Thursday, December 18, 2008

Travelling outside the convoy

Jane Akshar's Luxor News Blog

The convoys have been stopped and a much greater degree of freedom has been permitted for travellers in Egypt. But what does that actually mean? Jane Akshar gives an idea of what it's like to be convoy-free:

As you know the convoy system stopped in Upper Egypt on 1st December so what is it like now. Well I have had 2 trips outside the convoy, one to Abydos and one on the road to Aswan. So what are the differences.

You can leave when you want. We started to Abydos at 6:30 so we arrived when it was cool. (In the summer I would suggest leaving seriously early.) We were able to stop on the way to go to the toilet. We spent as long as we wanted at the site, had lunch in the little cafĂ© which was really nice and didn’t have to visit Dendara which I always found a disappointment after Abydos. Much nicer to visit on its own and using the Lotus boat. We actually spent about 5 hours there.

Going to Moalla (Ankhtifi) and El Kab on the road to Aswan. Well first we were able to do so without having to wait for another convoy to leave the site. I like Ankhtifi but would not want to spend 6 hours there. In the old days we would have been able to do either Moalla or El Kab but not both.


See the above for more details and her comments about security.

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