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Published: October 23rd 2009
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Since my quick blog in Cairo, it seems that we’ve been traveling for weeks with the amount of things I’ve seen and done, possibly one of the most exciting being meeting the truck for the first time (named Nahinda meaning power and strength in Swahili) which is to be our home, transport, storage and portable camping accessory for the next four months . It’s a bright yellow Scania lorry that’s been adapted with coach seats that run down either side and has been kitted out with lots of storage, a ‘beach’ area at the top where you can sunbathe, cool boxes and even a sound system to plug in ipods which has amazing volume to play some tunes whilst crusing through Africa! The windows have all been taken out and blinds fitted but these are mainly rolled up in the day to let in the breeze and give you a panoramic view of the scenery, it’s actually really comfy and amazingly designed and when traveling through the small towns/villages we’re looked upon as celebrities and waved at by everyone! The experience of meeting Nahinda for the first time was made even more exciting by the view of the pyramids behind her!
So, the first day on the road consisted of doing the pyramid tour as well as the sphinx before we set off out into the Western Desert for four nights bush camping. It’s an experience that soon gets you well acquainted with the rest of the group - having to go to the toilet behind sand dunes and sleeping out under the stars next to everyone doesn’t give you much chance to be shy! It’s also a wonderful experience (and one I’d almost forgotten from last year) sleeping out under the stars, seeing the milky way, shooting stars and constellations and then waking up to the most stunning sun rises I’ve ever seen.
So the first stop was Bahariyya Oasis and then the next day onto Farfra Oasis where we were taken on an extra excursion in Jeeps to see the black and white desert areas and included sleeping in the middle of the white desert with the eerie rock formations surrounding us - the desert area used to be under sea and has left behind rocks that have since been eroded by the wind to form the most stunning shapes. The evening was topped off with being cooked
for by the local tour guides followed by music around the camp fire played by the locals involving drums, singing and an instrument that reflects bagpipes (Mum you’d have hated it!)!
The next day was spent visiting a local artist who makes sculptures out of rocks and watercolour scenes of the desert all laid out in his workshop which is a house built by himself in a small village. Then onto Al Qasr, the next village where we spent the night on the roof of a local restaurant and the owner cooked the most delicious food including BBQ chicken, soups, local vegetable dishes and pitta bread of course (this has become my staple diet as there’s no other bread alternative but it’s actually pretty good even with jam on for breakfast! All the villages have local bakeries where people queue for the bags full of bread so it’s really fresh and different to the type of pitta we get in the supermarkets). Then the next day was spent pottering around local villages speaking with the locals before another bush camp and then onto Luxor on Tuesday.
When we’re bush camping all together the group of 24 is split into cook
consisting of about 3 people who take it in turns to cook dinner, lunch and breakfast but so far it’s not been my turn so I’ve just enjoyed relaxing!
We’ve now spent four days here in Luxor on a campsite which has great facilities (including showers - yey! and a swimming pool) so I’ve been relaxing in the very hot weather (reaching 40's each day!) as well as of course seeing the main sights such as the Valley of the Kings and the Workers which are both amazing. It's crazy to think that underneath these valleys hidden are so many tombs covered in beautiful hyroglyphics and paintings where the Kings were buried. I paid to go and see Tutankharmuns mummy which is still in situe in his tomb atthe Valley of the Kings, he was only 19 when he died so his wasn't the most elaborate but it had many treasures in and of course the beautiful mask that I'd seen last week in the Cairo museum. The Valley of the Workers is also really interesting, basically the workers who spent years and years buildng and painting the tombs ready for the kings had their own village (they never actually
left their village their whole life as they knew too much classified information on where the tombs were situated!) and on the 2 days a week they had off from building at the Kings valley they built their own tombs that were equally as elaborately decorated. I've also visited Kharnak Temple and Luxor Temple which again are stunning structures full of columns, carved scenes into the stone, pillars with hyroglyphics and statues - this country really is so fascinating in its history and the amount of care and work that was taken on each of the monuments and especially in preparation for the afterlife.
There’s been a few party nights too, especially since hitting Luxor….including a night on a boat down the Nile with a buffet and drinking with a whirling dervish dancing (!) where we also met up with the other group who have caught us up in their truck.
So tomorrow is a visit to the Sunshine Orphanage (one of the charities Oasis supports) to visit and I’m going to give them some of the money I raised on my Three Peaks Hike as they're saving to buy a new cooker for the home as they've
just moved into new premises. Hopefully I'll be able to upload some pictures of the children in my next blog as a thank you to all who sponsored me.
Then straight after the orphanage we have an added two day trip to Hurgada on the Red Sea coast for diving/snorkeling before heading back down the Nile to Aswan for a few days and a trip to Abu Simbel as well as a felucca trip down the Nile before the ferry takes us across Lake Nasser and into Sudan.
Happy days!
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