When we arrived in Aswan we had spent the prior night sleeping on the deck of the ferry and both nights before that sleeping in the desert. We did manage to change our undies but having a shower in the middle of the Sahara was out of the question. We smelled, our skin was dry and cracked, and we wanted nothing other than ice cream, Doritos, running water, and maybe some air conditioning. I know that sounds pathetic, but truly we needed a “break”.
We found all of this and a good bit more as well. Ahh, welcome to Egypt.
Once our basic needs were seen to (which took a solid 24 hours to accomplish) we began to play tourist again. Any trip …

Having made our way to the northern most part of Sudan, we had but only one option to cross into Egypt- the once weekly ferry from Wadi Halfa (Sudan) to Aswan (Egypt). Prepared for the worst scenario possible after hearing horror stories from other travelers coming south, the four of us drew together a game plan for securing space, shade and water on the boat’s deck. Some people told us to grab the space under the life boats (but then there’s no railing so you can roll off the ship at night!), others told us to make friends with the captain and sleep in the bridge, while others told us to book the rather overpriced first class cabin. …

Sure there are roads for us to follow through the desert, even towns with hotels to sleep in, but one of the nicest parts about The Sudan is that using the roads and towns is completely optional. We stuck to the road, but made sure to sleep under the stars.
Pulling up alongside the premier archaeological site of Sudan—the Pyramids of Meroe—around sunset the site’s caretaker directed us around the large sand dune to a big spot of desert in the shadow of the pyramids. There were mountains of sand to one side, and tombs of the Kingdom of Kush on the other side. We pitched our tents and set the potjieon the fire and waited for dinner …

One of the things we most wanted to do while in Zimbabwe was go to Great Zimbabwe National Monument. The site was home to a great medieval city serving as a link between the Swahili traders in East Africa to the Bantu speaking peoples of Southern Africa. This city is proof of civilization in Africa long before the colonists arrived.
Formerly known as Rhodesia, one might wonder where the name Zimbabwe came from (or the name Rhodesia for that matter!). Zimbabwe actually means house of the large stones. Scattered across Zimbabwe are the ruins from a great Shona kingdom that ruled the area in the middle ages, but most of these ruins are small scale. All of course, but one- the …