Diesel shortage

Regular shortages in diesel are affecting many people and tourism in Luxor. No-one really seems to know why there is a shortage, the news programmes on the TV, say is simply down to people panic buying.

The problem is that diesel is used for many modes of transport here and has a serious effect if people cannot buy it.

Coaches come from Hurghada and need to refill before heading back. The motorboats on the river, that ferry both local people and tourists alike backwards and forwards from the East to the West.

Police and ambulance vehicles, lorries transporting food and other materials from Aswan to Cairo, the trucks that carry the balloons for the 6.30am flights, Nile Cruise ships and arabeyas that work the best bus service I have ever come across in the World. All need diesel.

Electricity generators rely on this fuel, our electricity here is not the most reliable and is on and off daily and sometimes hourly (Hence my bad day yesterday)

As the queues grow, the tempers are get shorter, it's no fun sat in a bus for hours in the sun.

Looking towards the future, an experimental 5000 hectare, Jatropha plantation is in the desert, just outside of Luxor. It was installed in 2003 by D1, an English biodiesel company in collaboration with the Egyptian Government. The plant produces an oil which can and is being used as Biofuel.