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June 21, 2007
Arrested at the Border - provisional update
LOCATION: Abu Simbel, Egypt
SEE WHERE WE ARE!
Longitude: N:22deg.19'50.
Latitude: E: 031deg.36'53.
Kms from Djibouti: 3,313
If I was asked to write a fictional account of the last few days I would be hard pressed to make it any more of a bizarre and twisted story that it was in real life. I am currently writing as a free man in Abu Simbel, about to head north by road to Aswan with Sher who has just joined for 2-weeks of biking to Cairo. But 48 hours ago it was a very different story: I was sitting in a military detention centre being interrogated by Army Intelligence, separated from my equipment and facing espionage charges with a potential prison sentence of 40 years in a military prison.
Paddling for the Border - Sudanese side
I was actually caught on the return journey back to Sudan (in order to secure an exit stamp before taking the ferry to Egypt - the authorities both sides of the fence being none the wiser as to what I'd really been up to) having reached Abu Simbel successfully after paddling for two nights through the demilitarized buffer zone between Sudan and Egypt. I was apprehended and overpowered by local fishermen who turned me in (no doubt for a hefty back-hander).
During the ensuing interrogations I was asked to explain all the electronics equipment I was carrying: satellite phone, highspeed Rbgan satellite terminal,
laptop, video and digital still cameras, GPS, EPIRB, etc, etc. Basically they didn't buy my story of being on an expedition. The two passports didn't help. And then they started going through my photos and video footage, all taken at night of course and detailing positions on the GPS as well as the border observations posts (lit by artificial lights) on the lake shore, and other areas within the border zone deemed sensitive, things started looking very had indeed. It was at this point that I'd given up all hope of finishing the expedition, either through the Middle East or via Pakistan and India, and I was seriously considering the prospect of spending the rest of my life in an Egyptian prison. Not good.
Latitude Longitude position taken at Abu Simbel
Then, at the 11th hour as I was about to be taken to either Aswan or Cairo for further questioning, the unbelievable happened. The fax machine in the next door room began whirring and spat out a two page letter written in Arabic with the official seal of the Ministry of the Interior splashed across the top. It was my permission authorization finally come through from Cairo! I cannot deny that I almost burst into tears with gratitude at what can only be explained as providential intervention and an incredibly fortuitous time.
This is a very quick update I'm afraid, to be followed by a more in-depth account, supplemented by photos and video footage (now returned) in a few days. Sher and I are heading out of Abu Simbel in a few minutes to try and bike to Aswan. Again this will involve a healthy dose of luck if we get through: the police in Aswan have refused us permission to ride the 287 kms, and there are at least four check points along the way. So we are leaving under cover of darkness again and hope to be able to bluster our way through, expedited by baksheesh if necessary. Or we night have to take a detour into the desert to skirt around the checkpoints if the front door approach doesn't work.
Will update more soon...
Huge thanks to all who have recently pledged money to the Moksha shipping fund, which has now been reached! MANY THANKS EVERYONE!!!
jason
** MOKSHA SHIPPING TO EUROPE FUNDING DRIVE - NOW CLOSED!!**
> Total to raise: $4,500
> Total raised to date: $4,700
> Total still to raise: $0
Sincerest thanks to the following for your pledges -
- "We didn't want to be forgotten", UK, $550
- Keith Jacko, USA, $50
- The Speed Family UK, $150
- Karen Bossen, USA, $50
- Wendy Bumgardner, USA, $50
- Will Waller, Dublin, $100
- Casey Dunn, USA, $100
- Anonymous, USA, $250
- The Sheltons, UK, $1,000
- Michael Rawlings, UK, $50
- Crister Brady, US, $50
- Karl Kaseoru, US, $500
- John and Bridget Maxwell, UK, $50
- Jennifer Mackenzie, US, $50
- Ian McCormick, UK, $200
- Terry Mason, California USA, $200
- Jackie and Jean Bernard, Djibouti, $250.
- Erden Eruc and Nancy Board of Around n Over, Seattle USA, $250
- Sharon Kessler, Colorado USA, $500
- Jane Koca, San Jose USA, $50
- John Caldwell, San Jose USA, $100
- Greg Kolodziejzyk of Pedal the Ocean, Canada, $250
Posted on June 21, 2007 1:49 PM