Heat, Dust and Dirt Bikes in Egypt

« Return to Egypt

I last visited Cairo in 1993, with a group of fellow kibbutz volunteers made up of Swedish, Danish, German and a duo of South Africans. I remember being mobbed by Bedouin touts at the mighty pyramids, the line-ups at the Egyptian Museum to see the royal mummies, the horror of seeing a polar bear in a cage and two chained up elephants in the zoo. I don’t remember why we went to the zoo, but Michaela from Sweden swore she would write to the World Wildlife Fund, and maybe she did. My return, filming the 37th episode of Word Travels, would be under the auspices of the Egyptian Tourism Authority, who seemed adamant on flexing their authority as to what we could depict. As a writer and as filmmakers, we do our best when granted the freedom to observe and report. When we first visited Khan Al-Khalili, Cairo’s biggest market and a famous tourist trap, we were prohibited from filming. An endless stream of police in coffee-stained white uniforms constantly demanded papers, as if we had dared to cross the line of their pencil thin mustaches. It is said that bureaucracy was invented in ancient Egypt. One would think that thousands of years of paperwork would perfect the system, but to make that assumption, I would need to get permission, in triplicate, and kick back some baksheesh to an officer from the Ministry of Information, who might make it difficult for us to leave at the airport, just so we know. After visiting over 30 countries as a travel writer with a film crew, in the middle of a 7-week, 7-country slog, there’s little patience for humourless control, so forgive my crocodile tears.

Gonzo Gallery for Heat, Dust and Dirt Bikes in Egypt

view full gallery

Tweet