Days 31 & 32: Egypt

Day 31
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Me and Nathan awoke early to go to the British Embassy to get a letter of invitation which we needed for our VISA for Sudan. The whole process is a bit of a joke, as the letter costs £25/€30 and is just a photocopy of a standard letter that they give to everyone, but we knew this and we knew we wouldn’t get a VISA for Sudan without one. We eventually found the Sudan embassy but had forgotten to bring some passport photos. It would have to wait another day.

The three of us then headed for the Egyptian Museum which displays over 130,000 artefacts relating to Egyptology. The jewel in the crown is the gold death mask of Tutankhamun, which is probably one of the most recognisable historical artefacts in world history.

It was an important day for Egypt as they had recently got through to the final of the African cup of Nations hoping to win it for the 5th time, and the atmosphere in Cairo had been building up all day. We decided the best place to watch the game was in the city centre hostel with the locals who worked in the hostel. Egypt scored in the last ten minutes to beat Ghana 1-0 and to ensure that Cairo wouldn’t be sleeping that night.

As soon as five minutes after the final whistle, the whole of downtown Cairo was awash with people celebrating on foot, on bikes, or in cars with flags and fireworks flying high in the night sky. The party was non-stop, and we thought it would be rude not to join in!



Day 32
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Nursing hangovers, we awoke to a much quieter city centre than usual. Many people had even closed their businesses for the day after the victory in the football. We returned to the Sudan embassy to complete our VISA application and bumped into two other Brits who were taking a very similar route to us through Africa, but with public Transport.

After a cup of tea (very British) we exchanged contact details, knowing we would see each other along the way down to Cape Town. If any friends of Ryan or Jack have been directed to this site from their Facebook group, feel free to browse the photos of all of the places Ryan and Jack will have seen during their trip!

We wanted to find a swimming pool to go for a swim, searching all day in vain only to find a small hotel pool that was in the shade and freezing cold. We decided not to bother, and to chill out around the cafes of Cairo instead.