the Muslim government and the struggle for freedom has been carrying on for over twenty years. As with the ANC, the black Sudanese are now really going full out for an armed struggle against the government. That is the result if talking does not yield results. Both Johan and I sympathized with him and realized that some painful years lay ahead for these poor people. He was -studying- in Egypt, but was actually recruited back home to organize and smuggle arms for the struggle. THIS SHIT JUST MAKES NO SENSE !!!
We went past Abu Simbel (amper simpel) and could see the rock sculptures and the temple clearly. Apparently, it was some American organisation that funded the move of this temple and the sculptures to its current location. The Egyptians dammed the Nile River at Aswan and this temple would have been under water.
Similarly, the Sudanese town of Wadi Halfa was located years earlier on the Egypt border, but as the dam filled up after construction of the dam wall the water pushed Wadi Halfa back a good few hundred kilometers to its current location. It appears that public communication and political courtesy were non-existent.
Before I carry on, let me rather summarize our trip through Egypt. We had an extremely frustrating 2-day experience at Aswan to get the paperwork completed for ourselves and especially for the bikes. It was a nightmare - we even had to re-license the bikes and were issued some Egyptian number plates. We struggled to relate to the people and the culture. They were very loud, not really friendly and tried to rip us off wherever they could. We followed the main road north past Giza to Alexander. From discussions with various people who have visited Egypt, the only ones that have enjoyed their stay were the ones that never really interacted with the people of Egypt. They would fly in to Egypt, take a taxi to their air-conditioned hotel, then get picked up at the hotel to enjoy a boat trip on the Nile River, or visit a temple or pyramid. The only ones that had a -nice- experience with the Egyptians were the ones that venture a couple of hundred kilometers away from the Nile River into the remote desert areas. (My personal opinion reflected here, but I think it is not too far from the truth).
It was interesting to see all the fertile flood planes of the Nile River and wondered what the effects would be of the Aswan Dam (Lake Nasser). For millions of years, the Nile flooded these flood planes - a complicated ecology and synergy between man and river that is now destroyed.
We stopped briefly as we drove past some pyramids in the city centre at Giza, but we enjoyed a pizza at Alexander more. I have always wondered why most of the photographs of the pyramids were wide-angle shots from the ground level up â?? it is not to get the whole city in the background that will spoil the ambiance one tries to bullshit your friends and family with. Due to some anti-government sentiment, some people had killed a couple of tourists during 1994 and as a result no passenger ships were crossing from Europe to Egypt and we had no option but to ride over to Israel. It was a memorable experience to cross the Suez Canal.
Finally, we can exit Africa. What was suppose to be a euphoric feeling of accomplishment (we had a bit of that whilst eating our pizzas in Alexandria), it was horrible trying for the last time to get through the immigration and customs on the border post. Because we had little money left (I had nothing left and Johan had about 40 US$ left), we tried to establish how much we need to pay in total in order to change the right amount into Egyptian currency. The officials refused to help us and instead they made it very tough not to loose our tempers. Again, Johan had had enough and become a bit aggressive - to such an extent that some armed guards were ordered to watch us closely. Eventually when we got to customs, our passports were confiscated to ensure we pay all our dues before we can have them back. They wanted to charge us again for the bikes, road tax, departure tax, tourist tax and the best one (even we had to laugh!) - the very last office had a sign board that reads -DEBT- !! Fuuuuckit, how on earth can we have debt that we now have to settle? I had to calm Johan down as the guy at the gates with our passports had a cocked rifle and he looked rather keen to test it on us. With freedom on the other side of the gate, I eventually managed to convince Johan not to do anything too foolish and we were let out of Egypt.
Israel
We arrived at the Israel border post at about midnight. We were so sure that we will have an easy last few days before figuring out how to get to Europe. The security checks were extreme at the Israel border post. Our bikes were stripped with only the engine and frame intact. It was rather funny because we had never on this trip cleaned our pannier cases and a good kilogram of dust, sand, stones and the likes were dumped next to each bike on the cement slab.
The official was friendly, but very stubborn. He refused to let us into Israel - we did not even have enough money to pay for the 3rd party insurance for the bikes. He had never heard of a tourist arriving at a border post with no money at all. He asked us nicely to return to Egypt as he is not allowed to grant us permission to enter Israel due to our lack of money.
Well, to cut an hour long negotiation session short, we obviously refused to turn back. We convinced him that we will take out a two week 3rd party insurance for half the cost and he can issue us with a 3 day visa then we will be out of the country, I promised. Reluctantly we were granted permission after spending over 4 hours at the border post.
We drove up to Haifa - well almost. Just to end our trip properly, I got my last flat tyre on the rear wheel about 30 kms before Haifa. I had no patch left, so we picked up a piece of old car tube that was lying beside the road and it lasted the last couple of kilometers. I had stopped counting, but I had over 100 flat tyres. Nobody in Africa stocked large tubes and I never had the funds to courier a tube from South Africa.
We stopped at a rather nice beach in Haifa. We hovered around until late with the intention to sleep on the beach. Just before dusk, an old beetle (VW) parked next to us and a very short young Israeli with his very sexy girlfriend got out and started chatting to us. His intention was to convince me to sell my Tenere to him. At the time it would have been a great plan - cash in hand and I do not have to bother to get it to Europe or back to South Africa. The problem was that the bikes were stamped into your passport and it is illegal to sell second hand bikes in Israel - only dealers may sell bikes. He planned to destroy the passport and report it stolen and then to get a new one that does not mention the bike. Well, with the limited time we had on our visas and the thought of getting mixed up with the Israeli authorities, I gave up on this idea. We were, however, invited to stay in their apartment and I was even given a nice bell-bottom jean. At least I had some impressive pants for the outing that evening by then, my shorts were more or less falling apart.
We found Israel to be a very interesting place and would have liked to stay a bit longer. It was amazing to experience all the different genetic mixes in Israel - due to the fact that Israel, back in 1994, was only about 45 years in existence, since their independence. A lot of Israeli's were scattered all over the world and obviously copulating with some of the locals and the end result was a healthy and beautiful race now occupying Israel. The young chicks in army uniform also did it for me - almost like school uniforms !!
Well, we convinced a friendly lady at a travel agency to issue us with one-way air tickets to London (Gatwick) for basically half the cost and we shipped the bikes to London. Three days after our arrival and we were on our way to England.
At the time, it would have been easier to find a quick job in England, repay the debt on our credit cards, save up some pounds and then plan our journey back.
England
Well, now our Africa expedition was officially over and I have to admit the thought of having driven through Africa on a motorcycle made me feel happy, excited, a real sense of achievement, somewhat more superior to most other human beings (it lasted for about 10 days!!) and definitely eager to do a lot more riding in future.
We were lucky to get into England with hardly any cash - I think Gatwick airport is slightly less stringent than Heathrow. We took a quick nap on an airport coach and then took the train to London at about 05h00 in the morning. Our mission: To see the new South African flag at Trafalgar Square ! Wow, we were stunned and even a bit emotional - damn, but it must be one of the most beautiful flags - and at last one can feel proud to be a South African - fuck the past !!
Somewhere in London
I have to explain what I looked like when arriving in England; very sun baked, old t-shirt that a local gave me in Ethiopia, homemade leather jacked (full of holes), bell-bottom jean that I got from the short shit in Israel, broken sandles which are tied to my feet with orange bail rope. I purchased green Wellingtons from my first wage which I could then wear on the farm and for an evening out in town. O yes, no backpack - I carried my few belongings around in one of my bikes pannier cases that I unscrewed from the bike in Israel and covered the top with an orange â??carrimorâ? plastic body bag (the lid disappeared somewhere in Sudan).
To cut this whole England part short - we found a job quickly and tried to find some other crazy bastards that would join us riding down to South Africa. After about three months, we had only managed to find one guy that was serious about riding with us (Johan and I had decided that our friendship would not endure another trip - we would need to split up or make the group bigger). Our bikes were not in very good shape either, so we couldn't attempt to do solo trips back to South Africa. Rory, the guy that was keen for the trip, fixed up an old Yamaha IT690 (2-stroke) - he was convinced that it is possible. Well, 2 weeks later an old English lady drove over him and his bike and that was the end of that plan.
Feeding the wild chickens (Pheasants) on an old established hatchery near Wokingham
Our luxury house in England for a couple of months
We eventually canned the plan to ride back and decided to fly back to South Africa as soon as we had enough money. And so it was.
The ultimate traveling machine !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
