|
The Titanic effect
Sometimes you get more than you bargained for. It applies to our Africa trip much more than ever.
Leaving Sudan was much more adventurous than expected. It all started very easy. We found a good fixer to help us with all the paperwork. Many other overlanders describe the border crossing between Sudan and Egypt as the worst nightmare they experienced in Africa. The only way to travel between the two countries is the ferry between Wadi Halfa on the Sudanese side and Aswan in Egypt, a 17 hours boat trip on Lake Nasser. There is only one boat per week. And if you have a vehicle the amount of paperwork you need to do drives many travellers into sheer madness. However, thanks to our smart fixer Martin and me, we arrived in Wadi Halfa on Tuesday. And on Wednesday both of us and both of our bikes were on board the passenger boat to Aswan.
It's quite a decent sized boat, there were some 500 people on board. And lots and lots of luggage. Some people arrived with huge bags of firewood, some sort of grain and whatever else. Our bikes had to be sqeezed into the entrance doorway once everyone was on board. The fact that the bikes effectively made the exit impassable in an emergency did not seem to worry anyone. Why would there be an emergency anyway.
Our boat departed at around 5pm that Wednesday and a routine quickly developed. Martin and me and the other few overlanders on board stayed outside on the open top deck to enjoy the scenery. Most other people crowded downstairs in the hot and sticky common areas. The restaurant served some oily beans and bread with not much taste. In front of our bikes a small market appeared with women selling spices and small items. All spread out on some colourful sheets on the ground. Lots of people crowding around the bikes, items stored on top of our bikes. A really African atmosphere developed on board. Wherever we went on the boat there were people chatting, people eating, people smoking, people sleeping. Up outside on the top deck some Polish overlanders pitched a tent which heavily moved in the strong wind. Up there it was also the place for prayer. When the Imman announced prayer time over the loudspeakers big crowds gathered on the top deck, spread their little carpets and prayed facing the east coast of Lake Nasser. After watching a beautiful sunset we crossed the invisible water border to Egypt. Announced by big spotlights shining on the majestic temple of Abu Simbel right on the West shores. The huge statues of Ramses IV shining into the darkness of the surrounding desert and the lake. Rolling out our warm sleeping bags in a sheltered corner of the top deck we soon fell asleep under a clear sky full of stars.
At around 5am the next morning the loud voice of the imman out of the speakers woke us from our sleep. And soon a big crowd was praying next to us while we pretended to sleep in our corner. Watching the stars at the time I was wondering why they no longer prayed towards the East. Because now, according to the Polar Star our ship was heading East. Minutes later I was asleep again.
Just minutes after that an almighty rumbling noise of steel grinding onto something woke us up, the ship moving violently. People jumped up from their sleep. It was still dark. The boat leaning signinficantly to it's right hand side. And the back of the boat well below where it should be. Everything was now on some weird angle. What happened? Did we hit another boat? But there are no other boats on Lake Nasser. Announcements were made in Arabic language over the speaker. People nervously scrambled around the old timber boxes with the life jackets inside. Martin, looking at the lower deck at the back saw the rear of the ship being flooded. Shit. Whatever just happened, it wasn't good. More people in life vests crowded the upper deck nervously looking down the sides of the vessel into the darkness below.
What do you do? The boat was sinking. Just not yet. There might be more minutes. Or hours. Or it might not sink after all. But the leaning angle and the water in the rear seemed a clear sign. What to do? What to take? I just grabbed my passport, my credit card and the backup memory chip with all my Africa pics and stuffed it into my pockets. With our lifevests on we waited for the things to come. By now news spread around that we hit a rock.
We waited and nothing happened. The ship did not change it's leaning angle. The water level at the rear remained constant. The mood on board calmed down. And the sun started to rise.
Now having daylight the rock in the water was clearly visible to all. It sticked out of the water by maybe a meter. And continued underneath the surface as yellowish haze in the dark waters. Our ship sat on the part that sticked out of the water, the front well above the water surface. On the right hand side of that piece of rock. We seemed to be in a stable position but stuck. And alone. On both sides the coastline seemed much too far away as to be able to swim there. And what we saw was only desert. Yellow sand dunes against a blue sky. No mobile phone reception of any network.
With nothing better to do I started filling my small backpack with things I knew I could not replace so easily in Egypt. Like my documents, my little computer, my camera. My diary. Some presents collected during the journey. And my cash money. I was hundret percent sure that at this day my luggage would need to be left behind. And also my little Suzuki. During the collision Martin's bike fell against mine. At the same time as some people fell out of their beds. Martin put both bikes back on their side stand. The little market around them disappeared. Someone placed a life vest onto my little Suzuki. Would that help?
As far as I knew our boat was the only vessel on the lake. Apart from some slow freigt barges. And some small Police boats. How should we ever get 500 people back to dry land? Or our poor motorbikes deep down on the first deck? Blocking the exit?
And so we waited. And as we waited the situation on board calmed down more and more. Roumors spread. Like there will be another boat arriving at our position in four hours from Aswan. Or that there will be no boat. Or that there will be Police boats ferrying the passengers across. The Polish guys using a satellite phone. And also some Spanish overlanders talking to their embassy. One Egyptian passenger borrowing the satellite phone to call All Jazeihra. As he said - without the press nothing would ever happen. And nothing did happen. Arguments developed on board. With people fighting. And calming down again. The sun was shining and a cool breeze kept temperatures comfortable. At around ten o'clock the news seemed to consolidate around the fact that another vessel was on the way from Aswan to arrive here at 2pm. By now the food in the restaurant was finished. Also the tea bags. Only instant tea was still being served. People started taking their life vests off.
The mood on board was now litterally the famous 'we are all in one boat'. Many people talked to us. About many things, mostly about Egypt. And Islam. Many people kept praying. We were all alone out there on a rock on Lake Nasser, the 500 of us. The GPS showed our position miles away East of the usual course. We were now inside a bay of the Lake. And waited for help.
There is nothing we could do apart from waiting. It's such a helpless feeling. You don't know what happens to the boat. Rumours spread that if we had hit the rock just a bit more to the right the ship would have rolled onto it's side. Wind and waves could still do that. Or the pointless attempts of the captain to revers the boat off the rock with full engine power. We had no impact on whatever would happen to us. The knowledge of this really calmed me down. I don't know why but I hardly ever felt so calm as back then. Calm and also extremely aware of everything around us. Looking into the faces of our fellow passengers and knowing that most of them don't know how to swim. There was the young blind guy, being helped by an older man but always smiling. There were the ladies who the night before had their own little market stalls around our motorbikes on the lower deck. Still dressed into their colourful cotton sheets, sitting underneath the life rafts chatting. There was the Imman constantly praying with his little string of marbles in his hand. And so many more people with such an uncertain future at the time. Having my little backpack within reach I knew all I could do was done. Now it's just waiting.
It was around 3pm when two small outboarder speed boats arrived. Full with Police people who boarded via the sunken rear deck. And then, just after that, a small grey dot appeared on the horizon South West of us. An announcement was made that this was our rescue. The identical sister ship of ours. 'When boarding please take the same posotion as on our current ship'. It still took a long time for that grey dot to show the outlines of a ship and finally arrive. Although Aswan was to our North the ship came from the South because it had overshot our location by many km and had to turn back. Finally, 12 long hours after we hit the rock another ship carefully docked right next to us. I thought if worse had happend that morning these 12 hours would have had a very deadly potential for many of us.
Calmly but completely unorganised people started to jump across to the new ship on all decks. The two ships laid side by side, railings touching each other. With a significant height difference at the front and the rear.
Luggage was thrown across. Someone moved our motorbikes out of the way and crowds of people streamed through the door into the other ship. We were promised we can move the bikes across too once everyone else was on board. So we should be the last passengers to leave. No worries.
By design the only doors of the ships were located at the front part. The part which was raised by our ship resting on the rock. So even though the two doors of the two ships met horizontaly there was a step in height of around half meter. Which means the top of the door of the new boat was around half a meter below ours. And the bottom of our door half a meter above theirs. Which reduced the clearance of the way through by a meter. Enough to not fit the bikes through so easily. It took a lot of people to help, we had to turn down the mirrors, Martin had to take of the windshield. And still it was not easy to get the bikes through in the hot sticky air of the lower deck. Eventually though both bikes were parked across the exit door of the new boat again. With only minor damage and scratches. All good.
Now our new boat attempted to pull out the stuck boat from the rocks. Connecting the two with a long steel cable. The stuck boat in full revers power. Our boat steaming forwards. The steel cable snapped instantly. The stuck boat not moving. Our boat neither. Looked like the snapped cable did some damage to our propellers. Divers were sent down. While we were eating tasteless beans on board, courtesy to the shipping company. It took another hour till we finally got on our way again. Just when the sun went down at 7pm we were cruising North the four to five hour trip to Aswan. At around 9pm I was sleeping back on the top deck again under a clear sky of stars. Stirred up from the events of the day sleeping was not easy. Hours later excited shouting woke us up. 'ASWAN' people screamed at each other happily. It was now 11pm. Many came to us saying 'Welcome to Egypt'. 'Thanks and welcome home for you' I replied.
The same night all of us had to clear immigration, get all our luggage off board. Including the bikes. Which we parked at the Customs area. We would not see them again till Saturday. Customs was closed on Fridays. For all foreigners the shipping company arranged free accommodation in Aswan for two nights. While unloading local journalists started interviewing us.
Finally, after 3am on Friday morning we were sitting on our beds of the cheap hotel room. Happy to be there, so happy.
Saturday we hope to clear all the documents for our bikes. It's incredibly complicated and we hope that our fixer can help us here two so we can finish everything in one day. Fingers crossed. Welcome to Egypt.
__________________
no risk - no fun
|
5Likes
Hybrid Mode
