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In general
You are
interested in an offroad tour in the Libyan Desert (the Egyptian
part).
So we can assume that you
have a certain experience in offroad driving and that you have an
idea about the desert. But to be able to give the maximum possible
of fun even to those drivers that do not feel home in the desert,
and to make you able to prepare yourself for this tour, we have
prepared the following informations.
The Libyan Desert
The Libyan
Desert extends from the western border of Libya to the Nile and
from the Sahel to the Mediterranean, so it is located in the
countries Libya, Chad, Egypt and Sudan. We are specialized in the
Egyptian part.
The desert wasn't always as
ad dry as it is today, once it was even the ground of a
sea.
This is proved by a lot of
marine fossils. Following tectonic displacements the African plate
lifted over the sea level. Until 10000 B.C. the region was a
savannah in which the first men hunted. They gave testimony of
their life and of the animals they hunted in surprising rock
incisions. At about 8000 B.C. the climate became dry and the
region became the desert as we know it today.
In Egypt there are five big
oases in the desert: Siwa, Bahariya, Farafra, Dachla and Charga
(from north to south). In these oases live about 100000
persons.
Someone even counts the Fayum
as an oasis, but the water in Fayum is not derived only from
wells, but also from a canal connected to the
Nile.
Security
Offroad driving
in the desert holds dangers and has special requirements. We have
always to consider those facts.
So the maximum will be done
to keep the risk as small as possible, but also you have to play
your part in this game.
This includes in particular
your personal equipment. This has to include :
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Motorcycle boots or better Offroad boots.
-
Protective clothes with
protectors or better protective clothes with separate knee- elbow-
shoulder- chest- and back-protectors.
-
Gloves.
-
Motorcycle helmet or we
suggest Offroad helmet.
-
Motorcycle
glasses.
-
Useful is also a backpack
with a drinking bag.
From our side all the tours
are accompanied by at least one car equipped with fuel, enough
water, food, first aid material and spare parts. Also your luggage
will be transported by the car(s). And all tours are accompanied
by a tour guide on a motorcycle.
Administration
We must request
a permission from the government for all of our tours in which we
have to communicate the names and passport numbers of all the
participants and our route.
During our tour control posts
will record our passing. This is not made to make our live
difficult but serves our security!
Driving in the desert
The target is
that all the members of the group arrive to their destination in
good health. For this the tours are arranged in a way that doesn't
require the maximum speed.
We will always move in one or
two groups. As
it is not useful to drive at short distances one after the other,
we will drive on different tracks side by side whenever possible
or at greater distances, but always in sight of each other.
Everyone has to make sure that the driver in his back is still
following. If this is not the case, he has to stop. In this way
you signalise the tour guide to stop and to collect the group. To
make this security measure work correctly the last driver has a
special responsibility and can not overtake. This role has to be
taken alternatively by every member of the group. The tour guide
will also stop from time to time to allow the group to
meet.
Surely short stops for taking
photos or for other needs are also possible, but the tour guide
has to be informed.
If there is a clear landmark
on our way, free driving is also possible.
In the detailed tour
descriptions we are using a scale from 1 to 5 to describe the
difficulty of a certain piece of our way. This is not our
invention but is also used by "KTM Adventure Tours" and similar
also by Team Autenried. The meaning is :
1 – on road or good field path.
2 – 4 increasing
difficulty.
5 – only for
professionals.
The tours
At the arrival
in Cairo we will pick you up at the airport. When you reach the
airport building, before the passport control, look for a man of
our staff holding the logo of "German's Motos ".
Depending on the time of
arrival we will arrange a sightseeing tour. When all the members
of the group are arrived you can chose your bike, make all the
paperwork and take your room at the hotel.
The next day we bring you to
the garage to take over the bike and the tour
starts.
On our daily trips of
between 200 and 300 Km we will follow the old caravan tracks
through the desert.
Generally the tours are
arranged that we will sleep every second day in a hotel and the
other days in a desert camp.
The small hotels are simple,
but the rooms are equipped with a shower.
For the desert camps we carry
tents, mattresses and sleeping bags. But maybe you intend even to
sleep under the free sky and enjoy the stars that you can see in
this beauty only in the desert.
Precautions in the
camps :
Do not lift stones before you
have moved them with your boot.
Shake your clothes and boots
in the morning before wearing them.
The scope of the tours
is surely to drive a lot off road, anyhow
we are pleased to show you some places of interest that are
located in or near the oasis.
The end of the tour is
prevalently in Cairo, in all other cases, depending on the course
of the tour, the transport to Cairo will be organized by us
and you are accompanied to the airport.
Landscape protection
The desert is a sensitive
ecological system.
Please don't throw away
anything. We carry bags for waste.
The few plants have a hard
live even without us, please drive around them.
For the camp fires we use
only dead wood.
Motor oil, soap, sun cream
and similar things should not end in water holes or
wells.
Toilet paper is best burned
or at least buried and covered with stones so that it does
not fly around with the wind.
In and near the oasis we have
to drive on the road because the land, even if it is not
cultivated in that moment, belongs to someone.
We are also passing by
archeological excavations. Here a group of motorcycle drivers can
destroy the work of months. In every case don't take anything
away.
What you need
Please consider
in preparing your luggage that the space in the cars is not
unlimited. From our experience we know, that soft bags are easiest
to store.
If the tour will be in
December, January or February you must bring warm and windproof
clothes as the evenings in the desert are very cold and even the
hotels have no heating.
As sometimes we stop at
natural or artificial water basins also a bath suit can be
useful.
In the tour price full board
for you and the needs of the motorcycle is included. Only for
alcoholic drinks (if available) and eventually for some souvenirs
you must provide. The change is best made in Egypt at the airport.
The change rate will be better as in your
country.
Insurance
The bikes are
covered by the mandatory
Egyptian
insurance.
Please check if your
insurance covers illness and accidents in Egypt.
An additional short term
insurance for the bikes can not be concluded in Egypt. For this
reason we can not offer this.
If
you are not alone
If you are accompanied by
someone that doesn't drive motorcycles we can offer :
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