Desert Camp

For most of Egypt and Sudan we have been desert camping – due to the sparsely populated areas we have passed through it has been rare to pass towns. Routinely, the Tour D’Afrique crew pick a site which they denote with the finish flag, which we usually see along with their truck from a kilometre or two away and start to rejoice that the pain is almost over (for that day…)

A happy cyclist crossing the finish line for the day

The danger in sitting down upon arrival at camp is the difficulty of getting back up to perform the daily chores – clean the bike, stretch, ‘clean’ ourselves and pitch the tent. However, this is made easier by the prospect of some good soup, prepared by the staff, to be gobbled once our chores are done. Pitching the tent has become an exercise in ‘honing the critical path’ we have shaved off a good two minutes off our time since we started. However, the slightest breeze whilst doing so ensures an evening, night and morning of pulling half the desert out of all our belongings.

If we are lucky, there may be some facility to wash ourselves – forget Armitage Shanks, however. This ranges from a dip in the Nile to the unknown miracle of a man appearing from somewhere  with what we affectionately call a donkey shower (because the donkey drags the water, not because it showers us).

Cleaning off a day's dirt & grime in the Nile

One plus of the desert and the scarcity of people is that any spot can be considered fair game for the bathroom. In the morning, under a beautiful sunrise, people traipse back from the distance carrying a shovel – an entertaining sight.

The aforementioned shovels

Each morning we then pack up and leave the spot exactly as we left it, perhaps slightly better fertilised.