So, the start was Egypt. Everyone will tell you that one day you have to go there, and you do. The history is breathtaking, the Pyramids, the Sphinx, Valley of the Kings, Abu Simbel, everything historical about this place will leave you in awe, especially coming from a country that has the shortest history book known to man. And yes it is saturated with tourism and there are people everywhere, plastic bags do fly around the pyramids in mini tornado's and the tombs smell like stale urine but you just have to look past that.
Something that was not so easy to look past was the horrendous amount of animal cruelty going on. Donkeys, horses, dogs, cats...well and truly under nourished and often worked to the bone. It was so sad and at first we thought there was nothing we could do about it and we got pretty angry.
Intrepid Travel is a fantastic organisation who believe in responsible travel and do their bit to give a helping hand to countries that they work in. We visited ACE (Animal Care in Egypt) and there were mixed emotions. All the girls on the tour had a teary to see these poor animals who had been brought to the shelter, the first animal we saw was a black lab who was in a terrible state. That set me right off on a blubbery mess having two black labs back at home, then we saw a gorgeous horse, I think her name was Betty, girls correct me if I am wrong, she had been brought in 3 months prior to our visit when her barn caught on fire and colapssed on top of her. As a result her entire back was completely burnt, one huge open wound and this was 3 months on. Regardless of her injuries she was the cheekiest little bugger! So sweet, she kept knocking her water bowl off the railing and at one stage cornered Tess on the barn, I think she just wanted some company.
Anyway, brilliant thing they are doing over there, if you are feeling generous or just want a good tax return and want to give some money away I can assure you that if you donate to these guys they are putting the funding to good use.
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| Wake up call on the Felucca, Sunrise on the Nile. |
When we got our tour leader Hanny who by the way was absolutely fantastic, if you go on an Intrepid tour in Egypt request him, life became a lot easier. If possible avoid going to Egypt during Ramadan because you are not really supposed to eat or drink when the sun is up and in 45 degree heat that isn't easy. And ladies please cover up. The amount of ignorant European travelers walking around in short shorts with their tits out was disgusting.
Very important note: food in Egypt is an epic fail.
Have you ever seen a dry cucumber? If not go to Egypt. You will have plenty of dry everything. To try and combat dryness in the food you will most likely start smothering everything in Tahini, the most common sauce type food they have. Then you will hate Tahini. Then you have nothing but dry cucumber to eat. I guarantee you will loose at least 3kg over 1 week in Egypt because of a combination of eating dry cucumber and having a very sick stomach for most of the time.
If I were to go there again I would definitely make an effort to see the north coast of Egypt, Alexandria area. We didn't go there as part of the tour but we heard wonderful things about it. Oh and a must, Felucca ride along the Nile. Girls I think you would agree this was one of the many highlights of Egypt.
After 8 days the tour came to an end, said goodbye to some great friends that we made on the tour and we all went our separate ways. The next leg of our trip was Greece, hello Greek Salads!!!
