http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php On September 15 2011, Tom Smitheringale will set off on a 2,500km Egyptian odyssey in an attempt to kayak Africa's mightiest waterway, the Nile, and then travel overland on camels with the Bedouin into the remotest corners of the hauntingly beautiful Western Desert revealing the cultural and historical richness of this little known and seldom visited area of Egypt. http://www.onemanepic.com/rss/tom-rss.jpg http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Thu, 08 Mar 2012 07:20:33 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_48 28 days in a Libyan Militia prison. The first 27 were the hardest. These people are definitely not to be trifled with. Because not everybody on here sits up at the big table it would be inappropriate of me to elaborate on the details of my capture and extraction and as I'm still in country, it's probably best I get out of this sentence now. I am especially grateful to a number of individuals and would like to mention with appreciation the highly professional and thorough work done by the different agencies involved in negotiating my release. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:54:16 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_47 I tossed down the last dregs of coffee. A crushing melancholy hung over everything like smoke. What are we doing. Overcome by desire to go home I felt like I was on a conveyor belt slowly heading towards the edge of a cliff. It’s already been a long day and dawn is yet to break. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:49:54 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_46 Gentlemen. Each month I get dozens if not hundreds of questions from you asking about my dapper appearance and handsome good looks. I'm in my forties and it's true I used to take my good looks for granted. In today's high-pace, high-stress life of the modern day Samurai, men's grooming products can't be relied upon to do all the heavy lifting to give your skin true beauty. "So what's your secret bro?" Well it's not good genes or a diet of Cairo street food. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:56:17 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_45 An Introspective on Paddling. Kettle's on. Take a chill out. I started paddling when I was a pup. Mum took me any my little bro to a Canoe Club on the river near home to fill those empty spaces in your afternoons. I didn't show much talent for it but I bust a nut tryin because there was a girl who had me swooning. She was my first crush and her name was Angela. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:18:28 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_44 So there I was at my local coffee shop talking story with Joe Lazy when I asked if he thought this was possible. He smiled a wayward electric smile the kind that made the women give him a second look and in that swift unstoppable way the die was cast. I know he doesn't think I'm crazy but he sure thinks I'm entertaining to watch. It was a bit like taking the red pill on The Matrix, that moment where your life's arc becomes irreversibly redirected. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:09:41 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_43 I hate the heat, and I am terrified of snakes. But when an e-mail appeared in my inbox from Tom inviting me to join him and help photograph a section of his trek through the desert, I couldn't say no. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sat, 03 Dec 2011 07:34:40 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_42 The rain kept coming down with a miserable bluesy beat. The sky looked like someone had picked up the desert and turned it upside down on us. Lightning flared silently beyond the horizon. The time of the year was winter. Washed in moonlight and fuelled by substances both illicit and alcoholic Adel's coping mechanism was to move about ghostly wrapped in a wet blanket. We gave in to helpless laughter. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:41:57 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_41 I'm a conniving old Hag. Adel is a decent old skin with many redeeming qualities who has been at the heart of this trip. I know each day out here sucks a little harder than the last because he misses his daughter Mooner like the deserts miss the rain. He told me it makes his heart hurt something fierce. This commanded my attention and I wanted to thank him for being such a good sport so when he was taking a dirt nap I got the team in huddle formation and rolled out Operation Mooner. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Tue, 22 Nov 2011 02:37:01 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_40 When I travel I like to get in synch with a country's rhythm. Dancing as a human activity has a very long history and in Egypt women and men have been shaking and swirling their hips for centuries. Every community indulges in dancing to celebrate different religious and social occasions as an expression of joy, thus dancing has become an integral part of their culture. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sat, 19 Nov 2011 07:00:43 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_39 Sometimes nature throws you this look where you want to hoot and shout accusations because the look seems so unbelievable, an obvious fake. I study these looks for the brief reward of them, and this day nature tossed me such a look. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:28:28 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_38 Adel and I have been busy conducting our mid-term performance appraisals of the camels. The results weren't what you'd call 'glowing' and none of them have achieved their KPI's. Here's a look at the good, the bad and the ugly. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sun, 13 Nov 2011 06:22:23 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_37 Sarah McNair-Landry. Google it. Guinness Book of Records, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, GQ Magazine. Your girlfriend ain't got nothing on her. Adopted by the Alpha of a wolf pack after a rogue polar bear killed her parents right before her eyes, twenty-five year old Sarah only knows pack life and the rigid social hierarchy that controls it. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sat, 12 Nov 2011 06:54:08 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_36 I awoke from a rich soup of erotic dreams to the sound of JLo's anal transgressions. A symphony of bowel movements each in different pitches and melodies. He tilted his head back as if he was smelling the air. I cursed rolling onto my back and looked up at a green star all alone and the brightest thing in the sky. The clouds were light and dark grey as they bubbled past a tumbling moon. I moved stiffed limbs with that ache that comes from sleeplessness and rolled out of my cot onto the sand to take a piss. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:53:03 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_35 We stood there on a patch of hot dirt that shimmered. Adel's posture was one of low tide, drained and slack. During our time-outs he liked to talk about his daughter. Sometimes he had tears ganging up. Her front name is 'Mooner'. I was wishing he was at home with her instead of standing here with me in this baked dirt field. He said with great warmth that on her sixteenth birthday I can marry her if there's a vacancy. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sun, 06 Nov 2011 09:08:43 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_34 There are two main religious holidays on the Muslim calendar. Eid el-Fitr at the end of Ramadan and the big one Eid el-Adha (the Festival of Sacrifice) tomorrow. They are calculated on the lunar calendar, so their dates rotate throughout the seasons and are impossible to predict. Both Eids are traditional family gatherings with enthusiastic feasting and at Eid el-Adha every household that can afford it will slaughter a sheep. You see them tethered everywhere, even on rooftops for weeks prior to the event. The slaughtering is often done on the streets. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:29:49 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_33 It's a ripe one alright. Adel had his head down plodding along like a mule in a harness. We walked with a constant feeling of irritation and frustration, a loose stone under your feet became a monstrous injustice, bumping into the camels because of fatigue dulled senses brought out unreasonable anger rather than the usual sarcastic comment. I rode the memory of better times, meals I'd eaten, girls I had known, or wished I had known better. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Tue, 01 Nov 2011 06:05:06 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_32 The heat had charged in and I could see a red tractor toiling in a field far off, silently, a small dust cloud following. We'd covered long pony rides of countryside, maybe 25 kays or more and pulled into the patchwork of farm for a look-see. We spoke to the farm people and they smelled nice and seemed cordial. After a few moments of opening pleasantries we ask if we could water the camels and take some time out and they pointed us to the spring. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sat, 29 Oct 2011 06:49:33 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_31 Road dust powdered the breeze and the sun was in one of those moods. Adel blazed a trail. Seemed as though he'd upped his normal hash dose and achieve a highly amped state. My feet found small broken stones that made me wince. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Thu, 27 Oct 2011 05:55:32 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_30 A silver sun flashed over the dunes swelling to a fragile sphere flickering points of light. I watched an airliner high overhead until it disappeared. It was absolute quiet not even a whisper of a breeze. Mornings had become an oddly slapstick affair. With only my skivvies on I start with some advanced stretching techniques and then machinegun a set of push-ups. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Mon, 24 Oct 2011 05:23:35 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_29 Routines start to form and one constant is the fierce debate among the men which way was east for morning pray. A curious mix of flowery ranting and religious zeal. I hinted at the sun as a reference point but they don't get my attempts at thinly veiled sarcasm and according to my GPS compass 'Islamic' east is a couple of degrees to the south. It's become a little ritual I look forward to. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sat, 22 Oct 2011 05:05:35 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_28 Breakfast is an Amy Winehouse diet of cigarettes, hashish and caffeine. I choose the later. Adel knows how to get on the heel and sets the early tempo. The ground was pumping out heat. The shops had thinned out and the streets became residential. The road lay long and black ahead of us and the heat was now coming through the thin soles of my flip-flops. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:20:51 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_27 All this fiddle farting around makes me want to smoke a cigarette. I was hot for going early but after two days of truck travel being wrapped up like pretzels the camels need some time to stretch out and take in their new surroundings. We make the call to the Law and decided to push the start back a day. The new team is in bad order and I made no effort to hide my displeasure. Trying to motivate these people to get out of bed on time and show some spark is like trying to move a piece of heavy machinery and I can see I was going to have to iron out some kinks. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sun, 16 Oct 2011 04:36:04 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_26 Tomorrow it's time to scoot away. To a place of tinsel edged beauty where people go for a certain kind of redemption. A place of flame thrower heat where the world is square and like the old wild west is full of drifters and conmen and horseflies the size of SUV's. I will shed burdens. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:44:45 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_25 Cairo. A fascinating and welcoming mega-city that's always vibrating with activity. Where you can breathe in the noxious fumes of a hundred thousand passing automobiles and listen to the blaring horns of twenty thousand cabbies. Where dreams are big and golden and there's a sense of unlimited hope a sense of entitlement. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Wed, 12 Oct 2011 05:02:32 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_24 I'm in a Police Station. We're in a bit of a pickle and things are beginning to get strange. This place was flagged as a 'safe' location for an overnight camp and had been approved from up on high. I arrive to nothing but blank expressions punctuated by silence. I'm quickly ushered into an empty office unaware Islam is in another. The douche squad of soldiers and police stare in at me quizzically, gawking and laughing like I'm some kind of street performer. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Mon, 10 Oct 2011 06:11:32 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_23 03.30 o'clock and there's no time to dally. The mindset revolves around efficiency and the completion of tasks. A fantastic mist had risen up and thickened so that eyesight is temporarily marked way down in value. The house lights helped my eyes to focus. I gagged down my breakfast. I felt like a full English. Much to their displeasure I had put the sneak on and slipped past my police escort again. When I entered the water I had to bite through my hand to suppress the laughter. I felt like a hound, pacing along in a wild chase knowing that the next hour alone belonged to me. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sat, 08 Oct 2011 07:13:47 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_22 The stoke I get today is as good as the stoke I got when I started this. Everyday out here is a privilege and there is no country more blessed with the striking beauty and diversity of Egypt. It's been a wonderful experience so far, full of emotional landscapes and memorable characters. I've said it before that people are at the heart of this trip and most Egyptian's are warm, beautiful, hospitable and generous and I've enjoyed unique bonds of friendship. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Fri, 07 Oct 2011 05:33:33 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_21 Asyut. If this place were meat you'd let your dog eat it. I have an entourage of local Police following me here carrying cannons on their hips and wearing suits that look like they had come straight out of the Salvation Army bin. The traffic here a scene of sheer bedlam and the roads are chunky and busted up. The population is a mix of poverty stricken people who work meaningless low paying jobs and transients visiting for illegal ventures. Most of the children have never been to school, owned a toothbrush, or had enough to eat. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Wed, 05 Oct 2011 05:32:36 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_20 I woke up looking like a Johnny Cash song. My back and arms throbbed like after a heavy workout with the weights and that ache that comes from sleeplessness and fatigue. Across the fields the farmhouse lights shone like ships at sea. With mechanical efficiency I work through the morning routine. I divide the agenda into separate compartments in my mind. I would work through them one by one. Using advanced Ninja techniques I give my police escort the slip and ease into the water with a silent giggle. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sun, 02 Oct 2011 04:40:31 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_19 The sun was fierce and the land seemed to glisten and drip with steam. The landscape here really gets under your skin. It makes you wonder what it must have been like in ancient times when a mighty Egyptian swordsman wearing a loin cloth called The Scorpion King ruled over nearly all the known world. He has a crush on an enslaved sexy sorceress who liked wearing a fur bikini and has a weakness in that if she ever has sexual intercourse she would lose her magic powers. Stupid lying women. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sat, 01 Oct 2011 06:45:13 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_18 This is Part 2 from Islam. 1st Day 19th of September: Finally I dropped Tom with his kayak into the Water...He started at 7am and the Barge was late so he just moved and I knew later that they reached him after 7 kms and the sailors said that they were trying too hard to reach him "they were late just for 20 mins" but it was a strong start but later he used to finish like 7 kms in 1 hour. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Fri, 30 Sep 2011 05:46:23 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_17 We were introduced to Islam at the beginning of Tom's trip (see blog 'Meet Islam'). He has played an integral role in making Mission Sahara possible. Here are his words from the experience. 1st Day of Preparation 15th of September: We were waiting for the boat arrival which was already in the customs for around 12 days... http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Thu, 29 Sep 2011 05:01:23 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_16 Three and a half thousand years of history have made Luxor one of the most popular tourist destinations in Egypt and there are no Pyramids! Even though Egypt is currently undergoing a period of turmoil and change people from all nationalities still come to Luxor. A stunning visual experience of grand Temples and monuments the age of most of these historic gems is counted not in centuries but in millennia. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Wed, 28 Sep 2011 06:27:35 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_15 Heba El Begawi joined Tom for the early stage of Mission Sahara. Heba will feature as Guest Blogger and Egyptian Expedition Photographer. These are her words from the experience. Heaven, it is, a small boat with no place to hide, Ashraf, Bibbos, and Mohamed are our angels, the magnificent and Huge lake of Nasser is our surrounding, we are not moving today so far. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:14:25 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_14 The Aswan Dam is one of the modern marvels of Egypt and throws up some interesting factoids. After false starts and negotiations with many countries the construction of the dam started in 1958 and was part paid for by the Soviets who were struggle for influence in the region during the Cold War. A fine example of Soviet one-upmanship against the Americans. Before they built the dam there was a massive effort to relocate people and historical artifacts from the riverbanks of the Nile. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Mon, 26 Sep 2011 06:18:02 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_13 As we pulled up to the shores of Lake Nasser on the lake-side of the Aswan Dam, it should have been one of those golden moments. Having already paddled over 250KM across a vast stretch of Lake Nasser, this was to be the first milestone: lake, done, Nile, start. But then it all went sideways. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sun, 25 Sep 2011 05:05:40 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_12 Each morning around 5AM, Tom is the first man standing. By the time he starts making breakfast, the rest of us our rubbing our dreary eyes and picking swatted bug remains out of our hair and from our skin. The sun has not yet risen, but the sky is getting light. Thankfully, our stopping spot on the shores of Lake Nasser the evening before presented no obvious signs of chickens. That excited me more than it should have. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sat, 24 Sep 2011 04:31:27 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_11 "Never get out of the boat. Absolutely goddamn right. Unless you were goin' all the way." Oh no. Here comes that sun again. The one that makes tar bubble and small children cry. I caught a whiff of myself with the breeze in my face that said I needed a prompt visit to the showers. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Fri, 23 Sep 2011 06:07:19 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_10 Two days ago Tom was joined by good friend Dave Brosha, as expedition photographer Dave will guest blog for parts of Mission Sahara. Would someone please wring the neck of those God-damned chickens? This isn't said, but it is thought by at least one person on the barge - I suspect by all - but I'm not about to get out from under my blanket to go polling. Three hours earlier, I was in my heaven. Surrounded by the heavens. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Thu, 22 Sep 2011 06:17:57 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_9 I woke up feeling like a bag of ass. My head throbbed and I felt like I could drink a gallon of ice water. These things are never a bowl of cherries to begin with. The colours of sunset in the west merging with the dawns first bands of pink and gold. The night had been tragic for quite a few mosquitoes that laid there. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Tue, 20 Sep 2011 06:15:19 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_8 It was murder hot. There was a blue bowl of sky. My shirt was darkened in the back and plastered to my shoulders with sweat. I let the sun kick my ass so I wouldn't have too. These are warm reminders that I'm home. Behind me Abu Simbel's prehistoric giants loomed through the haze of shimmering heat like doom. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Mon, 19 Sep 2011 06:41:36 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_7 To Mum and the extended family who have allowed me to follow my path despite all the voices telling me it was impossible and my little bro who was there to pull me out of the lowest point in my life. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Sat, 17 Sep 2011 23:58:08 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_5 Abu Simbel is a bastion of debauchery that was built as a dance arena for ancient Egyptian rave parties. The acoustic properties of this place make it the ideal setting for vigorous dancing and the sweaty business that comes after. Just standing here makes you want to swing your hips. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:38:02 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_4 He has helped in coordinating all the moving parts and it's almost impossible to overplay how important his contribution has been. Islam loves a crisis and his attitude to the challenges we've come up against has been critical in getting us this far. It's fair to say that without his help this expedition probably wouldn't happen. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:57:03 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_3 This is not your generic cliche ridden sandals-n-sand adventure and you should be forewarned that at times things will not always appear as they seem but that will come much later. A rare glimpse of a timeless world where the destination is the journey. The critics and naysayers will use words like bold, reckless or stupid but that's okay we can't all be smart and I ain't going to get bow-legged from having a heavy brain. http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:49:09 WST http://www.onemanepic.com/blog.php#post_1 I've been here for 12 months planning a trip that's going to take half that but probably more. It hasn't always been peachy. When the shit hit the fan and democracy exploded across the region the simple formalities became impossible. Like Sudoku. Maybe I should have tapped out but I can be bulldog determined when I need to be and I decided to play the odds. There have been moments of great humour and woeful disappointment and you know that big rotten gap between who you are and who you want to be never stopped hurtin' to stare across.