End of the Pharaohs

It seems amazing that tomorrow (the 21^st) we will be leaving Egypt, on a ferry across Lake Nasser from Aswan to Wadi Haifa in Sudan (a necessity given the road network). We will have been in Egypt for two weeks, with 8 days of cycling covering 1,000km. 

It has been a varied experience, and perhaps not what we were expecting. The people we have met on the road have largely been lovely and we have had many shouts of “Welcome to Egypt!” as we have cycled along. The Egyptians we have met at the tourist spots have generally been out to get as many Egyptian pounds out of us as possible, perhaps driven by the enormous drop in tourism caused by the recent political instability. Overall, we will leave with a very positive view of the welcoming attitude of Egyptian people, not least given to us by the 6 Egyptian cyclists who have accompanied our group for this stretch.  It has been interesting as we have headed further south, we have seen a growing number of Nubian people (historically a land that was spread over modern day Southern Egypt and Northern Sudan), with a language of their own and much darker skin, and we will meet more Nubians as we head into Sudan. 

Changing a tyre

Children mobbing James

As mentioned in our last post, the scenery has been fascinating – the land closest to the Nile delta (generally within a couple of kilometres either side) has been so lush and rich in vegetation, swarming with people and donkey carts full of sugar cane. Any further than this from the Nile, it has been desert as far as the eye can see, with the odd village but far fewer people. With the river passing through several other countries, securing its continued flow into Egypt is of the utmost criticality and with a potential dam in Ethiopia in the near future, one that is high on the political agenda. 

Contrasts of scenery

 

Politically, we have seen very little evidence of the turmoil of recent years. We have generally spoken with more liberal, affluent Egyptians, all of whom denounce Morsi (the Muslim Brotherhood seem to have been elected entirely by the more rural Egyptians who have benefited from the services that the network has provided over the years to their communities) and some of whom camped out in Tahrir Square and speak with great excitement about that experience. However, as the Muslim Brotherhood have largely been in prison over previous years, they have very little experience of governing and so the process for Egypt to become a smoothly functioning economy seems a little way off. 

As expected, the history of Egypt will always be a huge pull and the incredible achievements of the ancient Egyptians are phenomenal. The pyramids, sphinx, temples and statues that litter the landscape are testament to this, although by the end we were a little ‘over templed’, perhaps as our main focus has been the cycling, rather than the sightseeing. 

How we felt after the 117th statue!

More alert!

Sudan awaits – a far more sparsely populated country, with fewer tourists, so will make for a very interesting contrast. We cannot wait.