FWC Egypt Camp, 23th - 30th October 2011
Now here's What the students thought...
Jill
I don't know where to begin – the daily blog covered our itinerary with additional comments, so this will just be a few ransom musings. What struck me in the desert was the light – the clear lightening of the sky long before the sun appeared and the colours and contrasts after the sun had plummeted behind the hills. At night it was the lack of light pollution that allowed us to clearly see the Milky Way with the other multitude of stars hanging from the black velvet sky.
No FWC trip would be complete without reference to food. As has been said elsewhere we ate magnificently, from the goat cooked underground in a large tin can followed by a wonderful beef fillet barbecued whilst camping to an elegant lunch (including salmon and salads) in a beautiful shaded garden in the Cairo suburbs. Part of the desert breakfast experience was eggs and beans (Egyptian style), the latter ensuring the necessity of a visit to Poo(h) Corner (not actually as unpleasant as expected!).
Training included the concepts of denseness (as oppose to tenseness) and "being there" (in your opponent's space whilst retaining your own). Our desert drivers (Alain and Sirge/Ahmed) watched and then joined in. After "non-sparring fighting" techniques (e.g. removal of a drunk from a bar: what to do if you are grabbed by the collar) were demonstrated they were enthusiastically practised.
When they weren't so occupied, they delighted in making us squeal by taking the Land Cruisers just to the crest of a dune then pausing for us to contemplate the subsequent drop before whooshing us down. On several occasions we got stuck, most spectacularly on a high summit where only burrowing like a battalion of demented gerbils got us free (eventually that is!).
Every individual aspect was memorable and woven together they made a most wonderful trip. I cannot do it justice, the only way you will know what I am trying to say is to go yourself.
Great thanks to all who made it possible.
Michael
I'm a city dweller, I live in London, work in the City. Travelling around and living in the Western Desert was such a change that most conscious thought quietened down and stopped. All that remained were a few synonyms for "wow", a semi-permanent smile and a curiosity about what was for dinner (lots of tasty!).
Our stay at the hotel was effortless, exactly the kind of thing you want to find at the end of a long journey. Camping in the desert? Highly recommended! Sleeping outside and watching the stars move really brings home how large and empty a space you are in.
Training in such an environment, I found new concepts encountered less resistance than usual, and focus was easier to maintain. The variation in terrain highlighted the (many) inadequacies of my stance, and I have a new found respect for 4x4's and their ability to go up sand dunes, especially compared to me. Our driver, Alain, was fantastic - educational, thoughtful and clearly loved driving up dunes wherever and whenever possible.
Being in the desert is addictive - can't wait to go back!
Jon
The trip to the Western Desert of Egypt was fantastic and no description of mine will really do it justice - it has to be experienced.
There are so many highlights it's diffcult to know where to start. Great food, running through the desert at dawn, the dune driving, the incredible variety of the desert landscapes, fresh dates taken straight from the tree, washing in a waterhole in the middle of the desert, waking in the night to see the entire milky way spread out over you, training in the shadow of a sand dune or on top of a huge rock formation with views for miles over the desert, mint tea in the evening by the campfire... I have never been on a trip like this one and I really didn't want to come back home!
While camping we were well looked after - an advance party had set up a shelter before we arrived and we had a lot of great food prepared for us each morning and evening.
Before and after the camping trip we spent time in the Bahariya and Farafra oases where we trained and did a little sight-seeing in and around the towns.
Eleanor
As a very pale person who likes home comforts, a trip to the desert including two days camping, would not usually be my first choice for a trip. Yet I enjoyed this trip more than any others that I have been on with FWC and I'm really pleased that I had the opportunity to go on the club's first trip to the Western desert. There were many truly amazing and unexpected experiences. One of these was driving up and down the sand dunes. We were lucky to have three fantastic guides to the desert, who also drive thousands of miles in desert rally races. Not only were they great drivers, but they were good company as well. It is always interesting to meet with people who have a passion for something and their love of the desert and rally driving was evident. Another great part of the trip was the Egyptian hospitality, with stylish hotel rooms and delicious food. Sweet mint tea round a camp fire or in the shade of a rock was a stable of every day in the desert. The food we had in the desert was another surprise, with three course meals both days, with the highlight being goat cooked in a Bedouin style – buried in the sand in an oil drum for three hours. Just in case we were still hungry, there was also a huge fillet of beef on the grill...
I thought training would be the most difficult part of the trip because of the heat, yet we always found somewhere perfect to train. In the Bahareya we trained in a court yard as the sun set with a view of the fields around the hotel – the heat helped with some intense stretching. In the desert we trained in the morning in the shadows of beautiful white rocks covered in crystals, pieces of iron ore and embedded with ancient fossil sea shells. One afternoon we trained high up in the cleft of a giant rock face, another in the shade of a perfect sand dune. Running round the camp was also good fun as I had to abandon shoes and learn to run on shifting sands.
Experiences in the desert are visceral with landscapes changing every 20 minutes as we drove from Farafra to Bahariya. Throwing a cup of cold oasis water over my head after the first day in the desert and sleeping on the sand under the stars are events I will never forget. The only caution I would have about going on an FWC Egypt trip – returning to work on Monday morning is not fun...