We are writing this blog while in an old 4x4 travelling
through the Sahara desert on a road that looks deserted (no pun intended). The
road is obviously not frequently used with sand piles accumulating on the road,
it’s no wonder we took a 4x4 over a van today.
The eight hour ride from Alexandria to Siwa is gruelling, we
land in the back of the bus so the bumps are bad and being in Egypt, there are
many. It seems the way of making a road is just to lay the tar directly over
the ground, no levelling required. There are security checkpoints every so
often with soldiers in tanks or entrenched positions with rifles at the ready,
Ahmed tells us this is the main road from Libya so they are checking peoples
details. This continues the whole way with some of these checkpoints being
barrels across the road and a small building for the soldiers to live in. It is
not uncommon for us to see a rifle directly pointed at us, although the
soldiers are usually also waving at us. Clearly we don’t look like a threat but
the guns are protocol; albeit a little unsettling.
A few hours out of Alexandria we stop at the El Alamein WW2
cemetery and read about the Australian involvement in the campaign and its
pivotal role in the turning of the war. Just like Gallipoli there are so many
graves of so many young men. The place is well kept and beautiful with bright flowering
trees amidst the sand.
There are very few stops along the way, after all there is
nothing out here. Lunch is snack food that we bought from Alexandria. We stop
in the middle of the desert to have a look around, its flat emptiness as far as
the eye can see. It’s hard to believe that once upon a time this was ocean,
there are reminders all around you though with fossils just sitting in the sand
like shells.
Along the rest of the trip we try and blog but the bumps are
bad and the laptop flies around making typing impossible. We sleep rough and
finally we arrive.
We check into our hotel and the longer we stay the more we
find we dislike. The shower has literally no pressure, you turn the taps and
nothing comes out, the AC blows barely cool air and the beds are rough with
giant pillows that are stuffed with rocks. The carpets have never been
vacuumed, ever and the Wi-Fi is painfully slow. But it is home for two nights
and we’re used to not so great places so we suck it up and adapt. Not long til
our 5 star nights in Cairo and we are dreaming about it.
On the rooftop Ahmed tells us about the locals and we learn
some of their traditions. A lot of them spark upset amongst the females of the
group and Simon.
 |
| Bustling Siwa! |
Afterwards we walk up the nearby ruins of the old settlement
of Siwa. From the top we have a great view of the Oasis and out to the desert.
The sunset is good, not great, but the contrast of the lush green of the oasis
to the stark pale emptiness of the surrounding desert is striking.
After dinner we go to the local hot springs for a refreshing
dip, we have the place to ourselves for a while until a bus load of Egyptian
tourists arrive and crowd the small place. The water is quite warm and staying
in makes you sweat. Covering up is mandatory for the girls, and even then we
watch the men try to show off to us.
In the morning we load in the back of two tuk tuks and are
driven around Siwa to a few sites. We go to the Mountain of the Dead which is a
burial area full of old tombs, some temples one of which Alexandria the Great
is said to have visited, the salt lake that rings the Oasis and is full of dead
things and finally Cleopatra’s bath for a swim and lunch.
This was really the
perfect swimming hole, it’s literally a big, wide and deep hole with an edge
you can dive off into. It’s also got plenty of green algae which becomes the
ammunition in an ongoing throwing war between the guys. There are local boys
there who show off in all manner of ways to the girls in our group. We relax on
the sun beds, drink mocktails and have a savoury crepe for lunch. It was
perfect was to spend the early afternoon.
 |
| Man skimming the pool for algae. |
Dashing back to our hotel in our
little tuk tuk trikes we load into some Landcruisers to go 4x4ing in the Sahara
desert. Our driver takes us up, over and down massive dunes with us yelling and
cheering. The Sahara is an endless ocean of sand that seems to go on forever,
it is a sight like nothing else. The sand is so fine you can’t grip it in your
hand, it’s more like dust than sand.
 |
| YEEEE HAAAA! |
Following the duning we go sandboarding down a medium sized
dune, after our drivers wax up the boards for maximum sliding Simon starts by
attempting to go down standing up. Everyone else eventually has a turn either
standing up or going toboggan style. It is amazing fun but the sand can bite
and it gets EVERYWHERE. Walking back up the dune after the descent is torture.
We twice attempt a dual toboggan style ride but the size of the board just
didn’t like it and we end up tipping over and crashing into the dune. Those
first couple of seconds were great fun though!
After the sandboarding we head to a cold spring in the middle
of nowhere. Go over a dune and seeing this lush green spot with water appear as
if by magic is incredible. The spring is called cold for a reason, its cold!
But after the heat of the desert and being coated in sand it’s exactly what we
needed.
Feeling sufficiently chilled we cruise over the adjacent
dune to the hot spring. It’s tiny and crowded with locals.
 |
| The Landcruiser is not feeling so chilled... |
 |
| The hot spriing of disruption. |
We have been repeatedly told that this area and Egyptians in
general are pretty conservative but our experience here was still rattling. We
walked to the pool and were about to go swim. Men can wear whatever they want
of course so only men were in the spring. Amy has been covered up all day but
wearing her bathers in the swimming holes with a t shirt on. The way we manage
this is to get to the waters edge and drop a towel or shed pants and get in
hastily. No chance of making a quiet entrance here, we had dozens of people
staring at us from the moment we arrived. Nevertheless we took a punt and tried
our tactic but as soon as Amy dropped her towel to get in revealing her legs
and swimming bottom mayhem erupted.
The men simultaneously broke into wolf whistles, cheers,
yelling and general loutish behaviour. Things we expect from teenagers, it was
disgusting and disgraceful. It was the women who averted their eyes. Needless
to say we covered Amy up pronto and one of the women came and asked us to wait
until they go. Not in a rude way but more about protecting Amy from unwanted
attention. We returned to the truck a little rattled, put yoga pants on so Amy is
now in a ‘burqini’ and no more cat calls and whistles. The
whole experience to us highlighted the backwards (to us) nature of Islam, men
cannot control themselves so the women have to cover themselves. Later our
guide told us the women were apologetic about their mens behaviour. It seems
they know it’s not OK but they do it to tourists anyway. Lots of thoughts in my
head about this.
We skipped the sunset due to cloud cover and spent the rest
of the afternoon staying hot in the springs. Unfortunately we were attacked by
midgees or sand flies and Amy copped the most brutal red spots all up her legs.
With the light fading we raced back through the desert
towards town, by race, we mean race, we were going fast, how fast we don’t know
because the speedo didn’t work, who cares – its Egypt. We wondered how our
driver knew where the dune drops were. To us it looked like an endless sea of
pale sand stretching from horizon to horizon. He told us he’s been doing it for
10 years and knows the desert. We trust him and once again he takes us over the
dunes, up and down for some thrilling fun.
Getting back to our unpleasant hotel we learn they have
turned the electric pumps on and that should help water pressure, by help it
means you can have a cold shower under a trickle. Better than nothing. During
Amy’s shower the power goes out to the whole town, and she showers with
torchlight.
We arrange takeaway lunches for the next day, as we are
doing another 8 hour ride but this time in 4x4s to our next stop. The thought
of another full day eating nothing but chips and other junk food is repulsive.
Siwa has been beautiful, a green island in the sea of sand.
The place itself is like a step back in time. If you took away the traffic and
hid the store signs you could be in the 19th century. The place is
so remote when the Muslims took over Egypt it took them 300 years to get out to
Siwa so remote and treacherous is the way to it.
Lessons Learnt:
- Get swimming pants if travelling to the Middle East and you are female.
- Expect to eat a lot of crap food when travelling, there is nothing to stop at.
- Laugh when things don’t work or are inadequate. What’s the alternative
- Get some good neck stretches under your belt, 8 hours in the back of bus leaves some tension.
Parting Thoughts:
Siwa is an island in the middle of a vast sandy ocean, the
contrast of the green palms and grass against the paleness of the desert is
incredible and only really accessible from high points within the city and from
the surrounding dunes. The town itself is like a backwards step in time with
donkey still being a primary mode of transport. Even the singular ATM is hidden in a mudbrick hut. There is a charm and
quaintness to the place and it all seems to move a lot slower. We didn’t like a
lot of the oppressive ‘culture’ that is in place locally and when you ask ‘why
is it like this?’ and you get the ‘it’s our culture’ response it doesn’t really
answer WHY. If something is found out to be ineffective or untrue why would you keep
doing it?
Simon and Amy xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment