user – Monty The Land Rover

25Nov 2009 by user No Comments

Egypt Tips – including Wadi Halfa Ferry

Some points about Egypt.... 1) Essam at Landrover in Cairo is the man to visit should you have any problems with your vehicle - essam.nawar@mmgroup-eg.com / 015 412 523 At the time of writing this, the mechanics are based out of Cairo on the Ismalia road (about 1 hour out of the centre of Cairo) 2) There is a parts shop in the centre of downtown Cairo on Fahmy Street a 2 minute walk from Tahir Square - Essam knows where it is exactly Getting the Aswan / Wadi Half Ferry 1) At the time of writing this (Nov 2009) the only way you can get from Egypt in to Sudan overland is by the Aswan/Wadi Halfa ferry. We have heard that there is a tarmac road the whole way…

21Nov 2009 by user No Comments

Day 52 – Sudan

Africa, Blog, Sudan

Location: Blue Nile Sailing Club, Khartoum Miles travelled: 778miles (Wadi Halfa to Abri - 121m, Abri to Karima - 305m, Karima to Khartoum - 352m) Weather: 38ºC - too hot to handle Today we mostly listened to: Treasure Island It has been a while since we have been able to upload the blog - mud huts in the middle of Sudan don't have power or internet yet. So I think I finished up last time with the ferry. The morning of our arrival in Sudan we saw Abu Simbel from the boat. Even at 8am in the morning we could spot the hoards of tourists there - much nicer to see from the boat. The ferry got to the Sudanese boarder late morning and we finally arrived in the port…

16Nov 2009 by user No Comments

Day 47 – Egypt

Africa, Blog, Egypt

Location: On a ship somewhere close to the Sudan border Miles travelled: 0 miles by car (several by boat) Weather: 34ºC - Still Sizzling Today we mostly listened to: Huffing and puffing of Egyptian men loading the boat After another restful day in Aswan yesterday spent getting water and food and sorting out money for Sudan, we enjoyed our last beers for a while on the rooftop of the hotel. This morning we woke early to get down to the port to load Monty on to the barge and get our spaces on the infamous Aswan/Wadi Halfa ferry. Despite being told by Mr Saleh that we had to be there no later than 10am, we spent pretty much the whole day waiting around for Monty to be loaded on to…

14Nov 2009 by user No Comments

Day 45 – Egypt

Africa, Blog, Egypt

Location: Hathor Hotel, Aswan Miles travelled: 2 miles (around town) Weather: 34ºC - Still Sizzling Today we mostly listened to: An assortment of Egyptian football chants The alarm went off early this morning and it was with some trepidation that we travelled back to the office of Mr Saleh to get our ferry ticket. We had heard from George through our blog that more overlanders were on their way so we were keen to make sure we still had our spot for Monty and that Pim and Git were first on the reserve list. When we got to his office we met up with a German couple (Anna and Robert), another Dutch pair and also John and Denise from Yorkshire (travelling in their super luxious Land Cruiser). The formalities were…

13Nov 2009 by user No Comments

Day 44 – Egypt

Africa, Blog, Egypt

Location: Hathor Hotel, Aswan Miles travelled: 2 miles (on a Felluca boat) Weather: 34ºC - Still Sizzling Today we mostly listened to: Ummm, nothing actually We had a 'free' day today as there isn't anything we can arrange for the ferry until Saturday morning. So after doing some washing and shopping chores in the morning we then went in search of a barber to cut Ric's increasingly wild hair. Ric has had his long curly locks for a good few years now, so it was a little bit of a wrench - still, much better for the hot weather. We then headed to the Nubian museum in Aswan and spent a couple of hours wandering around. It contains relics from a vast array of Nubian history going right back to…

12Nov 2009 by user No Comments

Day 43 – Egypt

Africa, Blog, Egypt

Location: Hathor Hotel, Aswan Miles travelled: 4 miles (from campsite to town) Weather: 34ºC - Sizzling Today we mostly listened to: Adam and Joe podcast We awoke this morning at Adam's House campsite. We took the decision, along with Pim and Git, that the facilities at the campsite weren't that great and therefore we'd head in to Aswan to find a cheap hotel. We want to do a felucca ride and visit Elephanine island - which we need to be central for. We packed up camp and headed off to meet Mr. Salah for 9am. We thought we might be a little late as Mitch (the car of Pim and Git) got stuck in the sand and we had to get the ladders out for them to use. Luckily it…

11Nov 2009 by user No Comments

Day 42, Egypt

Africa, Blog, Egypt

Location: Adam's House, Aswan (N24 10.135 E32 51.971) Miles travelled: 131 Miles Weather: 34ºC - Sizzling Today we mostly listened to: Pole to Pole, Michael Palin We woke at the Rezeiky camp this morning and packed up the car around 11am. We've really enjoyed the campsite here because it has beer, internet, hot showers and we've met lots of other lovely people. The only sour taste in our mouth is the campsite owner trying to rip us off all the time. Be warned, if you ever stay here the owner will offer to go out and get you lots of things in order to put a huge mark-up on everything. We asked whether he could get a socket set for us and he came back with a cheap and shoddy…

10Nov 2009 by user No Comments

Day 41 – Egypt

Africa, Blog, Egypt

Location: Rezeiky Camp, Luxor Miles travelled: 2 miles (on a bike) Weather: 34ºC - Sizzling Today we mostly listened to: Kings of Leon We've been in Luxor for three days now and so far had a fantastic time. The Rezeiky camp is nice and we've even managed to meet some other overlanders whilst being here. Git and Pim from Holland turned up the day after us - they are travelling to Tanzania for a wedding - Johanna and Anselm - who have travelled with their dog all the way down to Cape Town and are now on their way back home - and finally George from Northampton who is cycling the whole way on his own - either really brave or slightly mad! We visited the Valley of the Kings…

07Nov 2009 by user No Comments

Day 38 – Egypt

Africa, Blog, Egypt

Location: Rezeiky Camp, Luxor Miles travelled: 170 miles yesterday and 350 miles today Weather: 34ºC - Scorcio Today we mostly listened to: Louis Theroux, The Call of the Weird We awoke yesterday at the Aqua Sun hotel and headed off at about 10. We were planning to get as far as we could and find somewhere to camp but as we got closer to Mut at lunchtime we decided that it looked quite nice and worth staying. We actually went to a place outside of Mut called Al Qasr and stayed at the Desert Lodge which had some spectacular views. They let us camp in the car park next to the hotel and we enjoyed an afternoon of reading on their terrace. Ric even managed to find a welder in…

05Nov 2009 by user No Comments

Day 36 – Egypt

Africa, Blog, Egypt

Location: Aqua Sun Hotel, Fahara, Middle of the White Desert Miles travelled: 46 miles (N27 04.835 E27 55.361) Weather: 34ºC - Sunny, freezing at night! Today we mostly listened to: 101 Classical hits So we awoke this morning at around 6 to the sound of nothing - wonderful after the constant beeping noise of Cairo. A breakfast of porridge and tea followed and we began to pack up the tent around 8. As we were doing so we noticed some camels in the distance heading towards us. As they got closer we noticed they had some people in tow - so guessed it was a safari. Turned out to be a lovely French couple who stopped to say hello and admire Monty. We got the standard response we get everywhere…