Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

At least one of the "trip across Africa" people contacted me a while back via Long Riders to talk about the Egypt portion. The list of physical problems in terms of urbanisation, roads, landmines, and similar physical obstructions that I could see in his way between Libya and Suez just from Google Earth and my knowledge of Egypt, ran into a couple of pages. A trip like this would make the GAHR look like a walk in the park.  AND it doesn't even deal with the fact that as Douglas Adams noted in The Last Chance To See, his book about traveling with a naturalist for the BBC in various places looking at endangered species (Great book...highly recommend it) the ex-colonial countries (ie, most of Africa) are littered with officials whose entire job is to say "no" to everything simply because they can.

Maryanne

On Jan 21, 2008 2:18 AM, Tom Sites <goearth@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

 

----- Original Message -----

From: The Long Riders' Guild

To: Tom Sites

Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 9:42 PM

Subject: Hello from The Long Riders

Dear Tom,

 

How good to hear from and I hope that the New Years is proving to be a happy one for you and all The Guild's comrades in the North American endurance community.

 

Yes, thank you, we are aware of the news conference wherein Mr. Laden, and his wife, expressed an interest in horses.

 

However, please allow me to pass on the thoughts which I just expressed to a very respected equestrian journalist.

 

Being an ex-journalist I tend to be careful about what is reported, knowing that mistakes do creep into news stories.

Yet the main equestrian point buried in the Laden story seems to be found in this paragraph.

 

"The couple are planning their endurance horse race across North Africa, which they hope to start in March. It is in the planning stages and they are seeking approval of governments along the route and need sponsors to help pay for the event and raise money for child victims of war."

 

So, right away we're talking racing, not travelling. And that, of course, means that the Ladens should be contacting you and Ride Camp for help and assistance, and not the travellers and equestrian explorers at The Guild.

 

Plus, because the Ladens have not been in in contact with The Guild, then they couldn't know that two other Long Riders, Jean Louis from France who rode from Paris to Moscow, and Hans-Juergin from Switzerland who rode from Arabia to the Alps, have already expressed interest in riding across North Africa.

 

But the problem with this proposed ride, be it done by veteran Long Riders, or amateur travellers like the Ladens, are the inherent risks involved in trying to ride across this horse-hostile route. To illustrate this problem, there are currently two South African Long Riders, Billy and Christy, who are trying to ride from Tunisia to South Africa. Their journey has been plagued with problems and demonstrates that even saying you're going to get your horses across all of those skeptical international borders is one thing, but getting suspicious border officials to cooperate is another thing entirely. Billy and Christy are more than a year behind schedule, already had one horse die from fever and are currently stuck in Khartoum with two more sick horses. There is, therefore, no doubt that this is one of the most hostile political routes for Road Horse and Long Rider, regardless of who your dad is and what your last name is.

 

This situation brings to mind the reply I sent to the lady who wrote to The Guild late this afternoon regarding her dream to ride from the Pacific to the Atlantic later this year.

 

While The Guild offered a great deal of encouragement, and put her in touch with a number of expert North American Long Riders who had recently ridden "ocean to ocean," we also offered this warning.

 

"One last thing. We deal with the harsh reality of equestrian travel here at The Long Riders' Guild. This is no pony picnic you're about to set off on. And even though the calendar says 2008, the hardships awaiting you out there on the long gray road can't read the date. So we never pull our punches here at The Guild. If you're making a dumb decision we will tell you, not because we're fond of you, but because The Guild won't tolerate people recklessly endangering their road and pack horses."

 

Being a veteran of the legendary GAHR endurance race of 1976, you of all people know that even if you're a wise old Long Rider and endurance champ like Virl Norton, you're still bound to ride into trouble - even if the countryside is peaceful and you speak the local language.

 

What all of this means, is that while Mr & Mrs Laden have an intriguing idea that incorporates horses, it is not based on the political, climatic and geographic realiites of North African equestrian travel. Could it be done? Possibly. But a lot of luck and a great deal of serious equestrian preparation. However, while the governments involved will probably not directly thwart them, they will probably discourage and delay them until this dream dies in the sands of the Sahara.

 

If the Ladens, or a Ride Camp fan for that matter, was looking for an achieveable equestrian adventure, I would recommend that they head to Eastern Europe. There they would discover that the former Iron Curtain has been transferred into a 7,000 mile long horse trail, which runs from Turkey to the Arctic and is just waiting to be explored.

 

In closing, best wishes to you and Ride Camp.

CuChullaine

-- 
Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
msgabbani@xxxxxxxxx

Egypt Face to Face
www.alsorat.com
Weblogs:
Living In Egypt
miloflamingo.blogspot.com
Cairo/Giza Daily Photo
cairogizadailyphoto.blogspot.com
Turn Right At The Sarcophagus
haramlik.blogspot.com
Photos of Egypt:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/livinginegypt/