An 'interesting' few days in Egypt!

So, where to start? After two months on the road as a team of three, the RWD crew was reduced to two last week, as Cindy left to return to Brussels. It is a terrible shame that we have lost such a vital member of the team, but as is the nature of such projects, things don’t always, or even often, run 100% smoothly. The reasons behind Cindy’s departure are personal ones, and she will update the blog herself to explain her reasons shortly.

In the meantime, the journey has truly entered into ‘expedition territory’. On a personal note, one of the benefits I was most looking forward to throughout this project, was being ripped away from my comfort zone, and challenged on a number of different levels, and challenged we have been. Firstly, just a side note, the Egyptian people are lovely, and the roads great. It is often discussed about how policed the roads are in Egypt, with checkpoint after checkpoint. This is true, but we have found them to be more of a help (I’ll explain later) than a hindrance (maybe a sign of the post-Mubarek era), and have certainly felt no level of frustration towards them.

On Saturday we spent the day with Ahmed, the Communication’s Officer for ‘The Brooke’ in Cairo, and a mobile vet team, at the pyramids in Giza. The working animals in Egypt, as well as their owners have suffered a huge amount of difficulty since the January 25th Revolution began. With tourists avoiding a newly ‘unstable’ Egypt, it has been extremely difficult for them to make any kind of decent living, and with families to feed, the animals are losing out. In reaction to this, ‘The Brooke’, throughout Egypt, have been working on a free food programme, to help both the owners and the animals during this difficult period. The only thing I can say to anyone reading, is please do continue to visit Egypt, it is really extremely safe, and in many areas so reliant on tourism.

After this, our plan was to drive for a few hours on Saturday evening, to at least begin to make inroads into the mammoth journey from Cairo to Luxor, as we had to be with ‘The Brooke’ in Luxor by the Monday. We were initially held up by a complete lack of traffic control just south of Cairo, but soon were on our way, and driving through amazing riverside settlements. The way of life here really was the definition of basic, with farming seemingly the only industry. Driving a night in Egypt is an experience in itself, with people opting not to use their lights, but rather to flash them quickly when about 20 yards away, and the picturesque riverside settlements only added to this further. I would not overly recommend driving in Egypt at night, however as long as you stay aware, it is an enchanting experience. Eventually we stopped at Beni Suef, and wild camped outside a roadside café, for an early start the following morning.

First thing on Sunday morning, we headed to the Desert Highway, which is the fast road between Cairo and Luxor. It is a great road, but can be quite challenging, with extreme heat (45-50 degrees), and mirages on the horizon, making it hard to see ahead. Also, a note to anyone else taking this road; there is not a single petrol station for the duration, approximately 250km, so make sure you are well stocked. Luckily, both our Jerry cans had been topped up earlier in the day, and once we left the highway, we filled up a four fifths empty tank for six pounds! With a major lump out of our trip achieved by lunch, we stopped briefly in Asyut for food and money, and continued onwards, with a plan to picnic once we were out of the city.

Some of the little villages we passed on the way out of Asyut, were really something else. I’m not sure how to quite describe them, but they were beautiful, and intriguing places. Eventually we stopped to get drinks, and decided to ask the shop owner if it was okay to cook under the shade of his veranda. What happened over the course of the next two hours is a bit of a blur, but it involved me being watched as a cooked up my vege pasta specialty, by approximately thirty people. It was incredible, and the children were a delight, if not a little to enthusiastic at times. We will soon be posting footage of my cookery class for you all to see.

After this, we hit the road again for the final 200 miles to Luxor, and it would be a long 200 miles. The car that had been running like a dream since Amman, begin to stutter, and soon overheat. We pulled over immediately to allow it to rest, topped up the water and rested ourselves too. After 45 minutes we continued, but the car was stuggling, and when white smoke began pouring out of the exhaust my heart sunk. HEAD GASKET!! I popped open the hood, and my fears were confirmed. We were 40 km short of Luxor, and with a Head Gasket problem, it was crap. We thought we had overcome the car issues for a little while at least, and here we were facing problems again, one week on. The gasket should have been replaced when the engine head was checked in Amman, and clearly wasn’t. It was a 100 % avoidable situation, and one which could potentially leave us, stranded for another fortnight in Egypt.

I took the decision to remove the lid to the overflow tank, and thus minimise any further damage to the engine, and try to make it to Luxor. As we headed off, the car was clearly unhappy, and having been on the road since half seven that morning, so were we. Eventually we accepted defeat, and grinded to a halt outside a small village outside of Asyut. As the children rushed up to greet us, I asked for ‘Baba’, and then requested that we could camp for the night on his land. With a nod, and a handshake, the deal was done, and after moving the car, we set up camp for the night, or so we thought.

Things are never so easy it seems, when you’re on the road, and soon the police were mentioned, and after we tried to decipher what was happening for half an hour, we just said ‘we sleep now, wake us up when you have to’, and settled down in the tent. After an hour, we were woken by a local policeman, and told that it was too dangerous to camp there, and that we must go with him in the car. We tried to explain that the car was broke, but to no avail. As the car struggled to move, and eventually refused to start, we had to be towed out of our little camp spot, with no idea where we were heading. After about 20 minutes or so, we arrived at a checkpoint, and were told we could sleep there for the night, and that we would e guarded. Tired, confused, annoyed, and half asleep we nodded, and settled down for a night in the car.

The following morning (Monday), we woke up and began to work out how we could possibly get out of our current predicament. We had policeman with machine guns over their back poke around at our engine, in the hope they could fix it, despite me pointing to the head and signalling a big explosion. Eventually we called our contact with ‘The Brooke’ in Luxor, and we were saved. He leapt into action, and soon we were being towed to a garage in Luxor, by one of their mobile clinic Hilux cars. We didn’t even need to pay and Baksheesh, whch I’m sure we would have had to, if they weren’t around. Once the mechanic had looked over the vehicle, and run a quick diagnostic test, he confirmed it was indeed the head gasket, and that he would be able to make up a replacement and fit it by tomorrow, for only 65 pounds. It’s not ideal, not having the original part, but we can only hope that he is a skilled machinist, and our delay will be kept to a minimum.

We are now in The Brooke’s administration office in Luxor, and having filmed for a few hours, are now ready to retire to a nearby campsite for some much needed food and rest. We will be with their mobile clinics again tomorrow morning, and will then head down to Aswan for Thursday, where we will again spend time with ‘The Brooke’, and, inshallah, catch the ferry to Sudan the following Monday. We are fatigued, anxious, hungry (haven’t eaten all day), hot, and ever so slightly dehydrated. Our bites from Sinai have, however, all but gone, and we still feel blessed as after every dip we get an incomparable high, and with a project of this scale, perfection is not in the offing.