Egypt: Eventually, All Roads Lead to Egypt

With a disdainful smile, the Libyan frontier official hands our passports back. "You go back to Tunisia," he sneers. Uwe and I exchange stunned glances. This cannot be...

Just a fortnight ago, when launching this five-year trip around the world, all of our friends and family members had serious doubts about our prospects. "Two greenhorns like you will never make it through the desert," and "You'll be home, defeated, within a month" were among their milder assertions. Stuck here on the border, we couldn't help considering the embarrassing possibility that these bitter predictions might come true much sooner than anyone had thought.

Our ridiculous predicament in Ras Ajdir, the small border post between Tunisia and Libya, began three days ago. The slow emigration procedures on the Tunisian side of the border had taken ages and we arrived dead-tired late at night, obviously not the best of times to cross a frontier.

Despite our valid visas and an official invitation to the country, the grumpy Libyan officer decided he didn't like our faces. He sent us back to Tunisia straight away, waving off all of our protests. We demanded explanations, but he only mumbled something about a new law of Mohammar Ghaddafi's before he ditched us. "Individual travellers on motorbikes are no longer permitted to enter the country without a guide," he said. We should come back the next day.

Fortunately, we had met Jamil, a young Tunisian, earlier that day. He must have smelled the rat, for he had offered his help in case we encountered unexpected problems with the Libyans. Not only had he invited us to share a delicious traditional couscous meal, he had exchanged our Libyan dinars, too, and at a fair rate, on the black market. With nowhere else to go, and knowing that a bed would be waiting for us in his home, we gladly returned to accept his friendly offer....

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