Practical Information
for expedition participants


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Country Specific Information for: Egypt, Libya & Sudan

Personal Gear & Equipment

At the outset of the trip, the vehicles will be loaded close to their maximum practical limit, and volume will also be a problem. This requires personal gear to be kept to the necessary minimum. The folowing is a list of necessities. Aside the tent, sleeping bag and foam matress, all others should fit into a bag not exceeding airline carry on size limits. It is possible to leave unneeded items in Cairo ("civilised" clothing, etc.):

• Tent
• Sleeping bag (minimum temperature ~8-12C in March, ~0-3C in December)
• Foam matress
• Small backpack (for daytime items)
• 1.5 litre canteen or water bottle
• Plastic or metal mug
• Plastic or metal plate (metal easier to clean with sand)
• Metal cutlery (spoon, fork, knife)
• Swiss army knife
• Torch (with fresh batteries, plus one set spare)
• One pair of good walking shoes (boots not required)
• Thongs or slippers for the evenings
• Light jacket or windbreak
• A warm jumper for evenings
• One pair of long warmer trousers (jeans will do)
• Shorts
• 1 T-shirt for every 2 days
• Socks, underwear
• Plenty of wet wipes for cleaning (Johnson's baby wipes, or similar)
• Camera gear & plenty of film (count on one 36 roll per day)
• Spare batteries for any electronically operated equipment (GPS, cameras, etc.)

Food & Drinks

The food carried is for compactness, durability and ease of preparation. This does impose some limitation on the possible variety. For breakfast & lunch we will have a selection of jam, pates & cheese or tuna, with packaged rye bread and swedish 'knackebrot', a flat crisp bread that lasts forever. (In Libya this will be supplemented with fresh local bread as we pass through oases).

    

Hot meals will be in the evening, and include all possible combinations that can be made from rice, sphagetti, mashed potato (powder), canned vegetables and canned meat. A possible four day menu rotation could be: Mexican Chilli Beans, Rice Curry, Sphagetti Bolognese, Rice & Sweet-n-sour turkey. Meat will be canned turkey ham (the drivers are moslem, so no pork products), beans come tinned, rice & sphagetti only need cooking, flavoring will be with Knorr ready made mixes that only need hot water. This enables a full hot meal for a dozen people be prepared with minimum cooking in 15 minutes. We will have a PB gas cylinder and two cookers, plus a variety of pots.

    

Drinks will mainly come in the form of bottled water (in 1.5 litre plastic bottles), plus cooking water in 20 l jerrycans. For evening variety, we will have several flavors of canned soft drinks and beer (only Egypt!). Note: in Egypt there will be a very strict rationing of water, as there are no sources along the whole two week trip. In Lybia water allowance is more liberal, as we can refill every 3-4 days.

For an evening cocktail at sunset (Egypt only!), each participant is expected to bring a one litre bottle of their favorite fire water.

Helalth & Dangers

While the deep desert is one of the healthiest places on earth, due to the almost sterile air and surroundings, there are a few risks & dangers. The biggest risk arises from isolation. At the farthest reaches of some trips we will be more than 700 km from the closest inhabited places. Should there be an accident or medical emergency, it's a minimum 2 day trip to reach the closest meagre medical facilities. It's a further 1-2 day trip to any proper hospital. While we will have a well stocked emergency medical kit with us, and the satelite phone enables remote medical assistance, there can be cases where lack of immediate help can lead to serious consequences. To reduce the risk, all participants are requested to have a checkup before the trip.

Other than accidents, which can happen anywhere, the only dangers lurking in the desert are snakes (especially the horned viper), and scorpions. The former are deadly, but are rare and easily avoidable. They leave distinct tracks in the sand, do not actively seek humans, and typically stay dormant in the cooler autumn to spring months. Though both my and other's experience is that only tracks are seen, live snakes very rarely, we will have antivenom with us, just in case.

Scorpions are more common, but less deadly. Though they tend to shy humans, occasionally they crawl under tents or into one's shoes outside, so it's wise to shake one's shoes in the morning before putting them on. Otherwise it's just a matter of avoiding to put one's hand into hollows and crevasses in rocks (why people still do it beats me ?!).

Not exactly life threatening, but the akacia thorns at the valleys of Uweinat and the Gilf can be the cause of nasty and painful surprises. They can lie hidden in sand, and the inch-long needle sharp thorns can even strike through softer rubber soles of slippers and sandals, not to mention one's skin. It's definitely unwise to walk barefoot in the otherwise inviting sand around the camp at Karkur Talh !

Emergency Communications

On all trips we will have an Inmarsat Mini-M (NEC Planet-1) satelite phone with us. The phone cannot receive except when switched on and logged on to a satelite (which we cannot do at predictable times), so it is not possible to contact any participant while on the trip. As I will make a position report call every 2-3 days, messages may be left at our relay contact. Participants are free to use the phone if they wish at cost (currently $3.25 a minute).

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