01-Mar-2008 -- Continued from 27N 24E.

This Confluence was visited on the afternoon of 01 March 2008. It's situated 225 km SE of al-Kufra and represents the border between Libya and Egypt along the 25^th meridian. Of course in the middle of the desert, no checkpoint nor any markings are to be found.

We were on the way from al-Kufra to Jabal al-`Uwaynāt. Shortly before we had thoroughly searched for the signposts #18 and #19 of the legendary SAVIEM Sahara crossing of 1977, but the artificial landmarks had obviously not survived 30 years in the desert (or have been 'rescued' by souvenir hunters?). Remarkably these markings can still be found on the large scale Michelin map which every Sahara driver has in his pocket. 20 km further south a signpost, showing 'to Sudan' in Arabic is certainly a great help for occasional smuggler trucks passing by.

A short side trip across the border to the Gilf Kebir on Egyptian territory was tempting, but since not only illegal but also dangerous due to unmapped land mines, postponed to a future trip.

Continued at 23N 23E.

Coordinator's Note: The signpost reading could not be verified from the photos. As far as could be seen on an upscaled photo #7, it could as well read "Aswān" (Assuan) or something alike.

The borderline between Libya and Egypt is running N-S exactly through the Confluence.