Route
One million square kilometers, 80 million people, stunning natural beauty, over 250 scuba diving sites and a traceable history going back 10,000 years are some of the things that make Egypt great. Egyptian history, of course, is still being written and unfolding right now and before us.
All too often, visitors witness just a rare slice of the action with a brief ‘excursion’ away from the package holiday. Well you certainly can’t do it all in a week and holidays are meant for relaxing but how does the average tourist get to know what’s out there beyond the travel brochure? How can they see beyond the bubble of the resort they’re in without taking a peek outside?
The purpose of the Egypt tour isn’t to look things up on the Internet and then just go there as if we were ticking off boxes. ‘Looking things up’ often equates into, ‘viewing what’s already known’. We must never lose the practice of independent travel and that’s what helps to discover new things, different ways of life and alternative ways of traveling. Besides, Egypt is no longer ruled by pharaohs or dictators…it is ruled by Facebook and football!
On the road in Egypt:
Everyone has something to say about driving in Egypt, but what lies behind the legend and what is reality on the roads? With over 3,000 km ahead on two motorbikes mounted with close to the action cameras I’m sure we’ll find out! In a 1994 copy of the Guinness Book of Records it states that the easiest driving tests are those of Egypt. Perhaps being scuba divers and with all the attention to training that goes with it, you might easily see that a less than strict entry-system to the roads of Egypt is going to lead to poor standards of driving? Fast cars, cheap finance and the sudden introduction of wide scale mobile phone use in Egypt, all in just eight years, seem to be the perfect storm for mishap. Like anything else…sometimes it gets worse before it gets better and the years ahead will be interesting. It is also important to understand that Egyptian driving has a style and a priority system of its own. Understand that and you’ll read situations a little more easily and not get frustrated that things are done differently here.
We travel the key roads linking the width and length of Egypt, plus a few off-piste tracks where you may be the only vehicle in hours.
Diving takes the form of the popular locations but also many locations not normally frequented by overseas visitors. Alexandria, on the Mediterranean, has a wealth of underwater history including a sunken city, which was the result of an ancient earthquake causing much coastline to drop into the sea. Beneath the surface now lies what can only be described as ultimate archeological diving on historical statues, monuments and evidence of a lost civilization…all through a local PADI dive centre!
We head out West from Alexandria to Marsa Matruh, an outpost city closer to the border of Libya. Initially an ancient fishing town, Marsa Matruh became an important port in the Roman period and then in WW2. There is a military museum now in the place where Rommel hid from the Allies and planned his attacks from a cave. Diving will be hit and miss, owing to military restrictions. Then it’s down the Nile roads to Aswan and Luxor, stopping regularly to soak up local life and the many attractions of this world famous region. Diving resumes in the Red Sea in Marsa Allam at the Deep South eco camp owned by an ex-Sharm El Sheikh resident. Elphinstone by zodiac, Safaga and Hurghada feature on the homeward leg up the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. Our last diving stop is in the small town of Ain Suknha, which is located just 100km from Cairo. A contact is helping us obtain permission to dive on a newly sunken Navy boat and possibly other vessels in the area. In such transitional times, access isn’t always as straight forward but other diving exists in this little known about resort that saw much action during the Suez battles and WW2.
We will spend about two days in Cairo with escorted trips to the Pyramids and…the KTM service shop! Well if camels need a drink then there’s even fewer Oasis’ for our Austrian motorcycles and KTM Egypt will be a welcomed stop!
Just a brief outline for now as true travel is written on the way back but it’s important to have a plan and a route mapped out. We expect to deviate from time to time as more interesting places, people and things come to light as the journey unfolds.
Thanks again for all those who support and assist with our trip. The Coloured Seas section will resume when it is safe and logistically possible. We hope in the meantime that you enjoy following this extensive preliminary trip around Egypt. We leave on the 4th June for an estimated two to three weeks.
Safe and happy diving and biking to you all.
 |
 |
