Our 2011 Tour Group and the 25th January Revolution

All our Australian participants left Egypt on 27 Jan. as per our scheduled flight on Singapore Airlines. Our American participant flew to Athens that day and our two UK participants are now home after some extra time in Alexandria and Giza.

How Events Unfolded Around Us: On 24 January on our way to the Coptic Museum we noted unusually large numbers of riot police transporters being deployed in the DownTown area nearby our hotel. That evening our review of local web posts strongly suggested that a large-scale protest was imminent. The number of visible riot police had increased the next morning as we made our way to Giza for a wonderful 5 hour exploration of the site.

On our way back to central Cairo one of our agents with police contacts let us know that major road blocks had been put in place. The image below is of riot police at one of the blocked intersections.

Around 1 am on Wednesday 26 Jan. we were awoken by large numbers of people in Sharia Talaat Harb yelling, "Down, Down, Down with Mubarak!" By the time we were dressed to go out onto a balcony overlooking the intersection of Talaat Harb and 26th July street the protesters had gone but riot police were heading up 26th July bashing batons on their shields in a '1-1-2' deep thump that filled the night. Tear gas rolled down the streets. We were to learn a little later that protesters in Tahrir (Liberation) Square (onto which the Egyptian Museum fronts, around 700 m from our hotel) had been tear-gassed in an effort to ensure that they did not establish an overnight presence in the area. A large number of protesters had fled Tahrir down Talaat Harb, bringing them near our hotel.

At daybreak the streets were quiet and our participants enjoyed their 'Cairo free day' shopping around the hotel and in the Khan-al-Khalili souk. As the group gathered in the hotel foyer for our farewell meal we discussed the situation with our agent who was confirming the restaurant's readiness for our arrival. We decided that the restaurant was too near Tahrir and looked to go to a closer one. As this was happening a large group of local Cairenes caught between demonstrators making their way towards Tahrir and riot police attempting to block their progress poured into the small square in front of the hotel. In consultation with the Tourist Police at the Grand Hotel (who we have known for many years) and senior staff, we quickly decided to stay within the hotel building. The staff did a great job preparing a meal for us at only minutes notice.

The image below was taken at 6.55 pm that evening. A short time later Mike was hit by a cloud of tear-gas rising from the street below.

Our itinerary called for a 10.10 am departure from the Grand Hotel for the airport. While the streets were quiet after the noise and confusion of the night before there was a sense of tension and disquiet that was to erupt the following day when troops replaced police in the streets and the breakdown of imposed law and order commenced...

Click the ABC logo to hear Mike's radio interview of 31 Jan. (at 13.55 on the audio file).