Prisoners in Egypt and the relief of Khartoum!

  Just as we thought things couldn’t get any worse…. they did. Since we had been waiting for 9 days in the savage heat and infuriating indolence of Aswan we decided that for the sake of our own sanity we would make a brief trip to the famous temple of Abu Simbel some 300km to the South. By now it was the end of Ramadan and the festival of Eid had begun meaning that all public offices were closed, and with it any chance of catching a ferry until next week. With that we set off after dark on the lonely highway that disappears into the Sahara desert. We were waved on cheerfully through the first police checkpoint, which came as a surprise since tourists are supposed to be part of a convoy. However with each checkpoint the questions grew lengthier and the Police more interested. Despite this we managed to make it to Abu Simbel by catching up with the convoy and tagging along to the ancient ruins where we witnessed the impressive sunrise along with coach loads of package tourists.

We checked in to a filthy hotel called the Abu Simbel tourist village riddled with lice- the only one within our budget, where the gun toting hotelier eyed us with suspicion and immediately called the Police. We were surprised at just how militant the place was, there appeared to be more uniforms than civilians and even the children were all armed with toy guns, playfully sniping us as we walked around town. By the late afternoon, just as we were pondering our situation a fleet of secret Police cars screeched up the dirt track and placed us under immediate house arrest. After searching the ambulances we were subjected to 3 tiresome hours of interrogation. Despite not actually charging us with any specific crime, they were convinced that all of our paperwork was forged since it did not have an ‘official stamp’. The questioning was all rather pointless and centered mainly on what our occupations were and which Christian denomination we belonged to. They were specifically interested in why anyone would bother to drive through so many countries for no personal gain in their eyes. They could not understand the concept of charity and the fact that we were not getting paid for such an arduous journey. Furthermore the beady eyed Secret policeman said that he did not believe that we were visiting the tourist sites and insinuated that we must be smugglers or spies since we were not part of a tour group. To top it off we were told that we were forbidden to drive anywhere in Abu Simbel and that our passports would be confiscated for the night to check our visas were genuine. Thoroughly fed up with Egypt and the Egyptians we spent a sleepless night in the flea pit and found that our passports were still not forthcoming. It took a further six hours of insistence and calls to the British Embassy until our passports were returned.

'Sword' our secret detail

Under an armed Police escort we were evicted from Abu Simbel and returned to Aswan where we were immediately assigned a Secret Police detail to follow us. Like a scene from a poorly written boys own spy novel, these Ray Ban wearing agents followed us like shadows for three days. Wherever we went, whether by foot or car they would be on our tails, hiding behind trees or parking up two or three cars behind. Of course they were pretty conspicuous, especially since our hotel lobby was now full with these people pretending to talk on their mobiles whenever we walked past so for our own amusement we would give them a knowing nod or even a wave adding to their embarrassment. Eventually, when the Police realised just how farcical the situation was, one of them, introducing himself only as ‘Sword’ approached us and told us that he was under orders to follow us until we left Egypt. By now Mahmoud had promised us that the ferry would be leaving on Monday and so since we had a couple of days to kill we decided to make the most of our shadow and took them on a jolly runaround. We fixed the cars, took a Felucca ride on the Nile and went fishing, and these poor blokes had to follow us everywhere. Finally on Monday we went back to the port, sensing that it would be for the final time, yet not wanting to tempt fate and claim victory until we were well and truly free of Aswan. It took all morning but we were cleared through customs and immigration and loaded the cars onto the rickety old barge amid piles of Rice and boxes of tuppaware. We had no choice but to pay the extortionate price of 20,000 Egyptian pounds but by now it didn’t matter- we were leaving Egypt.

Mahmoud- glad to be rid of us

Waving goodbye to all the characters of this sordid farce- the cheerful Mahmoud, the horrid Rashad and the sinister Policemen, we set sail with a crew of Nubian sailors out of Aswan and southwards, down lake Nasser to the Sudanese frontier, where, we hoped, the others would be waiting.

By now we are a full 2 weeks behind schedule which means that we will not have any more rest days and will need to drive solidly for 2 weeks through Africa if we have any hope of the group making it to Malawi as a team. The others have been sweating it out in Khartoum now for 4 days and Ruth is waiting in Addis for us but we hope to be back on track soon. I think next time we will avoid Egypt with its obstructive Police state mentality, harassing locals, ridiculous bureaucracy and stone throwing children.

The 'barge'

2 days passed slowly as the barge trundled along at 5mph winding its way with our ambulances and Steve’s Landrover (another overlander we had been stranded with) and us baking nicely on the shadeless metal tin can. The crew muttered to themselves and despite our offers of Baksheese refused to sail through the night due to the dangers of the river. With nothing to do but read and sleep we pondered whether or not the rest of the gang would in fact wait our their own pergatory in Khartoum.

The crew

To our relief they did. We passed through customs on tuesday in the lonely outpost at Wadi Halfa where the famous Mazar stood with our papers at the ready and before we knew it we were being waved off into the Nubian desert. Another 2 days of solid driving by Will and Lev resulted in a near stop stopping accident when a Sudanese Policeman thoughtlessly left a tractor tyre in the middle of the road- unlit- at night causing Lev to swerve off the road and lose a wheel. Nevertheless we patched up quickly enough and barely gave a thought to the impressive desrert to our flanks. Finally at one o clock on thursday the two ambulances came screetching to a halt in the chaotic streets of Khartoum and found the rest of the team asleep in the lobby of their hotel. It was a welcome reunion after 11 days of staying put. We decided immediately to crack on and be done with deserts once and for all. Ethiopia awaits…