Cheers Joe_Strummer, it's good to be able to take photos again. My new camera is a Canon EOS550. A much cooler model than my old EOS450. So cool in fact that there are more pics than texts in this upload…


Cheers from Wadi Halfa, Sudan

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no risk - no fun

Sometimes you get more than you bargained for. It applies to our Africa trip much more than ever.
Leaving Sudan was much more adventurous than expected. It all started very easy. We found a good fixer to help us with all the paperwork. Many other overlanders describe the border crossing between Sudan and Egypt as the worst nightmare they experienced in Africa. The only way to travel between the two countries is the ferry between Wadi Halfa on the Sudanese side and Aswan in Egypt, a 17 hours boat trip on Lake Nasser. There is only one boat per week. And if you have a vehicle the amount of paperwork you need to do drives many travellers into sheer madness. However, thanks to our smart fixer Martin and me, we arrived in Wadi Halfa on Tuesday. And on Wednesday both of us and both of our bikes were on board the passenger boat to Aswan.
It's quite a decent sized boat, there were some 500 people on board. And lots and lots of luggage. Some people arrived with huge bags of firewood, some sort of grain and whatever else. Our bikes had to be sqeezed into the entrance doorway once everyone was on board. The fact that the bikes effectively made the exit impassable in an emergency did not seem to worry anyone. Why would there be an emergency anyway.
Our boat departed at around 5pm that Wednesday and a routine quickly developed. Martin and me and the other few overlanders on board stayed outside on the open top deck to enjoy the scenery. Most other people crowded downstairs in the hot and sticky common areas. The restaurant served some oily beans and bread with not much taste. In front of our bikes a small market appeared with women selling spices and small items. All spread out on some colourful sheets on the ground. Lots of people crowding around the bikes, items stored on top of our bikes. A really African atmosphere developed on board. Wherever we went on the boat there were people chatting, people eating, people smoking, people sleeping. Up outside on the top deck some Polish overlanders pitched a tent which heavily moved in the strong wind. Up there it was also the place for prayer. When the Imman announced prayer time over the loudspeakers big crowds gathered on the top deck, spread their little carpets and prayed facing the east coast of Lake Nasser. After watching a beautiful sunset we crossed the invisible water border to Egypt. Announced by big spotlights shining on the majestic temple of Abu Simbel right on the West shores. The huge statues of Ramses IV shining into the darkness of the surrounding desert and the lake. Rolling out our warm sleeping bags in a sheltered corner of the top deck we soon fell asleep under a clear sky full of stars.
At around 5am the next morning the loud voice of the imman out of the speakers woke us from our sleep. And soon a big crowd was praying next to us while we pretended to sleep in our corner. Watching the stars at the time I was wondering why they no longer prayed towards the East. Because now, according to the Polar Star our ship was heading East. Minutes later I was asleep again.
Just minutes after that an almighty rumbling noise of steel grinding onto something woke us up, the ship moving violently. People jumped up from their sleep. It was still dark. The boat leaning signinficantly to it's right hand side. And the back of the boat well below where it should be. Everything was now on some weird angle. What happened? Did we hit another boat? But there are no other boats on Lake Nasser. Announcements were made in Arabic language over the speaker. People nervously scrambled around the old timber boxes with the life jackets inside. Martin, looking at the lower deck at the back saw the rear of the ship being flooded. Shit. Whatever just happened, it wasn't good. More people in life vests crowded the upper deck nervously looking down the sides of the vessel into the darkness below.
What do you do? The boat was sinking. Just not yet. There might be more minutes. Or hours. Or it might not sink after all. But the leaning angle and the water in the rear seemed a clear sign. What to do? What to take? I just grabbed my passport, my credit card and the backup memory chip with all my Africa pics and stuffed it into my pockets. With our lifevests on we waited for the things to come. By now news spread around that we hit a rock.
We waited and nothing happened. The ship did not change it's leaning angle. The water level at the rear remained constant. The mood on board calmed down. And the sun started to rise.
Now having daylight the rock in the water was clearly visible to all. It sticked out of the water by maybe a meter. And continued underneath the surface as yellowish haze in the dark waters. Our ship sat on the part that sticked out of the water, the front well above the water surface. On the right hand side of that piece of rock. We seemed to be in a stable position but stuck. And alone. On both sides the coastline seemed much too far away as to be able to swim there. And what we saw was only desert. Yellow sand dunes against a blue sky. No mobile phone reception of any network.
With nothing better to do I started filling my small backpack with things I knew I could not replace so easily in Egypt. Like my documents, my little computer, my camera. My diary. Some presents collected during the journey. And my cash money. I was hundret percent sure that at this day my luggage would need to be left behind. And also my little Suzuki. During the collision Martin's bike fell against mine. At the same time as some people fell out of their beds. Martin put both bikes back on their side stand. The little market around them disappeared. Someone placed a life vest onto my little Suzuki. Would that help?
As far as I knew our boat was the only vessel on the lake. Apart from some slow freigt barges. And some small Police boats. How should we ever get 500 people back to dry land? Or our poor motorbikes deep down on the first deck? Blocking the exit?
And so we waited. And as we waited the situation on board calmed down more and more. Roumors spread. Like there will be another boat arriving at our position in four hours from Aswan. Or that there will be no boat. Or that there will be Police boats ferrying the passengers across. The Polish guys using a satellite phone. And also some Spanish overlanders talking to their embassy. One Egyptian passenger borrowing the satellite phone to call All Jazeihra. As he said - without the press nothing would ever happen. And nothing did happen. Arguments developed on board. With people fighting. And calming down again. The sun was shining and a cool breeze kept temperatures comfortable. At around ten o'clock the news seemed to consolidate around the fact that another vessel was on the way from Aswan to arrive here at 2pm. By now the food in the restaurant was finished. Also the tea bags. Only instant tea was still being served. People started taking their life vests off.
The mood on board was now litterally the famous 'we are all in one boat'. Many people talked to us. About many things, mostly about Egypt. And Islam. Many people kept praying. We were all alone out there on a rock on Lake Nasser, the 500 of us. The GPS showed our position miles away East of the usual course. We were now inside a bay of the Lake. And waited for help.
There is nothing we could do apart from waiting. It's such a helpless feeling. You don't know what happens to the boat. Rumours spread that if we had hit the rock just a bit more to the right the ship would have rolled onto it's side. Wind and waves could still do that. Or the pointless attempts of the captain to revers the boat off the rock with full engine power. We had no impact on whatever would happen to us. The knowledge of this really calmed me down. I don't know why but I hardly ever felt so calm as back then. Calm and also extremely aware of everything around us. Looking into the faces of our fellow passengers and knowing that most of them don't know how to swim. There was the young blind guy, being helped by an older man but always smiling. There were the ladies who the night before had their own little market stalls around our motorbikes on the lower deck. Still dressed into their colourful cotton sheets, sitting underneath the life rafts chatting. There was the Imman constantly praying with his little string of marbles in his hand. And so many more people with such an uncertain future at the time. Having my little backpack within reach I knew all I could do was done. Now it's just waiting.
It was around 3pm when two small outboarder speed boats arrived. Full with Police people who boarded via the sunken rear deck. And then, just after that, a small grey dot appeared on the horizon South West of us. An announcement was made that this was our rescue. The identical sister ship of ours. 'When boarding please take the same posotion as on our current ship'. It still took a long time for that grey dot to show the outlines of a ship and finally arrive. Although Aswan was to our North the ship came from the South because it had overshot our location by many km and had to turn back. Finally, 12 long hours after we hit the rock another ship carefully docked right next to us. I thought if worse had happend that morning these 12 hours would have had a very deadly potential for many of us.
Calmly but completely unorganised people started to jump across to the new ship on all decks. The two ships laid side by side, railings touching each other. With a significant height difference at the front and the rear.
Luggage was thrown across. Someone moved our motorbikes out of the way and crowds of people streamed through the door into the other ship. We were promised we can move the bikes across too once everyone else was on board. So we should be the last passengers to leave. No worries.
By design the only doors of the ships were located at the front part. The part which was raised by our ship resting on the rock. So even though the two doors of the two ships met horizontaly there was a step in height of around half meter. Which means the top of the door of the new boat was around half a meter below ours. And the bottom of our door half a meter above theirs. Which reduced the clearance of the way through by a meter. Enough to not fit the bikes through so easily. It took a lot of people to help, we had to turn down the mirrors, Martin had to take of the windshield. And still it was not easy to get the bikes through in the hot sticky air of the lower deck. Eventually though both bikes were parked across the exit door of the new boat again. With only minor damage and scratches. All good.
Now our new boat attempted to pull out the stuck boat from the rocks. Connecting the two with a long steel cable. The stuck boat in full revers power. Our boat steaming forwards. The steel cable snapped instantly. The stuck boat not moving. Our boat neither. Looked like the snapped cable did some damage to our propellers. Divers were sent down. While we were eating tasteless beans on board, courtesy to the shipping company. It took another hour till we finally got on our way again. Just when the sun went down at 7pm we were cruising North the four to five hour trip to Aswan. At around 9pm I was sleeping back on the top deck again under a clear sky of stars. Stirred up from the events of the day sleeping was not easy. Hours later excited shouting woke us up. 'ASWAN' people screamed at each other happily. It was now 11pm. Many came to us saying 'Welcome to Egypt'. 'Thanks and welcome home for you' I replied.
The same night all of us had to clear immigration, get all our luggage off board. Including the bikes. Which we parked at the Customs area. We would not see them again till Saturday. Customs was closed on Fridays. For all foreigners the shipping company arranged free accommodation in Aswan for two nights. While unloading local journalists started interviewing us.
Finally, after 3am on Friday morning we were sitting on our beds of the cheap hotel room. Happy to be there, so happy.
Saturday we hope to clear all the documents for our bikes. It's incredibly complicated and we hope that our fixer can help us here two so we can finish everything in one day. Fingers crossed. Welcome to Egypt.

__________________
no risk - no fun

Arriving in Wadi Halfa, our last town in Sudan


Parking the bikes in the exit way like this would not be possible in Australia. But here we were instructed to do so. Who expected an emergency?


After we hit the rock - people scrambling on the open top deck where we were sleeping that night


Looking down the side of the ship. The rock clearly visible under water.


The part of the rock sticking out of the water had now a big ship sitting on it.


12 hours after our accident the MV Sinai arrived to our rescue. It was the identical sister ship to ours. It was also the first time ever I have been rescued.


Looking back at our original ship still stuck on the rock. The front raised out of the water and the rear very close to the lake surface. Small Police vessels managing the scene.

__________________
no risk - no fun

Wow!! Quite an adventure Marco. I'm glad you got rescued. I was afraid while I was reading this story that you two would have to leave your bikes on board the ferry. Whew! Good luck with immigration. Grant Johnson's account of the trials and tribulations he went through getting into Egypt make that place sound like the bureaucracy there is terrible. Be safe!!

Ron (USA)

Bloody Nora, what a yarn to tell when your old and grey that will be.

Hi mate,

Darrin here, in the green landy who you meet in Khartoum at 'National Camping Residence'.

Well done on sinking the ferry!! The road will be open soon....
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...pt-sudan-63126
Fingers crossed foreigners can use it as well.

Still in Khartoum (though have an air con room now!), heading out for a few weeks in the desert tomorrow. Good luck with the rest of the trip....

Darrin

Well there is good news and bad news. Bad news is that Ferry services seem to be cancelled for the time being. E.G. the one supposed to leave Aswan yesterday. Not a good time to be overlander.
Good news is that the damaged ship did not sink after all. They somehow got it off the rock and it is now sitting in Aswan to be repaired. So services might recommence soon.

__________________
no risk - no fun

After the Lake Nasser adventure cruise we spent some time relaxing in Aswan. In parts because it's worth celebrating to be here with our bikes. And in parts because Egyptian Customs are not the most efficient ones in the world. We left Sudan from Wadi Halfa on Wednesday, arrived in Aswan at Thursday late night and finished all the Customs procedures on Saturday afternoon. Crossing this border took us four days! But now we are free, have visa, Egyptian registration plates, insurance, authority to ride on Egyptian roads and contributed positively to the Egyptian Customs revenue. At times it was so ridiculous that it's almost worth paying an entrance fee to see this spectacle. Papers in Arabic and English flying around, being filled in by a whole bunch of people, getting mixed up, getting stamped by a whole different bunch of people. In between the tea brakes, the long disruptions to loudly argue with each other. And calming down the situation with another tea. All taking place in dirty offices while sitting on cheap broken chairs. Certainly one border crossing to only perform once in your life.

I decided to spend the Sunday in Aswan while Martin is on a quick tour to Abu Simbel. Aswan is a nice place. And against all the reputation that Egypt developed with travellers we are not being hassled. People are very friendly here, we hear a lot of 'Welcome to Aswan'. Which again, after our shipping story, sounds like a sweet melody to me. Also I heard from locals that we made it into local TV news, broadcasting that late night interview, me in front of my little Suzuki on our arrival at the Aswan pier after the prolonged boat journey
.
Back in Wadi Halfa my little Suzuki earned herself a full load of good Sudanese motor oil. And today in Aswan she got her airfilter nicely cleaned, her chain polished to shine with the new chain oil, her tyres are back to perfect pressure. And all the little things that happened on that boat journey got rectified by me. The handlebars bent straight again. The indicators put back in place. And also the bent mirrors. She's a happy bike again. And to celebrate, both, she and me, just the two of us, did a big celebration loop around Aswan today. Nowhere special, I just wanted to go, to ride, no matter where. The km just flew past, accelerating through the gears in the chaotic Aswan traffic. To the happy noise of her little single cylinder. Just go and go and go. Through the city, past the market. Past many concrete apartment estates with streets full of taxis, motorbikes, horse and donkey carts. Along the Nile river with the ancient necropolis on the West bank across the water. Just go, no matter where.
It happened right there, while I was riding aimlessly around, that I felt relaxed, back to normal. The suspension of the previous days, the boat incident, the customs procedures, all falling behind while racing through Aswan on my little Suzuki. And never catching up again. That one night on the ship it felt like we came so close to loosing our bikes. So close. Sitting on my bike now felt rather special. And really enjoyable. All good again. The journey continues.

According to other travellers a journey through Libya would now be heaps easier than under Gadhaffi. The visa now readily available in the embassy in Cairo within five days. No invitation required, no tour company, no escort through the country. Two Italian motorcyclists came through Libya on their way South with no hassle. If all that is true Libya is shaping up as the way to go to Germany for us. The overland route through Syria looking darker than ever.
But for now we will enjoy more of Egypt and hope the place is better than it's reputation. Until now it certainly is. And there is lots more to see and do.

__________________
no risk - no fun

While stuck on board this leaning ship...


...this is what I was dreaming about. Being free again, riding my little Suzuki.
(Sunset at the Nile river in Aswan, now with Egyptian number plate)


Aswan city centre. It is here where most river cruise boats finish their journey. There is lots of them parked on the East bank. But not many tourists are around. The recent events in Egypt scared lots of visitors away to other destinations.


Greetings from home. An Aussie flag on a Felucca as an attempt to attract more costumers.


The first Big Mac since South Africa. Believe me, it was a really good one!


Little Suzuki and big Mosque in Aswan

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no risk - no fun

Yep, that's how I remember it. It was brilliant entertainment, and wonderful to be reminded of it in the way you describe. If you don't learn at least a little of Egyptian culture through the customs process, well..........


It was so good, we stayed longer than the one-month customs permit and did it all again a second time!! Such joy!

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TTR250 - London to Cape Town

Marco,

at first, thanks for the most enjoyable reading of your blog.
Your approach is sensitive, touching and surprises me.

Allow me to ask a question: Have you got contact with the Italians
who crossed Libya going south, or are they on any site?

I am leaving in august Brussels-Cape Town and obviously analysing
how to get in Egypt.

many thanks--------------geert

Yes indeed, but we only met them very briefly. One with a BMW1150GS, his friend with - can't remember which brand - but a Harley style cruising bike. They are currently stuck in Aswan because ship services to Wadi Halfa have been cancelled (due to our accident). Which is really inconvenient for they are on an extremely tight schedule.
Of what I have heard they got their visa for Libya in Rome without trouble. And crossed Libya with no problems.

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no risk - no fun

Wow, amazing story. Very glad you and everyone are ok, and the bikes are fine. Getting rescued from a sinking ship- that will be hard to top. But you never know.

Cheers mate, but I really don't want to top this.

__________________
no risk - no fun

The first week in Egypt is over. And to our own surprise we enjoy the country a lot. Many other travellers have warned us about Egypt, about being constantly hassled, ripped off, annoyed and asked for money. But it didn't happen. Not to any extent to talk about. Which is good. There are so many highlights instead. Little things like crossing the legendary Aswan Dam on our own motorbikes. Or riding along the Nile river. On beautiful paved roads running parallel along it's banks within the long narrow green oasis of Date Palms. A strip of oasis which runs a few hundret meters either side of the river.

We made it all the way to Luxor. If Egypt is world famous for it's history then Luxor is one main focal point of it all. Being the old capital of the pharaonic empire Luxor is full of history. On the way from Aswan to here we already stumbled across the awesome Edfu temple. Which is huge and impressive. But Luxor is certainly a league above.
First, arriving quite late, we were extremely lucky to find a good place to stay. Many hotels and hostels asked for exorbitant prices. We already gave up and looked for camping somewhere in the bush when we decided to give it one more go. Asking some local advise they sent us to a cheap hotel at Station Street. Martin waited at the bikes and I went in to inspect the rooms. And hey, they ticked all the boxes. Whatever I asked was immediately replied to in our favour. Cheap room? Yes. Free Wifi internet? Sure! Breakfast included? Yep. Hot shower? Yep. Clean room? Yep, looks brand new. Safe bike parking? Yep, just bring it into the staff quarters. With so many 'yes' we just couldn't say 'no'. We parked the bikes inside the hotel, driving them up the entrance stairs and through the restaurant, through two more doorways and into the staff living room. Parking right next to the TV. Very safely. So my little Suzuki will enjoy some good entertainment after all.
From then on we explored Luxor by foot. The Luxor temple, the Karnak temple, the promenade along the Nile river, the market. There is history everywhere. It's hard to feel excited by some old ruined temples. But then, if you are made aware that some of these have been there for up to 4000 years it makes the whole thing awesome. These walls and statues are twice as old as Christianity, 20 times as old as modern Australia. And are still standing tall. You can still look into the perfect faces of various Pharaos in their statues of granite or sand stone. The same stone faces as people had looked into while in Europe the Greeks developed their first democracy and let it go bust, while the Roman Empire rose and fell. Pretty much all events of modern and classic history have dawned and passed away while these statues of the Pharaos, these walls of stones filled with hyroglyphic texts and pictures, these grand obelisks, have been standing in the desert unchanged. In fact have been standing there way before all classic history events. Considering the age of these structures I must say visiting them became an awesome event. Much more so than photos will ever be able to show.
People here in Egypt are very proud of their 'Revolution' which eventually ousted long time president Hosny Mubarak. The fact that now the country is governed by the military does not seem to worry anyone here. In fact people said they love their military. And we did see their presence. A few tanks on the street in Aswan. Some huge helicopters flying over Luxor. Some road blocks. But nothing threatening at all.
What the 'Revolution' did however, was to scare tourists away. Tourist cruise ships are parked along the river in incredibly big numbers. With no one on board. The tourist industry has suffered and continues suffering. The horse drawn coaches in Luxor are now drawn by very skinny horses. The hotels are mostly empty, some even abandoned. People seem to be very happy to see tourists and most don't dare to hassle us. Many more welcome us to Egypt, to Aswan, to Luxor. Again we are invited for tea and coffee. As if everyone tries to improve the image of the country. Which, right now, makes it a very pleasant and cheap place to visit. World class historic sights? You've got them mostly to yourself. Awesome.
Another consequence of the 'Revolution' is a shortage of fuel. Diesel is almost impossible to come by, petrol is easier but still not available everywhere. There are long queues at service stations. But if fuel is available, it is cheap. One litre for AU$0.30 is pretty cool, isn't it?

After spending three nights in Luxor it is time to leave tomorrow. Towards the big metropolis of Cairo. We would love to ride the road connecting a few Oasis in the Western Desert. However, we learned today that some travellers got turned back at Police checkpoints. So we shall see how we get to Cairo. Inch'allah.

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no risk - no fun