Jump to:	Permits
	Vehicles & Equipment
	Personal Gear
	Water Ration
	Food & Drinks
	Navigation
	Health & Dangers
	Mines
	Costs & Payment
	Disclaimer

Permits
The Western Desert in Egypt is considered officially a ‘border zone’, with travel for both locals and foreigners restricted. At this moment, permits are only issued by the military authorities to foreigners if accompanied by qualified desert tour operators, and escorted by an officer from the military intelligence. We will utilise a local travel agency with appropriate expertise and contacts to arrange the permits (and outfit the expedition vehicles).
Permits are issued to the travel agency organising the tour. Arranging them takes between 2/3 weeks, and only a photocopy of the passport is required. Important: Passports need to be valid for six months beyond the date of planned entry to Egypt for visa to be issued.
The permits are given at the discretion of the authorities, sometimes in a straight forward procedure, sometimes after a long processing, sometimes not at all. The authorities may restrict the areas where permits are given, and in principle even issued permits may be revoked or rendered invalid by a change in the security situation. Once issued, the permits are valid for a particular itinerary, but not limited in time.

Vehicles & Equipment
We will rent three diesel Toyota Landcruisers (HZJ - 75) from a local agency. My good friend, Khaled Makram (one of the best desert drivers I know) will check the vehicles, and outfit them for a desert trip of 2500 kms. Khaled will drive the lead car, and the agency renting the cars will provide two additional drivers. The lead car will be equipped with six passenger seats in the rear. Two additional seats will be installed in the second and third cars. In addition, there is a front seat beside each driver, the one in the lead car for the navigator (myself), plus two others in the second and third cars.

Please note: the -75 Landcruiser is the sturdiest all terrain vehicles ever made (possibly the only one that can carry a totally self contained load for 2500 kms and two weeks), but it's not designed for comfort ! The ride is hard and bumpy, and seat 'comfort' is rather nominal. Within the constraints of space available we'll try to make the ride as comfortable as possible, but expect some discomfort on the long drives south when the cars are completely full.

All vehicles will be equipped with two 2 m long steel sand sheets, two extra tyres, an additional outer and several inner tubes plus a full tyre repair kit. In addition to a fully equipped toolbox we shall have heavy duty 12V compressors, spare fan belts, hydraulics tubes, engine oil, transmission & brake fluids.
Each car is equipped with two 90 litre fuel tanks. As we will need between 550 and 600 litres per car, the difference will be carried in 20 litre jerrycans on the roof rack. This effectively fills the roof (only three jerrycans of water plus one spare tyre fits), all other supplies and equipment will go inside the cars. The second and third cars are primarily for carrying the equipment and water.

For communication between the vehicles short range Motorola transmitters will be used. For emergency long range communication we will carry an Inmarsat Mini-M satelite phone, that can be charged from the car lighter socket, and offers limitless communication with the outside world.

For cooking, we will have a PB gas cylinder and two burners, plus two large pots & a kettle. We will collect wood in the last oases, to last for each night's camp fire.

Personal Gear
At the outset of the trip, the vehicles will be loaded close to their maximum practical limit, and volume will also be a problem. This requires personal gear to be kept to the necessary minimum. The folowing is a list of necessities (Aside the tent, sleeping bag and foam matress, all others should fit into a bag not exceeding airline carry on size limits):

Note: we will not have any rechargeable battery charging equipment with us, but you may use your own provided it fits into the car lighter socket. No 220V generator will be available !

Water Ration
Due to the load limit on the vehicles, we can only carry the absolute bare necessities, and this includes water. 4 litres per person per day is calculated (Usually one needs about 3 - 3.5 litres in November or March), with a 20% safety margin at the outset of the trip. This implies, that the water carried is only for drinking & cooking, no water is available for washing.

Food & Drinks
The food carried will be selected for compactness, durability and ease of preparation. This does not imply tasteless monotony, however. For breakfast & lunch we will have a selection of jam, pates & cheese or tuna, together with swedish 'knackebrot', a flat crisp bread that lasts forever. Hot meals will be in the evening. A possible four day menu rotation could be: Mexican Chilli Beans, Rice Curry, Sphagetti Bolognese, Rice & Sweet-n-sour turkey. Meat will be canned turkey ham (the drivers are moslem, so no pork products), beans come tinned, rice & sphagetti only need cooking, flavoring will be with Knorr ready made mixes that only need hot water. This enables a full hot meal for a dozen people be prepared with minimum cooking in 15 minutes.

We will carry single use paper plates, which can neatly be disposed of in the evening camp fire, avoiding both the messy chore of washing up with sand (remember, no spare water), and leaving litter behind in the pristine desert (we will collect and carry back all non-burning trash).

Drinks will mainly come in the form of bottled water (in 1.5 litre plastic bottles), plus cooking water in 20 l jerrycans. For evening variety, we will have a very limited supply of canned beer & soft drinks, one of each per person per day. In adition, each participant is expected to bring two one litre bottles of their favorite fire water for the evenings around the campfire.

Navigation
Navigation will be with GPS (Garmin 12), primarily using the Survey of Egypt 1:500,000 map series, mainly compiled in the thirties by P.A. Clayton and his colleagues. The maps are reasonably accurate, typically GPS verified map bearings are no more than 0.5 - 1 km off the mark.We will also have as a backup the relevant sheets of the Russian Military 1:500,000 series from Quo Vadis.

Health & Dangers
While the deep desert is one of the healthiest places on earth, due to the almost sterile air and surroundings, there are a few risks & dangers. The biggest risk arises from isolation. At the farthest reaches of our trip we will be more than 700 km from the closest inhabited places. Should there be an accident or medical emergency, it's a minimum 2 day trip to Dakhla, where the medical facilities are very meagre. It's a further day to Cairo, where world class medical facilities are available. While we will have an emergency medical kit with us, and the satelite phone enables remote medical assistance, there can be cases where lack of immediate help can lead to serious consequences. To reduce the risk of medical emergencies, all participants are requested to have a checkup before the trip.

Other than accidents, which can happen anywhere, the only dangers lurking in the desert are snakes (especially the horned viper), and scorpions. The former are deadly, but are rare and easily avoidable. They leave distinct tracks in the sand, do not actively seek humans, and typically stay dormant in the cooler autumn to spring months. Though both my and other's experience is that only tracks are seen, live snakes very rarely, we will have antivenom with us, just in case. Scorpions are more common, but less deadly. Though they tend to shy humans, occasionally they crawl under tents or into one's shoes outside, so it's wise to shake one's shoes in the morning before putting them on. Otherwise it's just a matter of avoiding to put one's hand into hollows and crevasses in rocks.

Mines
The Western Desert was the scene of one of the fiercest fighting in WW II., and the northern coast and the Qattara depression was heavily mined. Though most were cleared along the coast, inland any number may remain. Given this situation, all parts of the Qattara depression outside travelled roads and tracks are better left in peace. (Our expedition courses stay well south of the danger areas.) The Long Range Desert Group was also active further south, and they have mined most of the tracks leading to Kufra and Uweinat on the Libyan side. There are no substantiated reports of them having laid any mines on the Egyptian side, however.

More recently, the tension between Egypt and Libya resulted in mining some of the border areas on both sides. At Jebel Uweinat there is a marked minefield blocking the entrance of Karkur Talh, and also at the low pass where the track skirts the northern spur of the mountain and continues towards the Libyan border. There are reports of mines at the pass between Jebels Peter & Paul, and may be expected at any easily blockable route close to the border. In February 1999 German tourists have ran on a mine in the southern Gilf Kebir (fortunately no injuries, but the car was a total wreck), at the western entrance of the Wadi Wassa, and the western reaches of the Wadi el Firaq are also mined. There were also reports of the el ‘Aqaba car pass at the central Gilf Kebir being mined, however many ascents since 1998 confirmed the pass is clear. Reports indicated that the western entrance of Wadi el Gubba in the Northern Gilf Kebir, along the old Kufra - Dakhla camel track is also mined, but in the light of the Dakar - Cairo Rally having passed that way in January 2000, that route now must be clear.

Given above, there is some risk involved when traveling to the south western part of the Western Desert. To avoid any mishaps, we will only follow known safe routes (tested on previous expeditions) and recent vehicle tracks when in close vicinity to the border.

Costs & Payment
The cost of arranging the permits, renting the vehicles, fuel, drivers, plus food, drinks and other equipment is approximately USD 22,000-25,000 for a two week trip with three vehicles, more if trip longer. This needs to be shared by the number of participants. With three vehicles fifteen-sixteen people can go comfortably (including drivers & military escort that became mandatory since the 1999 mine incident). In the first two days it's tight, but it becomes comfortable quickly as supplies start reducing. This implies a cost of 2200 - 3000 per person, depending on number of participants and trip itinerary and duration.
In addition, the airfare from anywhere in Europe to Cairo is in the USD 300 range (return), from the US it's USD 700-900, we will probably be able to organise a group fare that can offer some savings over this.
8 months prior to a trip a payment of $400 will be required to cover permits (easiest by Swift transfer, or Money Order in US - no cheques please !). This is non refundable, as the permits are issued irrespective of a person coming or not. For people on stand-by an USD 100 payment assures permits, so one can take someone's place in the last minute, should there be a drop-out. 6 months prior to the trip a 50% deposit will be required to pay the deposit for the cars and purchase the supplies. Full payment is required only on arrival to Cairo, directly to the agency lending the cars.

Disclaimer
Please note that the expeditions promoted on this website are NOT organised tours. All expeditions are organised as a voluntary grouping of independent travelers, sharing vehicles & equipment. FJ Expeditions undertakes to provide organisation advice (including procurement of provisions & supplies, and selection of suitable desertworthy vehicles) and guidance on the trip. Given the nature of the area and terrain, FJ Expeditions cannot guarantee either itinerary or duration of the trip, as unforeseen circumstances or emergencies may cut the expeditions short, or force an alteration of course. The agency renting the vehicles does so on a daily basis, so if an expedition is shorter than planned, some refund is attainable, to be shared equally among participants. If there is a time overrun, the same amount of additional cost must be shared among participants. Should a trip be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances FJ Expeditions will refund the unspent portion of the deposit payment (including recoverable vehicle deposits).

FJ Expeditions assumes no responsibility for any accidents or medical emergencies during the trip, including trip cut short by any emergency. Participants agree to fully idemnify both FJ Expeditions and fellow travelers for possible adverse effects of administered first aid or other medication. All participants are expected to have full medical and accident insurance extending coverage to a desert expedition, including cost of air evacuation should it be necessary (and possible). Participation on an expedition is subject to presentation of such coverage.

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