Hey Guys!

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If you’ve read my previous posts I’ve done a fair amount of travelling over the past ten years and I don’t have any plans on stopping anytime soon! Anyhow I thought I’d write a little post about my time in Africa when I backpacked from Cairo to Cape Town down the East Coast. What a life changing trip that was!

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In actual fact the initial idea to embark on such a life changing adventure came from one of my closest friends, Vikki. It all begun on one of those perfect early summer afternoons in England. The hottest summers day hardly ever exceeds 30C and on this particular day it was perfect. The breeze was fresh, the cloud dotted blue sky was canvassed against the back drop of green, lush fields and there I was taking a leisurely stroll into the common room in my final year of college.

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Vikki and Timmy J as we call him were discussing gap year travel plans as we were all just about to be set free from the grasps of the educational system and enter, as ádults’ into the big wide world! Looking back, what a special time that was for us all. Every opportunity and option laid down before us and we were the only ones who could choose which direction our life’s were to take.

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All I knew is that when I left school I wanted to travel, to find a piece of myself I still didn’t know. Carrying this in my mind into their conversation I entered. South East Asia I remember had been my immediate choice but as they both talked Africa came up into the equation. Vikki loved Africa, she loved the animals, the landscape and she was adamant this was her gap year destination. “Do you want to come Kyle?” I had always imagined myself backpacking through the jungles of Asia alone, fighting off Tiger and Snakes alike on... well my own. But now that travelling Africa came up and doing it with a trio of legends my mind was changed. I agreed, or more like we all decided to embark on this trip together and off we went to some of our last classes ever spent together again.

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The time came around quickly to leave. Tim had decided not to join us as money was tight for him so as a duo we decided upon the date on February 1st to fly, a few days before my nineteeth birthday. I remember once all the emotional goodbyes had been said and we boarded my first ever flight asking Vikki “How long are we in Egypt again?”It was funny we had booked all the destinations but hadn’t gone back over plans for nearly sixth months! Five weeks was the amount of time we decided to spend in Egypt. Yet as we discussed this I remember expressing my concern if there couldn’t possibly be much to do in Egypt for five entire weeks! After all it is a country consisting of nearly 90% desert!

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Well upwards we flew, Lonely Planet in hand and in anticipation of the adventure to come. We had finally flown the nest!

We had booked our first few nights online with a guesthouse a little outside of town in order to gain an insight on how locals lived and went about their everyday lives. Just imagine my entire world back then. From being brought up a country boy in the South East of England. Never flown, never experienced another culture. I was almost a clean slate, just blessed with an open mind and a lot of positivity.

What else could make this trip an adventure of a life time?!

Galal our host said he’d offer pickup on arrival and as we waded through the crowds, taxi drivers and pick pockets alike into our vision came our names on A4 being held by a very pleasant well dressed man in his sixties. This in fact was Galal who in turn, along with his wife Fidelia became our surrogate parents for our five week stay.

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Galal led us to his car which to our surprise and humour was a classic Volkswagen Beetle, racing green at that! Talk about travelling in style! Off we cruised through the early evening traffic and It was a drive never to forget. The streets were literally alive! People bussed from every shop front to every street, ally and park. Men gathered in cafes drinking mint tea and smoking shishas. Boys played in the street and scrambled through dust bins of rubbish. Burdened Donkeys, their carts and owners sailed past the window selling fruit, spices, meats and head scarves for muslim women. The sights, sounds and smells entranced and filled our souls with fascination. We had never quite seen anything like this and we loved it! Well I was absorbed by it all, Vikki on the other hand had increasingly begun to become on edge. The growing distance so far away from home combined with leaving her loved ones behind had taken her by surprise and as we arrived to our destination signs of uneasiness and upset were on her face.

It turned out that Galal and Fedelia were both teachers and owned a primary school. As we were taken to our rooms through the class rooms and up flights of stairs, doctorates, pictures and children’s graffiti lined the walls. We dropped off our bags, showered and joined them both for a late supper consisting of stewed mutton and rice. We chatted, got to know each other and shared experiences. They were such a pleasant, well mannered and respectful couple. Their open generosity and kind hearted nature eased both our minds, especially for Vikki and we began to feel at ease in our new surroundings.

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After dinner Galal showed us into his study and to our astonishment learnt that he was in fact a professor and a son of a great Egyptian writer. Upon returning to our room myself and Vikki begun to write our first diary entry and describe our first thoughts and feelings at the beginning of this trip. Looking back at this time these were the first moments I had made a serious effort to write and describe my experiences with a certain narrative voice. So I guess in some ways this is where my love for writing begun.

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The next morning we awoke to the sound of children singing in the classrooms below and playing outside. After breakfast Galal said it was his pleasure to give us a guided tour of some lesser known archaeological sights around the local area in, you guessed it; his VW Beatle! As we drove through the warm bustling Cairo suburbs from sight to sight we were blessed again and again with pristine ancient Egyptian sights with little or no tourists to be seen. If we were lucky enough the local guard would show you around pointing out details our untrained eyes might of missed and for a little ‘bashish’ (meaning small change in Arabic) he would endeavour to show us something that, more often than not would blow us away with just how special it was.

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Part two of A Tale from Africa to come...