Wonderful (or Was it) Western Desert

Cairo marked the end of the road for a substantial part of our group. Twelve of the original party were saying goodbye here and we were sad to lose a few like minded souls. We had always had someone to chat to, play cards with, or have a beer or two with. The first part of the tour had gone well but we were rather apprehensive about the next bit and the new members of our group. A sighting of 4 rather unenthusiastic souls in the lobby did nothing to improve our outlook. After the night of Karoke we boarded the truck and to our delight the new 5 were not those we’d spotted the night before. They were, while quiet initially, a similarly fantastic bunch to the lot we had left behind. And just as well, we had 3 days with them and nothing else but desert. It’s ironic that we were drawn to see a place where there’s nothing much to see. So many people head out to see the western desert, but for the most part there’s absolutely nothing to see. Perhaps it’s the lack of landscape that becomes the attraction, and the vastness of that nothingness. Unfortunately this seemed lost on at least two of my companions (Adam and Kelly) who were heard saying multiple times, “ is this it?” (Photo - The Desert and I, Credit - Adam.)


The days were all rather similar and as such the desert experience has merged into one incredibly long drive. Day 1, 12 hours through the white desert to our campsite amongst strange whitish limestone formations some of which Kel described as mushrooms. This was the 1st true camping of the trip and apart from Pasq who had a wolf circling him most of the night, we all had a great time sleeping out under the stars. Day 2 - A million hours drive through the black desert, which was undiscernible from the white desert, to a tiny desert oasis (read really dusty, dirt town) of unmemorable name. Stopped to look at an art gallery/house on the way where Adam was disappointed with the watercolour prices. Incredibly we found some wifi from the roof where we sleep that night and caught up on a few emails. Day 3 - a least a million hours drive to a Nubian village, just across the Nile from Aswan. Yes we had made it back to the Nile and quite a few members of the group were stoked to be back near civilisation, and flushing loos.

Mystical Mt Sinai, the Suez, 1 night in Cairo, karaoke, and a KFC run by deaf people.

Leaving the relaxing Dahab we headed inland to Mt Sinai. At the base of the biblical mountain sits St Katherine’s Monastery (which houses the famous Burning bush, or a descendant of). The itinerary included a walk to the top in order to watch sunrise. For some reason most people think that climbing a small rocky mountain is not painful enough, and think that climbing it in the middle of the night, in order to watch sunrise is a much better idea. Having climbed Sinai last time I was here (that time for sunset, a much more pleasant undertaking) there was no way I was missing a night of sleep to watch the sun complete its daily birth from the eastern horizon. Perhaps unfortunately my lack of enthusiasm rubbed off on the others, or maybe they truly saw the pointlessness of climbing a largely insignificant (to us unreligious types anyway) rocky peak in the middle of the night. Either way we all opted for a nearby guesthouse and a good nights sleep. After the escapes of my birthday celebrations the night before, everyone was asleep as soon as their heads hit the rather hard pillows.(Photo above: Breakfast with the truck in front of Mt Sinai)

We awoke refreshed, but down a few pints of blood courtesy of the local mosquitoes. A long day driving through the Sinai peninsular got us to the Suez canal and the ever amusing sight of ships moving through the desert. As you can’t get very close to the actual canal due to security reasons, it looks like the massive cargo ships are simply moving through the desert. After negotiating the Cairo traffic with liberal use of the horn (a thoroughly unenjoyable experience for our driver Yo), we arrived and, of course, headed straight to that beacon of culinary excellence, KFC. But it was not only the delicious chicken that drew us in, the opportunity to give something back to the Egyptian community (the restaurant is entirely run by deaf individuals) also attracted us. Perhaps. Or maybe it was just the chicken. Either way, we sought the safety of the deep fryer, and while our hearts may have suffered, our bowels were thankful. After a little Karaoke, we were off to bed, in preparation for our trip into the western desert the next day. (Photos: Above Adam gets in some liquid refreshment on the way to Cairo. Below, filming the crazy Cairo traffic)

Delightful Dehab

Situated in a picturesque bay, full of coral, Dahab is a red sea diving paradise. We had plenty of time here and there was only a few things on the itinerary: dive, eat, drink and chill out. After a few more dives in the red sea (including the famous Blue hole) we really were convinced that this was one of the most spectacular places to dive in the world. I believe that together with Sipdan island in Borneo and the far reaches of the upper great barrier reef off far north Queensland it is the best in the world. The abundance of fish and brightly coloured coral make it hard to know where to look during the 50 minutes you get moonlighting in their underwater world. (Photo: Author, Pasq and our tour leader Neil celebrating)

The bay, while flush with fish and coral, is also completely flanked by waterfront restaurants. And unlike a lot of the rest of Egypt, the food is quite good. Breakfast in particular was a surprise as we got a merciful rest form the ever present sweet, stale bread, eggs and jam. With eating and diving taken care of, the only thing left was to celebrate and my (belated) birthday provided the (seldom needed) excuse. Churchill’s Bar provided an ideal location, especially from my friends point of view, as shouting me a drink would never cost them more than three Australian dollars. A thoroughly enjoyable night was had by all, perhaps apart from Dan, an young, rowdy, Aussie travel agent with dreds who fell over at the bottom of the stairs and rolled his ankle so severely he couldn’t walk. Despite the late hour and a blood alcohol level which in any other country would preclude any kind of Doctoring, we strapped up the ankle and sent him off to bed. Adam was missing, and it later became clear he had joined an unknown Russian sailor and driven around in a taxi until it was abundantly clear nothing else was open. A quick visit to the local Doc the next morning and Dan returned with the words, “I’ve broken some bone in my foot”. Despite being unable to spot the break from his xrays we all concluded a bit of plaster wouldn’t hurt and so he continued the trip on crutches.

Wonderous Wadi Rum and Aqaba, Jordan

Back on our trusty truck again, we headed for Wadi Rum, the obligatory Jordanian desert stop. Boarding old landdrovers we headed off into the desert with our (decided young looking) local drivers. Another distinctive environment, the rock formations and sand dunes kept Lawrence (of Arabian fame) captivated here for years. After some sand boarding, some dune climbing and a fair bit of driving we were off to Aqaba, our departure point for Egypt. Being on the red sea, we were able to squeeze in a quick dive (the Cedar Pride wreck) between sitting by the pool and sipping cheaper Egyptian beer. Easily in the top five dive sites in the world, the red sea did not disappoint, especially when I found a 500 Saudi note, worth around $150AUS, ten meters down next to a piece of coral!

In theory, that night we were to board an overnight ferry that would carry us (and our truck) over the seas to Egypt. Egyptian transport and customs being what they are, a 40 km journey became a 11 hour epic as we waited for Egyptian customs to clear the truck for at least 5 hours. During the wait we treated the locals to a game of backyard cricket, utilising the parking lot as the pitch. Finally the man with the correct stamp had been located, showered, and driven leisurely to work, where he could use his stamp on the trucks paperwork. A new set of numberplates for use in Egypt had arrived and we had completed our medical by walking through a room occupied by one guard and an Egyptian official. Egyptian customs satisfied (and educated on the finer points of cricket), we headed for Dahab, our splendidly relaxing location for the next 3 days. (Photos - Wadi rum)