Team Tana Netting is halfway on their overland journey from Amsterdam to Cape Town.  En route, they will promote malaria awareness in over 20 countries. This is Liz and Laura’s second blog entry for Tana Netting:

16 April - 2 May
We drove off from the camp site in the east of Libya to make our way to the Egyptian border. We got there early and were hoping to drive off in the afternoon. After hours of stamps, permits, insurances and engine number check-ups we were allowed to drive for another 100 meters just to wait some more. People pulled out chairs and made themselves comfortable – eating lunch, playing cards and chess. Two radios were found in our bags and we had to declare them, which delayed the group by another couple of hours. Finally, around 19.00 we were allowed to drive into Egypt, were we finally had mobile phone service again and could communicate with our families and friends.

We slept in a great hotel in Marsa Matrouh in order to wake up early the next day for the drive to Cairo. Upon arriving in the capital, we started making preparations  to go to the Dutch Embassy to participate in their “Holland Week” celebrations promoting cooperation between the Netherlands and Egypt, which was quite an interesting event.

The next morning, we drove towards our next desert camp. En route, one of the  cars’ windscreens was damaged by a rock and the team had to drive the rest of the way wearing goggles.  At the desert camp, some local people had organized a BBQ and song-and-dance performance for us, during which a major sandstorm started, making eating difficult and sending everyone rushing to set up their tents. An extreme, but nonetheless beautiful experience!

The next day we drove into the so called White Desert, which is a nature reserve so we were only allowed to drive on the given pathways. The desert looked almost identical to the salt flats in Bolivia, unbelievable impressive. The sand was so light it  resembled chalk and most cars could not get through to the camp. Thankfully we have a very strong 4x4 and everyone made it to the camp in th end. There was a little oasis in the middle of nowhere where we jumped in a small water pool to cool off.

After some GPS difficulties the next day we found a local guide who could show us the way to the main road, from which we set off for Luxor. We settled in the middle of town at a little orange-colored campground. Finally one of the guys that was supposed to have met us in Cairo, but could not because of the volcano eruption, met up with the group, bringing much-needed spare parts for the broken down cars, tents, money and other crucial things.

So the next day everyone was ready to drive off to Aswan. After visiting the Valley of Kings (the grave of Tutankhamen!) we set off for Aswan. We arrived on Friday night and prepared our cars for the boat ride to Sudan.  On Saturday everyone was busy securing the necessary paperwork leave Egypt and finally brought the cars onto the barges at the end of the day. Sunday, 25 April, was World Malaria Day and we handed out DawaPlus® 2.0 long-lasting insecticide treated nets to the rest of the teams to commemorate this important occasion.  The boat finally departed on Monday, which was an experience in and of itself! We all had cabins for the 12 hour trip, but preferred playing cards and sleeping on the roof with the locals instead.

We expected long delay at the port in Sudan, but luckily we were able to get on our way in only a couple of hours.  The customs officials did not even make us open our cars, ‘because there were too many of them’! It might have also been too hot for the border police.  So we continued into to the desert (after 10 km) and set camp there. The next day we bought groceries in the town of Wadi Halfa and prepared the cars for the arduous 3-day journy through the Nubian Desert.  Thank God we had a guide to tells us exactly where to go!  After two days of extreme heat (50°C) and drinking many liters of water per day we entered Khartoum where we met up with the rest of the teams. Next stop Ethiopia!

Catch more of Team Tana Netting's journey on their blog (in Dutch) or on Malaria No More Netherlands' website.