Egypt

The land of Pyramids, camels, history and extreamly crazy drivers. We thought the Turkish drivers where bad but they are angels in comparison to the Egyptian drivers. Since the revolution January 2011 it seems there are no laws, rules or regulations and the police just are not bothered. It is a real shame for Egypt though as there are now very few tourists here as the media has portrayed the country in a bad light. We definitely were surprised if we saw anyone who was not local and often had places to ourselves. This was lovely however as there are few tourists we got hassled non stop by every one all the time "Do you want a felucca, do you want a taxi, do you want a caleche (horse and carrige), can I help which was nice but it was never free and you even had to haggle for everything.

After our 5 days in Cairo we were ready to head out and got the train to Alexandria where we were going to collect our car. Alexandria being on the Mediteranean we thought would be lovely and peaceful but it was like a mini Cairo on the coast. We found a cheap hotel "Hotel Union" which coast us equivalent of £15 for both of us a night and it had a balcony which looked over the sea which to be honest was beautiful. However no air con and as it was 40 degrees you had to leave the balcony doors open and well it was extreamly noisy. I don't think I could explain in words how noisy it was but millions of cars go past and all of the hoot every 2 seconds and this goes on all day and night.

We arrived in Alexandria on the Monday and the car was due in with Grimaldi lines on the Thursday 4 days late so we explored Alexandria and found the port ect. On Thursday from out balcony we saw the sweetest thing, the ship arriving with our car hopefully on board. The ship arrived at 8am but nothing seemed to happen at speed and then it was Friday which was a day off as it is in Egypt and so it was not till Saturday where all the manic paperwork began to get our car back. This is what we had to do which is such a joke

1. Pay £50 to prove the car passport that we got in the UK and paid a lot of money for is original and not stolen.

2. Apply for an entry permit for only me (as the car is in my name) to get into the port to get the car back which took 3 hours and many signatures

3. Pay £150 for customs taxes for driving our vehicle in Egypt and to get the right stamps ect

4. Pay a customs broker to help us sort all this out as we could not speak Arabic and no one spoke English and their system is so badly organised that we would never have found the buildings or people to speak to

5. Pay £77 for two huge fire pumps that you supposedly have to carry in your car (not sure where you would put them) and the sate of the Egyptian cars you are lucky if they have 4 wheels. I some how persuaded them we would have one and then sold it for half the price saving a little money but not much.

6. £50 for car insurance whilst driving in Egypt, you get a yellow piece of paper which basically tells you if you have an accident you are on your own.

7. £50 for 3 days parking within the port as you could not get your car out any quicker…..what a joke

8. £50 for fuel tax and licence plates as for some reason you have to drive round with Egyptian licence plates even though some of their cars don't even have a licence plate.

So after a long day doing battle at the port 4pm and I was told I could go. So now to get out of the port and pick Jonny up at the hotel I had to do battle with the Egyptian drivers and start to learn to use the horn all the time which took some getting used to. Sadly we lost a few things on the transit of the car as they where stolen either in Turkey or Egypt.

Jonny toolbox (quiet important for driving in Africa)

Shovel (again import for Africa and travel in sand)

My new walking boots which where for African hiking

Jonnys flip flops and hoody top

So very sad and disappointing and so we were just ready to get out of Alexandria now and made for Cairo on the start of our journey south through Africa.

After a 3 hour drive, a wagon driving towards us down the wrong side of the motorway and lots of melons sprawled on the road from overloaded trucks we made it to Cairo. We found a lovely spot to camp near the pyramids of Giza and besides the calls to prey from the many mosques you could not hear the sounds of horns thank god.

Filled the car up with Diesel which cost £7 (oh yes we love that) and headed for the western desert. We spent 3 days travelling through the desert and camping which was great.

Filling up with fuel was interesting as in the desert there are not many stations, everyone wants fuel and Egyptians don't do ques.

On the last day out of the desert we drove for 10 hours (5 hours each) to reach Luxor. It was extreamly hot and god bless air conditioning. Jonny was slightly concerned about the tyres on hot tarmac and the desert road it full of blown out tyres but the trusty car did us proud.

At Luxor we spent a day tracking down some more tools and gave the car a service and the other day visiting the valley or the kings and queens which was amazing to see. Luxor is as hot as the desert but with added humidity as it is in luscious green from the river Nile. So with the 40 degree heat and many calls to prey it made getting a decent nights sleep difficult. In the past you would have had to drive from Luxor to Aswan in Convoy with Police escourt but not anymore as we found out when we chatted to a Catholic Bishop in town.

Aswan which is the most southerly point of Egypt we will go and where we hope to board the ferry from the high dam to Sudan. We are currently staying in a hotel in Aswan as it is central for sorting our paperwork to take the car out of the country and to get the ferry.

Today I had to go to the traffic court to get a piece of paper to say I had not committed a driving offence whilst in Egypt (I mean really what a joke when no one here obeys the rules and driving the wrong way down the road is normal). When we found the building which was not signposted and through some piles of rubbish I was told there was an offence on my licence that someone else had committed when they used the Egyptian licence I had been given but I would have to pay it to get the paper I needed……yes believe it. After 3 hours of being extreamly stubourn I got the paper without paying anything and left.

Tomorrow we have to visit the traffic police and then customs and fingers crost we will be on the ferry to Sudan at some point. We have enjoyed our time in Egypt, seen some amazing sites but it has had its difficulties and I think we are ready for country number 12.

Hope you are all well

All the best

Terri and Jonny