Coming south to north we were dreading Egypt but found it didn't live up to our fears at all. We ended up staying 7 weeks.
We too used Mohammed Abouda at Aswan but found him very good. He did charge $50 but told us the figure up front plus the exact amounts payable for customs, insurance etc etc. And we got our car two days after we arrived on the ferry.
We did however have a complete nightmare trying (for 6 days) to extend the cars import for another 30 days at the port in Alex and the fixer there wanted $200 and screamed blue murder when he didn't get it.
We spent a lot of time traveling the western desert and also explored some other slightly off beat places like Wadi El Rayyan. Amazing memories and perhaps the most spectacular camping of the trip. Out of the cities the people were great. And 11p a litre for diesel also makes you very forgiving.
I think people get a very different view of Egypt if you have to ship a vehicle in or out. The corruption at the ports is undeniable. However if you can avoid arriving/leaving by boat at Alex or Port Said you'll have an altogether better time. Roll on access via Libya.
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