The road follows the coastline for its entire length. We pass oases of manicured green tidiness of resorts with the usual brandings in otherwise desolate landscape. Quseir was once a major port for the hajj pilgrimage. Now its not a major anything. I get to eat overlooking an old fashioned… Continue reading
Some proof I’m in Egypt – The temple of Horus, Edfu I aim to rejoin my route a couple of days later at Edfu, 2 hours north of Aswan by train. So from Cairo I catch a train back south. There are 20 million people in Cairo. Most of them… Continue reading
From Aswan, Egypt’s southernmost city, I make a run for Cairo. Like with Khartoum, I have no desire to be there, but the fates will it. My jumbo-sized passport has no more space left for visas and to start the ball-rolling on a new one I must first visit the… Continue reading
It takes about half an hour to exit Khartoum. Then its pretty much desert. There are shrubs, and buildings fairly frequently, though nothing you would consider a town. The earth was very much made up of sand. I don’t know which route we followed north. All I can say is… Continue reading
Things don’t get fantastically better for me. A long conversation at the travel permit office ends: “You don’t need a permit to go to Wadi Halfa”. ‘So can I stop off along the way?” I ask. “I’d like to see the pyramids at Meroe, Atbara perhaps, the World Heritage Site… Continue reading
I have no reason to visit Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. I could stick ever so slightly closer to the coast of what has become the Red Sea in my absence by visiting Kassala. The Sudanese authorities have a reason for me to visit Khartoum though. I must register since I’m an… Continue reading
Visas finally sorted until the Egypto-Libyan frontier, I catch a coach to Gonder. It takes 2-3 hours to wind up and over a mountain range, at close to walking pace to stop us plummeting below. The road leads on to Lake Tana (the source of the Blue Nile). Its then 4… Continue reading
Being back in Ethiopia is a joy after Djibouti. The mentality seems to change as soon as I crossed the border. Suddenly people were eager to help me on my way, even if it was only to the embassy down the road. There are smiles, politeness, and cool highland air…. Continue reading
My bag is searched twice within about 500m by Djibouti police and customs at the border with Somaliland. My first impressions as we drive along the dusty road is of a desert converted into a rubbish dump. Camels graze on trees dripping with plastic bag blossom. It takes me 20… Continue reading
The road from Harar to Jijiga passes through the Valley of Marvels. The hills are made up of vertical shafts of rock that peak through the green of low shrubs like megalithic stones of Stonehenge or Malta. They rest on and against one another in different states of freedom, some… Continue reading
