Picking Egypt as your 'Bug-out' Destination..(In a SHTF Scenario)

I know, I know.. you still have the grapical images seen around the world in your mind of the recent revolution here in Egypt but hear me out a second..

Having just read this post Is there anywhere someone in the US can go to just get away from it all NOW? and a few others recently also asking what country or place would make a good hideout/escape to in a SHTF scenario, I decided to write a first hand but brief analysis on surviving in Egypt. All too often the 'positive' reply's to these questions are very short and without any real 'meat' to them. Hence my reason for starting this thread.

For the record, I am a Brit that emigrated to Egypt a year and a half ago, I was here during the overthrow of President Mubarack and his government. During my time here I have studied and learned a great deal (and still learning) about how to live and integrate into this culture from a survival point of view.

A Brief Introduction...

If you were to ask anyone which country would make a good place to bug-out to should a SHTF scenario happen, Egypt would probably not even be mentioned, especially if your an American. One of the major reasons being is that our perception of Egypt is often clouded and influenced by the western media networks to sensationalize and focus on specific events that 'they' deem newsworthy. The Middle East is generally thought of as a hot spot for wars and internal conflicts, therefore this kind of news is often what the western media picks up on more than any other. However, there is a completely different side to Egypt, one that is not reported in the news, or documentary's about 'Ancient Egypt'.

Did you know that Egypt has been under Marshal Law for over 30 years(with the exception of an 18-month break in 1980), and still is!

It is my hope that I can in part, show another side to Egypt that truly makes this place a worthy consideration should you ever find yourself needing a safe place to live and survive during a future SHTF scenario(s).

Demographics...

At 1,001,450 square kilometres (386,660 sq mi),[40] Egypt is the world's 30th-largest country. In land area, it is about the same size as all Central America, twice the size of Spain, four times the size of the United Kingdom, and the combined size of the US states of Texas and California. Nevertheless, due to the aridity of Egypt's climate, population centres are concentrated along the narrow Nile Valley and Delta, meaning that about 99% of the population uses only about 5.5% of the total land area

Most of Egypt's rain falls in the winter months. South of Cairo, rainfall averages only around 2 to 5 mm (0.1 to 0.2 in) per year and at intervals of many years. On a very thin strip of the northern coast the rainfall can be as high as 410 mm (16.1 in), mostly between October and March. Snow falls on Sinai's mountains and some of the north coastal cities such as Damietta, Baltim, Sidi Barrany, etc. and rarely in Alexandria. Frost is also known in mid-Sinai and mid-Egypt.

Temperatures average between 80 °F (27 °C) and 90 °F (32 °C) in summer, and up to 109 °F (43 °C) on the Red Sea coast. Winter temperatures average between 55 °F (13 °C) and 70 °F (21 °C). A steady wind from the Northwest helps lower temperatures near the Mediterranean coast. The Khamaseen is a wind that blows from the south in spring, bringing sand and dust, and sometimes raises the temperature in the desert to more than 100 °F (38 °C).

Population wise, Egypt is the most populated country in the Middle East and the third most populous on the African continent, at about 80 million inhabitants in 2009. Egypt is a predominantly Sunni Muslim country with Islam as its state religion. Christians are said to account for 5%-18%.

One of the perceived problems associated with moving to foreign country is the language barrier.

The official language of the Republic[Egypt] is Modern Standard Arabic. The spoken languages are: Egyptian Arabic (68%), Sa'idi Arabic (29%), Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic (1.6%), Sudanese Arabic (0.6%), Domari (0.3%), Nobiin (0.3%), Beja (0.1%), Siwi and others.
The main taught foreign languages in schools are English, French, German and sometimes Italian.

Source

Picking up useful Arabic phrases and words are easier than you could ever imagine because (from my own personal experiences) if you are willing to try and learn the Egyptian language (even if to grasp a few phrases here and there) the people are more than willing to help you. During my travels across Egypt, I have yet to find a place that I could'nt find someone that spoke English. Outside of the big cities the rural people are some of the friendlist you could ever meet, they care not for your politics or race, thier culture is one based on farming and

Recent Wars & Conflicts...

Like many countries in the world Egypt has had it's fair share of wars and internal conflicts.. It's last two wars both ended up as overwelming defeats against Israel when taking into account the land lost and casualties from these engagements.

1967 Arab-Israeli War aka Six day war. Under Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser Egyptian forces along with Syrian forces took on Isreal.

October 6 to 25th 1973 The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Hafez al-Assad of Syria executed a surprise attack on Israel to recapture Egypt's Sinai Peninsula all the way to the Suez Canal and roughly half of Syria's Golan Heights which was lost to Israel during the Six Day War six years previously.

The 2011 Egyptian revolution 25 January 2011 - 11th February 2011 In just 18 days, the people of Egypt brought about the end of 30 year presidency of Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak

It is not my intention to add further criticism or demote in any way, the running of this [Egypt]country, however, if you follow and READ what is shown from the above four links you might notice that:-

1. The Egyptian Army suffers from inexperienced leadership.

After the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Egypt reviewed the causes of its loss of the 1967 war. Issues that were identified included "the individualistic bureaucratic leadership"; "promotions on the basis of loyalty, not expertise, and the army's fear of telling Nasser the truth"; lack of intelligence; and better Israeli weapons, command, organization, and will to fight.

Source

To a large extent, this still applies to-date since many current military leaders were elected because of their support and loyalty to the now ex-president.

2. That due to high corruption over the past 30 years that has effected all areas of Egypt, the whole security issue within Egypt as a whole has been severly weakened.

In February 2011, the media reported on the wealth of the Mubarak family. ABC News indicated that experts believed the personal wealth of Mubarak and his family to be between US$40 billion and $70 billion founded on military contracts made during his time as an air force officer. Britain's Guardian newspaper also reported that Mubarak and his family might be worth up to $70 billion due to corruption, kickbacks and legitimate business activities. The money was said to be spread out in various bank accounts at home and abroad, including Switzerland and Britain, and also invested in foreign property. The newspaper admitted, however, that some of the information regarding the family's wealth might be ten years old. According to Newsweek, these allegations are poorly substantiated and lack credibility. On March 17, 2011 Senator John Kerry, head of foreign relations committee of the congress, officially confirmed that the government of the United States froze assets worth $31 billion belonging to Mubarak, including property and bank accounts

So money that could have helped train and equip a better army was never properly invested in. In a SHTF scenario, my chances of surviving and evading capture by the military/security forces here are greatly increased when you compare them to other western countries. The UK is a small Island, there isn't many places outside of Wales and Scotland that you can hide out in. The US is by comparison, a huge country, with lots of places to choose from.. However, the US possess the resources, technology and know-how to counter this, their-by reducing greatly the places you can hide and safely survive a natural or man made SHTF scenario.

As mentioned above under Demographics, 99% of the 80 million inhabitants of Egypt occupy around 5.5% of the land area, the rest 94.5% is desert type terrain which is sparsely occupied/visited and therefore less guarded.

Volcanoes and Earth Quakes...

There are no known Volcanoes in Egypt. I did find a 2007 article from the National Geographic News relating to ash and lava fall from Santorini, an eastern Mediterranean volcano that is said to have effected the areas of northern coast of Sinai that date to around 1500 B.C

Egyptian archaeologists today announced that they have unearthed traces of solidified lava on the northern coast of Sinai that date to around 1500 B.C.—supporting accounts that ancient Egyptian settlements were buried by a massive volcanic eruption in the Mediterranean, they say.

Source

In Recent times, 1992 Cairo experienced a 5.8 earthquake resulting in 545 deaths followed by an earth quake 3 years later close to Israel & the Jordan border in 1995 which measured 7.1 with a loss of 8 lives.

Living off the Land...

Thanks to the Nile River, which virtually splits Egypt in two, either side of the Nile you will find crops such as potatoes, Sugar Cane, numerous varieties of vegetables etc flourishing in the rich silt deposits brought down from the Nile River. Concerns about obtaining a water supply in a hot country such as Egypt during a SHTF scenario where there is no electricity to power water pumps etc is to a point, mitigated because if your close to the Nile River it can be recycled into freash water by using one of many techniques such as solar stills and filtration techniques to name but two examples.

Medical care is another top priority which needs addressing.. Here in Egypt if your unwell and it does not require visiting the hospital then you go to a local Pharmacy. Here Pharmacies are your Doctors, they are quite knowledgeable on a wide range of illnesses & conditions and are able to prescribe on-the-spot, almost any kind of medication to treat the illness/condition. This is in contrast to most European countries where only Doctors can prescribe medical drugs. Here there are are far fewer restrictions and the costs are generally much cheaper than anywhere else. Outside of Cairo & Alexandria these Pharmacies(which are found everywhere!) tend to stock general/generic medications unless asked to order specific items from their suppliers in Cairo/Alexandria.

Transport In a SHTF scenario getting out of a town or city fast is easily accomplished if you buy a motorbike(motorcycle). Chances are, it will be a Chinese 100-150cc model because China exports a lot of goods to Egypt cheaply. Costs vary for a new one, between L.E3000 - L.E 7000. The price difference depends on weather you have an Egyptian friend to help you buy one , in which case they are charged the 'Egyptian Price' or if you buy one yourself, in which case expect to pay the 'tourist price'. Either way its still pretty cheap.
Based on XE-Universal Currency Converter, 1$ = 5.9LE or 9.5LE for £1 so 3,000LE is around $504.00 or £313.00. Changing the tyres from street to off-road is reccommeded due to the uneven shale and stone roads and tracks leading out of towns and villages. City cars here are not built to handle these kind of roads unless your lucky enough to find and purchase a Landrover/Jeep type vehicle.

Finally...

In case of a SHTF being first announced, I don't recommend that your in any of the big cities like Cairo or Alexandria, getting out of the city will be next to impossible, all the roads will be packed tight and panic on the streets will mean travelling on foot will be extremely dangerous to foreigners and Egyptians alike.

Good luck where ever you find yourself.
Freelancer

Well.....

It would be one hell of a swim for me here in Arizona. I think I will stay put here.

You'll still be coastal in Egypt .. why not Congo ..? or somewhere inland ..?

reply to post by legalizeit


That is one consideration, but its still a very much a war torn country that was and still is, under harsh military rule.

The Second Congo War, beginning in 1998, devastated the country, involved seven foreign armies and is sometimes referred to as the "African World War". Despite the signing of peace accords in 2003, fighting continues in the east of the country. In eastern Congo, the prevalence of rape and other sexual violence is described as the worst in the world. The war is the world's deadliest conflict since World War II, killing 5.4 million people.

Source

I don't rate my chances of survival the deeper I go into Africa.

Egypt is a food importer, they dont grow enough grain crops to feed the people they have. So that alone should rule out Eygpt as a SHTF safe haven.

Originally posted by Freelancer
October 6 to 25th 1973 The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Hafez al-Assad of Syria executed a surprise attack on Israel to recapture Egypt's Sinai Peninsula all the way to the Suez Canal and roughly half of Syria's Golan Heights which was lost to Israel during the Six Day War six years previously.
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