Mission4x4Africa
  • The beginning
    • Preparation
  • The (Im)possible Dream
  • Day to Day
  • Gallery
    • Photos >
      • Berlin
      • slovakia snow
      • Istanbul potpouri >
        • Picture Journal
      • Petra
      • Wadi Rum Wadi Willie >
        • Andrej and Hugo
      • Egypto-glyphics
      • Ethiopia >
        • Ethni-opia
        • Moyale to Marsabit
        • Starling bushcamp Konso
        • Strawberry Fields in Konso
        • Arba Minch
        • Lake Langano
        • Gonder, Ethiopia
        • Marsabit
        • Marsabit to Samburu road
      • Kenya >
        • robinson crusoe
        • crossing the equator
        • Samburu National Park, Kenya
        • Samburu Day 2
      • Tanzania >
        • rolling to the ruins
    • Videos >
      • saying goodbye
      • Berlin Beauty
      • Belgrade Goodbyes
      • Turkey >
        • Konya
        • first freezing bushcamp
        • Istanbul, Turkey
      • Dead Sea
      • Petra, Jordan
      • Etosha Pan - Namibia
  • Birds and more...
  • Caren's Conundrum
  • Doorways
    • Doorways of Sudan
    • Doorways of Egypt
    • Doorways of Damascus
  • Red Route

26 March, Saturday Leaving Cairo

3/29/2011

0 Comments

 
We are in the car, trying to exit the city and we are in stuck in crazy traffic – synonymous with Cairo. The city is over-saturated with wheels – 1 wheel – barrows horse-donkey- or human drawn; 2 wheels motorbikes; horse or donkey drawn carts; 3 wheels tuk-tuks; 4 wheels cars, trucks; 6+ wheels – heavy vehicles; running on totally insufficient supply of roads causing congestion morning, noon, night – 24/7. Impressive is the acceptance and patience of the people with the dilemma. On a few occasions have I seen a flare-up of tempers – it seems as if their outlet for the congestion frustration is through the incessant honking of horns and even that has become a sound of music as honks run through different do-re-me creations.

 I wish I could share this traffic experience with you. I’ve tried to video some of this and when I figure the posting of videos out I will. Words cannot do it justice, but I want to try to tell you what is happening right now:

-          A truck with 2 cows, not tied, swinging and swaying in all directions, trying desperately not to lose their balance – I mean the cows!      

-          Brightly colored fruit stalls line the road

-          Pyramids of deep green watermelons sliced in mouth-watering red-pink halves

-          Silhouettes of the 3 Giza pyramids – majestically gazing through the ages as they guard the mysteries of then and now

-          Tiny stalls selling tea on the go to the moving traffic

-           A dirt-streaked little face in a frame of loose, unruly dark curls suddenly appears in the window asking Hugo for some of his chips! My heart missed a beat as I watch this itty-bitty maybe 4 yr skillfully weaves through the moving, honking fume-spewing traffic.

-          Little trucks top heavy with bags, onions, green produce, rubble, sand maneuver with purpose to their destination. I have no idea why it does not topple over…I think Egyptians’ ancient skill of construction is transferred to anything rising up from the ground - whether buildings, cars, fruit, even trash;

-          Buses and minivans chock full with people on their way to visit family, go for picnics – relax, before the craziness of a new weeks starts tomorrow.

-           (We have just witnessed the most bizarre scene – congestion which we thought normal and then before we could see it the overpowering smell of gasoline and the next moment a truck from which gasoline is pouring. People running to fill buckets from the pouring gasoline waterfall. The road is soaked – imagine someone not knowing light a cigarette – it will be an explosion unable to describe. Hugo, “this is probably the most dangerous thing I’ve seen in my life.” A safe distance from the gasoline pouring truck – a fire engine!)

Click on Play to Start:
There is nothing we can do in Cairo in regards to our visas anymore. We will not know what the status of our Sudanese visas are before Sunday when we have to call Mr Muhammed Musa from the USA embassy in Khartoum. We are on our way to the Bahariyya Oasis in the Black Desert. The Western (Libyan) Desert starts on the banks of the Nile and continues into Libya (WHERE WE DO NOT WANT TO GO RIGHT NOW!) covering 2.8 million sq km. There are 5 major oases in the desert of which Bahariyya is one.

We drive through the Black Desert – dunes and sand formations as far as the eye can see mottled with small black, looking like lava stones. After hours of barren desert a vast lush green valley unexpectedly appears in the desert.  The change in scenery and vegetation is stark and striking. As we came closer we see birds, cows grazing, spread-out agricultural fields, different kind of trees with date palm trees guarding the green lushness.  For the first time in my life I understand what is meant by the word oasis.

Click on Play to Start:
We find Eden Garden Bedouin camp and it is obvious that there is no lack of water at all. Hot springs are everywhere and in Eden Camp a swimming pool is fed by one of these springs and the water is almost uncomfortably hot. After a week of dusty camping in Cairo this is truly an oasis for all 4 of us. We cannot wait to get into the pool and once in we are catching up on 8 weeks of hot baths that we have missed out on.

Click on Play to Start:
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Caren

    "There is something about safari life that makes you forget all your sorrows and feel as if you had drunk half a bottle of champagne - bubbling over with heartfelt gratitude for being alive. One only feels really free when one can go in whatever direction one pleases over the plains, to get to the river at sundown and pitch one's camp, with the knowledge that one can fall asleep
    beneath other trees, with another view before one, the next night." -
     Karen Blixen - Out of Africa, Kenya
    'Of course as I am reading this, I know that you DO get your visas and the container DOES get released, but oh the internal struggle we face even though we should trust (as Hugo does) that God has His hands on all things and is constantly taking care of us.'


    From a Friend:
    :) Crazy to think that we are ALL made of blood, bone and water yet we speak in so many tongues that getting along together becomes a massive task within itself.

    Archives

    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    Personal
    Photos
    Travel Update
    Travel Update;
    Travel Update; Photos
    Travel Update; Photos; Video
    Update Travel; Photos

    "Julle sal dit maak! Opwindend, dis 'n geleentheid 1x in 'n leeftyd. Ons wens ons kon deel wees daarvan. Sterkte en ons bid vir 'n veilige reis!"

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.