FERRY TRIP ON THE LAKE NASSER...

Today we take the ferry from Egypt to Sudan over lake Nasser. It is an 18 hours epic ride. And it is not just the ride that is epic. This ferry only departs once a week and due to the incredible mess and total lack of any kind of organisation, we had to be at the ferry at 10h00 a.m. already for departing at 18h00...

                                      I am writing this from the boat while they are still loading.
Needless to say, it is chaos! The Tour d'Afrique organisation did a very good job at getting us through customs, but there after, it really becomes a once in a lifetime experience. The loading of this floating rat hole is a mistery... Chaos is a light word... It is unbelievable. There are people trying to get in with fridges on their back, some carry 10 TV's, others have so much luggage that they get stuck in the boat corridors, then the rest behind starts shouting like hell, in some very unpleasant arabic... Furthermore, some of them are praying on the floor, adding even more confusion to the chaos, as they block the flow of people even more.
This boat is now so full that I cannot imagine where they are going to put more stuff, but there is still 2 hours to go and a huge queue of people, fridges, TV's and so on outside on the quay...

We have cabins, which is the ultimate luxury.... You should see where the locals are seated... The smell there is already unbearable, and we have not even departed...

I understand now why we were advise to eat some immodium... You do not want to have to use the boat toilets... And for our luxurious cabins, he he... well, just look at the photos... I removed the rat droppings from my bed before putting my tent mattress on top of the rotten one that we are suppose to sleep on.

                           Anyway, a once in a lifetime experience, and that is what we came for...

                              With half an hour before departure, I wanted to share this life with you,
                               this is really funny, even our bikes are starting to disappear behind a
                               montain of appliances and luggage... It is going to be a long 18 hours
                                                for those of us who sleep on the deck...
                                                 And they are still loading more stuff...