The Dangers of Travel in the Middle East
On the Current Dangers of Travelling to the Middle East and the Gaza Strip
Danger, Danger, Will Robinson…
A reference to those familiar with “Lost in Space”, Will Robinson’s robot friend and protector.
The truth about the dangers of being in the Middle East.
I will admit, I have been skirting the dangerous side of life over the past few months. I have been near the Gaza killing zone, and just kept on getting closer. The world is a dangerous place.
Still in Morocco, in October 2023 I had messages from worried people in Australia of concerns for my safety because I am so close to the killing zone.
This really puzzled me. So, I did the maths. Yes – it was a fact. Those people in Sydney were closer to New Zealand and the massacres in the mosques in Christchurch in 2019 (51 deaths), than I was to the Gaza bombings. Would they have said the same thing if I had been in Italy – much closer to Gaza, but a European country, and not an Arabic or an Islamic one?
No.
As it turns out, I’ve spent a lot of since then in Italy, Albania and Greece, but apparently I am now much further from the trouble - nobody is even asking. (Actually, I’m not sure if they know where Albania is.).
We are living in an age of intense social media, with far more misinformation than information. It seems it is the way of the world.
* * * * * *
On the 8th of September, 2023, when there was a bad earthquake in Morocco, the tourists travelling to Morocco halved overnight. People in Casablanca were fleeing back to their homes in France and elsewhere. The media suggested that the whole of Morocco was flattened.
Before and after in one village
The truth? Yes, the earthquake was a disaster – for those affected. But the affected area was in small villages 70 km south of Marrakech – remote Morocco, and a long way from tourist destinations. Some were completely flattened. But even Marrakech, the nearest tourist destination to the affected villages – had hardly any damage – a couple of walls had bigger cracks than before.
What the media achieved was adding insult to injury. The villages needed help – but the tourists took their money away. And the rest of Morocco had to deal with an abruptly ended tourist season, and dramatically reduced incomes.
The result of the media reaction was to add to the troubles caused to these people by withdrawing funds from Morocco, from withdrawing help.
The greatest damage from the earthquakes in Morocco was caused by the media’s carnage through mis-information causing tourists to stop visiting.
* * * * * *
Being a “devil may care flippant traveler”, I headed towards the Gaza danger zone in March of 2024, a full six months into the trouble. I headed from Spain to Egypt. The situation was 5 months along. (Iran did their big attack while I was in the Sinai on the Red Sea.)
Warning! Warning!
First, I dived into the troubles in Cairo.
Egypt is, after all, a very unstable country. It is constantly on red and yellow alert – because of some political strife over a decade ago, the 2011 Spring Revolution.
I was back in Cairo for a few days just over 12 months after my first visit (January 2023), I faced the real dangers of Egypt.
Rush hour traffic jams
Crossing the streets.
The concept is much like in Tangier – and I will admit that I was extremely daunted by the task when I first arrived in Tangier in 2019. My western sense of road rules was there to protect me from dangers. When I got to the side of the street, I stopped to watch for a traffic break.
Cars slammed on their brakes and I watched near misses as if I was in a Pink Panther movie.
This was not working. I was creating more trouble because I had stopped to wait.
One trick was to wait “on the sidelines” for someone else to cross. It is always very funny to be hovering at the side of a busy road wondering how to get across. Then as soon as one person steps out and starts to cross, suddenly half a dozen people appear from nowhere to cross with them.
Crossing a street in Tangier by myself was my first major achievement in adjusting to my newest country, and I wore it with pride on my sleeve as I learnt how to negotiate a Moroccan street. The trick?
Go with the flow.
Don’t stop – it confuses everyone. They don’t know what you are doing.
Don’t make sudden turns or changes of direction – just keep going.
No need to run or rush. Just keep on the same smooth path across the roads. They will see where you are going, and slow or curve to move smoothly past you – excepting just a couple of major roads.
Now with new intrepid foreigners, I link arms and hold them close. ‘Just let me guide you. I’ll get you across.’ This strategy actually applies in many countries outside the west and its rigid rules.
Every time I go to Spain I have to adjust.
Don’t walk on the street – stick to the footpaths.
Don’t cross the road anywhere – stick to the traffic lights.
No need to stop for cars on a crossing – they will stop for you.
There is a rhythmical sense of freedom about Tangier roads. The rules in Morocco are ambivalent. Even the roads are just a suggestion. Mostly the cars will stick to the roads – but so will people. Cats. And dogs. All have a right of way.
And always look both ways, even on a one-way street – especially the motorbikes won’t necessarily heed that. Sometimes the small 3 wheeled tuk-tuk trucks. And occasionally a car will go the wrong way.
It is kind of cool to share the streets with all, including the cats, which are not afraid of people and walk with just as much confidence as the two-legged pedestrians – I have even seen them curled up asleep in the middle of a busy foot traffic area, with people stepping just inches from them. They do not flinch – because they know they are safe!
When I first approached the big roads in Cairo – a nightmare according to most comments on the local expat pages – it seemed like a daunting prospect. The cars were simply not going to stop – that was obvious. But I quickly realized that the theory was much the same as Morocco, if a little hairier.
Stick to your course, negotiate between the lanes of oncoming traffic – just make sure to keep out of the way of the oncoming cars.
If the guy balancing those huge double-tiered trays of bread could negotiate Cairo traffic on his bicycle, then so could I !
This was definitely the biggest danger I faced in Cairo. The traffic seemed crazy. Though I am now reliably informed that Vietnam makes the Cairo roads seem like a fairy tale.
The traffic, and negotiating a night at my favourite watering stop – the Horreya Café, where the only item on the menu is Stella beer – were my greatest dangers faced in Cairo. (The problem with Horreya was finding room for the bill – since bottles are left on the table til it’s time to count them and pay.
The bill - you'll be pleased to know that more than 2 were contributing.
But even then – not the dangers of spending a night like that in an Aussie bar. The streets and suburbs were otherwise very safe.
Oh – and those dangerous Muslims? Let’s see…
There is my good friend Jo Nahas, a theatre actor in Cairo, who has taken me in as his family, whenever I am in Cairo, or even not. I will visit him again next month.
There was the 18 year-old at a hostel in Madrid, Bassel – also Egyptian, who was applying to football clubs between games of chess and chatting with me. Like me, he has a dream. He is aiming to make his way in soccer. Bassel offered to help my monetise my blog, something I’ve been struggling with for a while.
These people would insist on me sharing their food and sleeping on their couch before the street. And by ‘these people’, I’m not just talking about my friends. It is a part of the culture.
* * *
But being truly diehard, I was not to be stopped by some Cairo traffic. My spidey senses tingled at the thought of getting closer to the danger.
Terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Egypt. Terrorism is a risk across Egypt, particularly in North Sinai…
Copied from the UK Gov official page on security in Egypt.
Let’s do a little fact checking:
Last attack in Egypt: 2022 – targeting security forces in the Suez, not tourists
2019 – a couple of attacks including one tourist bus. And a couple of Israeli’s on the 8th of October last year.
The perpetual update:- There could be an attack.
Last terrorist attack in the USA: On average, 5 per year. Every year.
Why is the US always a green country? There are daily attacks there - by Americans. Last week there was another school shooting - being the 44th this year - without even counting the other shootings. I’m lost. How is it that Egypt is more dangerous?
So I negotiated a night crossing of the Sinai by bus, with several security checks of luggage and passports – and no, this is not a new feature since October 7th, 2023. This has been the way across the Sinai and the Suez Canal from Cairo to Dahab since 2011 at least.
And yes, the dangers were very real. On a 12-hour overnight sleep deprived bus trip with minimal space – every time we stopped and I had to drag my big suitcase off the bus and over to some tables to be glanced at by the security guards. Reorganise and close it, and drag it back to the bus. Because it was more than just that – a taxi driver had broken the strap - another story, another country - so every time I put it on the bus, it almost immediately fell open!
The danger was that in my dopey and frustrated state, I might explode. And that could have made a lot of OzzyHopping mess.
(Especially if they had challenged my right to a bottle of scotch and threatened to smash it or poor it down the sink as happened to a friend even more recently – these are the real dangers!). Nothing at all to do with the politics there.
We made it to Dahab in just one OzzyHopping piece.
A photo taken from a safe hiding spot behind a cappuccino, showing an innocent tourist at the mercy of the wind, with the ominously pretty hills of Saudi Arabia in the background across the Red Sea. (Gulf of Aqaba). It was getting warm, and becoming necessary for me to take the risk of going for a swim, with every possibility that I would have to go out there myself shortly with a snorkel for some spying on the dangerously amazing fish activity on the reef.
* * *
Dahab is on the Gulf of Aqaba, just above Sharm el Sheikh, hemmed between Israel and the Red Sea. Surely a major danger zone, just 333 km from Gaza.
I named my blog section on Dahab food as Dahab Daze – it seems to apply to the lifestyle there. Each morning I went to a café over the water. Coffee, work, swim, repeat.
But I am on the watch for any sign of alarming activity.
While I am there (it is April), Iran announces that it will send hundreds of missiles to attack Israel. Israel bombed the Iranian embassy in Syria killing some high level Iranian officials, something that Iran had no choice but to respond to.
Wait, what?!!!
Since when do countries at war announce in advance that they are planning to attack?
No one in Dahab was looking worried. I listened to what was being said, and realised how exceptionally smart Iran’s response was. They announced ahead their intention to attack, making sure everyone could prepare for it. They sent missiles over 2 whole nations, giving so many chances for everyone to shoot down the missiles, and such a big window of time - that’s better odds than the easiest video game!! Even I could get a high score on one like that!
Iran had to respond - Israel had ensured that their attack was low profile internationally - Syria - but one that was a major insult to Iran that they could not ignore. Iran understood that an attack on Israel - as was necessary now - would result in retaliation and a much bigger problem. So they made the biggest show possible with their huge number of missiles, but in a way that ensured the least damage, by making sure they could be stopped before causing damage, and an incident. Almost no one in Israel was even hurt.
A noise in the sky. I glanced up.
Was everyone wrong?
A helicopter.
Passing on its way to Sharm el Sheikh. Probably a tourist on a joy ride from the monastery town of St Catherine. It seems the real danger here – besides sunburn, and the normal dangers of diving that are common all around the world – is that the locals are struggling because the tourists are staying away.
Apparently, I am in the danger zone.
My own personal problems were far more immediate. My favourite night bars were a little around the corner past Lighthouse in the town centre. For some reason the local council decided it was time to dig up both sides of the pathway and pile the soil in the middle of it. Especially in the stretch with no street lighting.
On my way back one moonless night – perhaps after a few more than I should have – skirting my way between the mountain range of dirt in the middle of this path and the 2-foot ditch on the edge, I missed my step. And ended up with a small graze and the bunt of a lot of jokes.
So Dahab was definitely full of dangers – There were no limits on how much a person drank, or danced, or talked on the beach. No driving, everything is on foot – which was sometimes seriously difficult when I was overstuffed from an amazing banquet of Egyptian food.
In fact, the crime rate is so high that most clothing shops and cafes along the main street ‘lock up’ by placing nothing more than a stool in their doorway. Even after they were all closed later at night, I often found my way into one to sit on the water’s edge, to listen to the waves and watch the moon setting over the water over a little catchup chat on my phone.
The real danger here was the lack of tourists, making life harder for normal people who were just trying to make a living.
* * *
Not to be deterred, after 2 months in Dahab – about 60 daze – I packed up for another move, even closer to the danger zone. This time I was heading to Jordan via Aqaba, just 230km from Gaza.
Aqaba is on the corner of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Egypt. The town has the Israeli-Jordanian border running right through the middle of it.
So we jumped into a taxi to Nuweiba to catch the ferry northwards, normally a 2 hour trip on the boat. At the border I suddenly remembered that my visa had run over. I had a one-month visa from the border, but I had now been 2 months in Egypt.
This was not a country to play with border rules.
Was this it? Many years ago a friend joked that my stay in China would end up in jail. Was that to happen here instead?
Was I to be whisked off to jail in Egypt?