Riding onto the African Continent

Whats been happening since Venice? Well it starts with a very long four days on an Italian Ferry. I knew I should have had a descent book at hand! The service is popular with overlanding people like us, reason being that it provides a direct link from Europe to Egypt cutting out Tunisia and Libya (saves time money and Libyan hassles) getting you to the real africa quicker. So we were not alone on the ferry, meeting some south africans, two travelling south by landrover and three others on bikes. No doubt we'll see more of them throughout the trip.



So off the ferry at Alexandria and down to Customs where we received the first stamping in our Carnets (equivalent to a passport for the bike). We paid for insurance, egyption plates and who knows what else! Five hours later after a long, confusing and drawn out process we were riding the streets of Alexandria, dodging people, taxis, Horses and 'you name it'. Egyption traffic best described as vaguely organised chaos! Eventually after a few laps of the streets and not much help from the GPS mapping, we recruited a taxi to escort us to a hotel. Along the way we encountered an Egyption Airforce F16 pilot (as you do) by the name of 'Miky'. Miky was able to help us negotiate a hotel, secure the bikes for the night, and then took us out to eat, saving the day and making our first evening in Egypt much more enjoyable. Thanks Miky!


Day one riding in Africa! Alexadria to Cairo. An easy 120 mile stretch of motorway, and a not so easy thirty something degree heat. After a two to three hour stint in the saddle we arrive at the Giza Pyramids, impressive as always. Tomorrow we have a full day in Cairo, trying to organise Visas for Ethiopia and Sudan. Lets hope it goes smoothly!