Egypt: Mother of the world.
I’ve heard so many horror stories about the border between Libya and Egypt and with the morning’s excitement as a start to my day, I was feeling a tad more nervous as to what may lie ahead for me.
My Libyan friends rode with me from Tubruq and stayed with me all the way to the Salloum border. They even sorted me out in helping me get local sim cards for Egypt and also changing my Libyan Dinar to Egyptian Pounds.
I spent about an hour at the Libyan side of the border. I’m not sure what the holdup was but was made to wait, sitting between three customs officers and one very trigger-happy military officer that insisted on firing a few shots into the air right next to me.
Libyan friends with me just before the border
After about an hour I was let through to Egypt side of Salloum. An officer from Egyptian customs accompanied me into the customs and immigrations offices and I started with processing all the necessary paperwork. “This is all going pretty well”, I thought to myself. I was directed from office to office and offered tea and biscuits. Everything went pretty well until I was taken to see two gentlemen who are the equivalent of the Egyptian secret service. Then everything came to a grinding halt.
Meanwhile a good friend and one of Egypt’s very own adventure riders, Omar Mansour, had ridden all the way from Alexandria to meet me at the border. They eventually let him through and allowed him to join me in the building. He was a great help as nobody could really speak English and he was able to translate between the officers and myself.
Omar stayed with me the entire time and in the end I spent about nine hours at the border! Though I can honestly say that all the officers and staff were very friendly and helpful and accommodating.
I spent my first night in Egypt in the border town of El Salloum. Next morning we left early and made our way towards Marsa Matruh, had fresh lemon under a tree on the side of the road and then on to Marina where we had lunch. We weren’t sure whether we’d be able to make it to Cairo in time for the curfew that had been enforced at the time. I was supposed to have a police escort with me all the way but when they weren’t at the checkpoint in the morning when we left, we carried on without them.
I made it to Cairo from the border in one day! Something that kept delaying us on the road, were the military checkpoints where we needed to unpack all my kit every single time. One can understand this precaution, especially during those troubled times. Needless to say I was pretty tired by the time I crossed the Nile River (posed for a quick photo first of course) into Cairo. I unfortunately had to say goodbye to Omar as he had to return to Alexandria, but a friend of his (Bakir) took over and rode with me until the city limits where another friend, Mahmoud Mazen was waiting to escort me the rest of the way.
I had planned on spending maybe ten days to two weeks in Egypt. My first point of order was to sort out new visas for Sudan and Ethiopia. With the delays, waiting in Libya for things to calm down in Egypt, both my visas would have expired before I could make it to either Sudan or Ethiopia. It also soon became clear that Egypt had big plans for me.
I met up with the BikerZone team in Cairo who organized my stay at Le Meridien hotel in Heliopolis and also a big group ride to the Pyramids the next weekend, which was absolutely amazing. I have had many layovers on flights in Cairo before and always had this rule that I was never allowed to look out the window during landing or taking off, as to avoid seeing the pyramids. I had to see it in person, on my bike…and I finally did! I instantly made so many new wonderful friends in Cairo and everyone made me feel right at home. All over Egypt really. Wonderful people.
I was kept busy in Cairo with meeting fellow bikers, conducting press conferences and working on plans for my next project after I finish my tour around Africa. The Dakar Rally! I got to chat with the BikerZone team and they were very eager to get involved with my future plans. After some brainstorming and negotiating I signed with the team and they are now my sole representatives and managing team!
I took some time out whilst in Cairo and rode to the Bahariya oasis over a weekend to see a bit more of the country. Things to see in the area are the white and black deserts, which are amazing! A lot of friends were nervous about my riding out to the oasis area by myself because of banditry in the area. About a 730-kilometer round trip and I didn’t see any suspicious activities on the road. Just beautiful views of the desert all the way!
I spent about three weeks in Cairo and had a fantastic time. After I managed to sort a new visa for Ethiopia I set off for the coastal town of Hurghada. Omar joined me again for the ride to Hurghada, along with three other friends. (Ehab Hassanein, Emad Hassan, Mohamed Fareed El-Gohary). Omar, Ehad and Emad rode with me all the way and even spent a night at the resort as well. Very nice of them. A very famous touristic spot for diving, desert safaris and just relaxing next to the Red Sea. My stay was sponsored by the Sunrise Grand Select, Crystal Bay Resort! How awesome! I spent four nights at the resort and they even organized a guided quad desert safari and snorkeling, which was absolutely AMAZING! Going snorkeling opened up a whole new world for me. It was my first time and I didn’t want to leave. I just wanted to stay there in this new magical underwater world.
A press conference was held at the hotel and the Governor of Hurghada presented me with a medal to honor my efforts on my trip, which was so humbling.
From Hurghada, my next stop was in Luxor in Upper Egypt where I was hosted at the beautiful Maritime Jolie Ville hotel and resort on King’s Island. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open air museum", as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city. I had the opportunity to see the temples, which are absolutely amazing! You can literally feel the history when walking among the ruins. Really something worth putting on one’s bucket list. The one thing that did break my heart was seeing how the tourism industry is suffering in Egypt. So many vendors tried desperately to get me to please just buy something as business is slow and they’re struggling to support their families. The day I visited the temples we were told that it was the busiest day since June!
After a tour of the temples I joined a group of men at a café, sitting outside on the street and drinking tea. I absolutely love these cultural experiences. One of the guys, nicknamed ‘Sisi’ (if you know a bit about what’s been going on in Egypt, you’ll know who General Sisi is), was absolutely adamant that I visit his family at a nearby tribe. He also wanted to ride with me to Aswan. I graciously declined his offer. Though I was a little worried that I might find him waiting next to my bike the next morning. He threatened to spend the night sleeping next to my bike as to not miss me the next morning. Hehe.
Next morning, I was up early and heading to Aswan, my last destination in Egypt. There are two roads one can take between Luxor and Aswan. The main road and the desert road. If I’m not mistaken I think one needs a permit for the desert road though. The main road is a very busy road with speed bumps every few kilometers. It’s not that far (About 220 kilometers) but it took me five hours to do because of the heavy traffic.
Once I arrived to Aswan I met up with Kamal, THE fixer in Aswan. Many, many overlanders know Kamal and have made use of his services. With Kamal was a French guy named Francois. I later found out that Francois was there on his BMW R1200GS and planning on riding down to South Africa.
First point of order was for me to sort a new visa for Sudan. We headed straight for the embassy and handed in my application. Quick and easy process. They assured me that I’d have my visa before I had to leave on the ferry to Wadi Halfa. After sorting the visa, Kamal led me to the hotel where I’d be staying. Mövenpick Resort Aswan. Again, this resort offered to sponsor my entire stay in Aswan! And I had the most wonderful welcome with traditional Nubian music and dancers. I even joined in and danced along as we took the barge across the river to the island on the Nile where the hotel is situated. Stunning hotel and I was absolutely spoilt rotten! I had my own double story apartment, complete with lounge and sliding doors that lead out onto the banks of the Nile River. Management and staff welcomed me with drinks and snacks in my room with a personalized welcome note.
I really had a wonderful stay in Aswan and appreciate all the effort the hotel’s staff and management went to, to make me feel special and right at home. I had dinner with management members every evening and also got to meet the Governor who had come to meet me and once again, I was given a medal in honor of my journey. (My luggage doubled in size in Egypt with all the gifts and medals! Haha)
I was taken on a felucca tour on the Nile to a traditional Nubian village where we had drinks looking out over the Nile. I also got a henna tattoo done by one of the local women.
Next day I had to take my Dax to be loaded onto the barge for Wadi Halfa. Another adventure rider, Obai, from Sudan had also arrived in the meantime. I knew he was on his way as friends in Tunisia first informed me that he was heading to Sudan. I could hardly believe that he had caught up with me. He started his trip in Senegal and was on the home stretch to finishing in his hometown, Khartoum. I was actually grateful for the company and all three of us (myself, Francois and Obai) all loaded our bikes on the barge for Wadi Halfa. We only got on the ferry two days later.
The famous ferry between Aswan and Wadi Halfa. What can I say? It’s an experience and a half!
We arrived at the port around ten in the morning. We headed straight to the ticketing office to sort out tickets. We all decided to take first class cabins so we could have a place to store our baggage. Then we headed off to board the ferry. We were WAY early as the ferry was only set to leave around 16:00.
A first class cabin consists of a set of bunk beds, and air conditioner and if you’re lucky (I was) a window. You do NOT want to have to use the toilets, as it’s absolutely revolting! The food was actually quite good.
We headed out onto the deck to watch as people boarded and goods were loaded onto the, already, overloaded ferry. 16:00 came and gone and we finally got word from some of the other passengers that we were waiting for a group of forty young Sudanese men that were caught trying to cross to Libya illegally. They got lost in the desert and were now being taken back to Sudan. The sorry-looking bunch arrived around 18:30 and we finally set off around 19:00!
Francois, Obai and I went to have dinner, which consisted of foul (a bean dish), bread and some salad. Next day's lunch was the same but with chicken added. Obai kept teasing me saying I’m like a typical Egyptian because I love foul and drink a lot of tea!
After dinner we all turned in for the night to pass the 20-something-hour journey to Wadi Halfa a little faster. I woke up around 03:00 and went outside on deck and found a spot between the hundreds of people sleeping under the stars to watch the stars overhead. Absolutely gorgeous! I considered dragging my sleeping bag outside to also lie under the stars as I crossed from Egypt to Sudan. But the chilly wind soon had me retreating back to my cabin.
I was sad to leave Egypt. I left my heart there and will certainly return again soon!
