The border to Egypt we cross while we are fast asleep, well, for a few hours at least. It would be exaggerated to pretend that we really slept on that dirty ferry boat from Wadi Halfa (Sudan) to Aswan. We begin to count the final hours on board of the ship as soon as the sun begins to rise but have to wait a few more hours until our odyssey is over and everyone has obtained a visa. Finally they let us loose in Egypt, the ancient land of the pharaohs!
Our Egyptian journey begins with mixed feelings. It is less than two months ago that the Egyptian revolution of January 25th took place and the country got rid of President Mubarak. Since then the military is in power and the country seems to be calm. We are, however, a little tensed (just look across the border to Libya!).
The city of Aswan, however, welcomes us in such a friendly way that we forget all our worries immediately. The formidable Nile streams leisurely through the city, on its shore grow beautiful palm trees, surrounded by giant sand dunes. We watch picturesque Felucca boats and horse carriages passing by, have a tea and join the locals in smoking a chicha (waterpipe). The atmosphere is extremely relaxed. Yes, there is a soldier or policeman at every corner, but even those guys are relaxed and smile...
"It will take a few days until we will manage to release your trucks from the harbor", explains our Egyptian "fixer" Mustapha. (In order to accelerate things our Wadi-Halfa-clique decided once more to hire a fixer.) On Friday no one works in Egypt, on Saturday a referendum takes place to decide about the Egyptian constitution, not before Sunday can we begin to release "Archie" from prison. Luckily the boys are in charge to get our trucks back while we humble females enjoy ourselves in town. The Egyptian border procedures must have been really painful, just imagine...
Imagine a filthy small harbor, hundreds of refugees are waiting for their papers to be processed, garbage and fish rotting under the burning sun. Egyptian civil servants take their time (where is the engine number!?), drink a tea or two, have a chat, snoke cheap Egyptian cigarettes (probably conficated from some poor soul), everyone speaks Arabic (only)... Half a day later we have our "Archie" back, he is in really good shape and is now equipped with interesting new Arabic license plates!
As soon as we have our trucks back our little Wadi-Halfa group splits up. Georges and I decide to drive back near to the Sudanese border to visit the temple of Abu Simbel. What follows during the next days resembles a cultural firework consisting of ancient temples, ruins, graves and sculptures - so beautiful that words cannot describe them. You really must visit those Egyptian treasures yourself! Right now is a good time because there are hardly any other tourists - if you visit them early you have the sites all for yourself!!!
- Abu Simbel
- Luxor temple
- Karnak
- Valley of the kings (seen from Assuan, no photos allowed on site)
Our minds still full of hieroglyphics, we leave Luxor's Valley of the Kings and drive into the Libyan desert. Beyond the border a war is in full swing, but we do not notice anything. On a perfect tar road we visit oasis after oasis but are not really impressed. The small villages have grown too quickly and have lost all their former charm. The white desert, however, is simply stunning!
Bizarre rock formations combined with splendid isolation convince to linger a little while...
...before we set out to visit the last remaining highlight of this journey - the Gizeh pyramids!
To finally be face to face with these ancient pyramids almost makes me cry. It is not the sight of the pyramids alone, but to reconsider how we got here! We indeed drove all the way from Halifax to Ushuaia and from Dakar to Cape Town and to Cairo! Our trusted Land Rover Archie has 110.000 kilometers more on the clock - and we have not been back home in almost two years!
And thus this journey ends: we have booked a ferry on April 10 which will get all of us from Alexandria to Venice. At Easter we are back in Luxembourg! You might ask what comes next?! Who knows - and anyway that is another story entirely!
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