Wanderlost
Tracker
Having spent many single days exploring the desert in all directions around
Cairo in our Daewoo Matiz... :15: we eventually splashed out and decided to
go a bit farther afield.
This was a little trip to a place called Wadi Rayyan, about 120km driving due
South of Cairo. My main reasons for choosing this location were the relative
proximity to the city and the fact that we were not too far from "civilisation"
should anything go wrong, and ease of attracting attention if it should be
required... :51:
It is a nature reserve (mainly migratory birds) and protected area, so is
intermittently patrolled by "wardens"....
Our set-up at this time was pretty basic.... the palm trunks you see had been
part of a shelter that had fallen into disrepair, but very handy for anchoring
our tent and securing a tarp for a bit of wind shelter for cooking.
We didn't forget a bit of shelter for my bestest buddies..... :4:
Plenty of "scrambling to be done on our wanders around the area.....
Only people we saw in 4 days - a couple of young fishing lads who came to
ask if we had any medicine for one of them who had a dose of "the trots".. :46:
We camped about 100yds from the lake, which wasn't far enough to avoid the
mosquitoes, but it did provide a bit of relief from the heat.... :4:
Relaxing at the end of the day.... :24:
I didn't realise at the time, but the reason I was feeling tired/lethargic was
due to dehydration... :15:
This eventually led to serious (and painful) cramps which lasted all the way
back home, where I was easily able to correct the situation. I subsequently
did a lot of research on the subject, and I'm happy to say avoided any
re-occurence....:dblthumb:
On that subject, the two dogs were drinking at least FIVE litres of water each
day, while we were only using about 3 between the two of us including tea/
coffee. As I had only packed around 30litres, we were woefully under
requirement should anything untoward occurred.... :15:
On future trips of 4-5 days, I packed a MINIMUM of seventy litres spread out
between pack water bottles, 1, 2, 5 and 10 litre jerry-can shaped containers
which I froze and packed in the cool boxes to keep food fresh as well as providing nice cold water to drink as it melted.... :4:
We also carried 25 litres of tap water for washing which could have been
utilised if neccessary. (Egyptian tap water is pretty safe, but there is SO
MUCH chlorine present that it really needs to be left to stand a looooong time
to evaporate off.... :26:
So all-in-all it was a well-spent few days... Peace and calm, lovely scenery
and learned a few things for the future regarding supplies...
But the Main one being - if you are going into ANY desert scenario for any
length of time, "Prepare To Survive"...
p.s. Sorry about the small pics - they've been re-sized at some time, and I
can't do anything with them.... :15:
Cairo in our Daewoo Matiz... :15: we eventually splashed out and decided to
go a bit farther afield.
This was a little trip to a place called Wadi Rayyan, about 120km driving due
South of Cairo. My main reasons for choosing this location were the relative
proximity to the city and the fact that we were not too far from "civilisation"
should anything go wrong, and ease of attracting attention if it should be
required... :51:
It is a nature reserve (mainly migratory birds) and protected area, so is
intermittently patrolled by "wardens"....
Our set-up at this time was pretty basic.... the palm trunks you see had been
part of a shelter that had fallen into disrepair, but very handy for anchoring
our tent and securing a tarp for a bit of wind shelter for cooking.
We didn't forget a bit of shelter for my bestest buddies..... :4:
Plenty of "scrambling to be done on our wanders around the area.....
Only people we saw in 4 days - a couple of young fishing lads who came to
ask if we had any medicine for one of them who had a dose of "the trots".. :46:
We camped about 100yds from the lake, which wasn't far enough to avoid the
mosquitoes, but it did provide a bit of relief from the heat.... :4:
Relaxing at the end of the day.... :24:
I didn't realise at the time, but the reason I was feeling tired/lethargic was
due to dehydration... :15:
This eventually led to serious (and painful) cramps which lasted all the way
back home, where I was easily able to correct the situation. I subsequently
did a lot of research on the subject, and I'm happy to say avoided any
re-occurence....:dblthumb:
On that subject, the two dogs were drinking at least FIVE litres of water each
day, while we were only using about 3 between the two of us including tea/
coffee. As I had only packed around 30litres, we were woefully under
requirement should anything untoward occurred.... :15:
On future trips of 4-5 days, I packed a MINIMUM of seventy litres spread out
between pack water bottles, 1, 2, 5 and 10 litre jerry-can shaped containers
which I froze and packed in the cool boxes to keep food fresh as well as providing nice cold water to drink as it melted.... :4:
We also carried 25 litres of tap water for washing which could have been
utilised if neccessary. (Egyptian tap water is pretty safe, but there is SO
MUCH chlorine present that it really needs to be left to stand a looooong time
to evaporate off.... :26:
So all-in-all it was a well-spent few days... Peace and calm, lovely scenery
and learned a few things for the future regarding supplies...
But the Main one being - if you are going into ANY desert scenario for any
length of time, "Prepare To Survive"...
p.s. Sorry about the small pics - they've been re-sized at some time, and I
can't do anything with them.... :15:
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