1 week down and camping has been easy because it’s been at campgrounds with showers and lights. The truck converts into a kitchen so our meals have been spaghetti bolognese, chicken stir fry, fajitas, curry, stew, omelets, banana crepes, and French toast. We’re fortunate that one of the passengers used to be a head chef. The guide is a firefighter and experienced independent traveler. The driver is a trained mechanic and has traveled extensively through Africa. Neither one however has gone through Sudan or Ethiopia so they’re new to everyone. Everyone is friendly and full of laughs, but it is only the first week. Passing time on the truck has been more challenging than expected. It’s hard to read because of the bumping and wind so we’ve resorted to word games, napping, and of course watching the world go by. There’s already a soccer ball and cricket paddle on board so we picked up some balls to play dodge ball. The majority of people are single and either just finished university or taking a break in between terms. There are those similar to us in age just taking a break from work and a couple more aged travelers so we’re somewhere in the middle.
We’ve driven through the western desert in Egypt, which is the eastern end of the Sahara. The black desert wasn’t much to look at. It looked like rocks covered with ash. The white desert was neato, but really bright under the desert sun. It looks like it’s made from chalk (CaCO3). We passed through some oases which were just villages covered in dirt. We climbed to the citadel of Mut which is just a pile of mud now. On average we’ve been on the road 5hrs a day. Now we’re in Luxor and will be taking it easy from here for a few days. We’ve even upgraded from tents to rooms.