Winter 2003

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14 A Trip to Egypt A round voyage by air/ship/car within Egypt by Rudiger Knust Last year I spent 2 weeks in a nice beach hotel in Punta Cana/Dominican Republic "all inclusive". It was wonderful, however, 2 weeks relaxing on the beach under coconut palms can be somewhat strenuous. This year I decided to go to Egypt to see land & people. My son, Sebastian, accompanied me. Cairo It is a 4-hour flight with EgyptAir from Hamburg to Cairo. Our hotel was near the pyramids in Giza and from the pool you had a nice "all-round view" of the pyramids. There was a big mirror fixed to the rear of the hotel building, so you had the pyramids in front of you and at the same time at the back. Visiting the pyramids, of which Cheops and Chephren are the biggest, as well as the Sphinx the next day we realised that Cairo is moving closer and closer to the pyramids. Maybe they will "disappear" one day amongst modern buildings. When the local people with camels or donkeys offer their services or souvenirs be careful. It starts with taking a photo. My son got the usual scarf to look like an Egyptian and climbed on a donkey just to make a photo. I could not even raise the camera, because the donkey suddenly ran away and the owner tried to follow him. My son had big problems to stay on the donkey, but somehow he managed to stop the animal after a course through the desert around the pyramids. For the unwanted ride a contribution of some pounds was asked for. If you want to go inside the pyramids to see the tomb you have to be in good health and without any back problems, as you have to pass through a very small tunnel to get to the middle of the pyramid. There is not so much you can see in the tomb, except an empty sarcophagus. The grave robbers have done a "good" job. In the Egyptian museum you can see some exhibits including the gold of the Pharaohs they have overlooked, especially the artifacts from the NORD NEWS Winter 2003 tomb of Tutankhamen. It is very impressive to see these majestic buildings, although the ravages of time have left their marks. The view must have been even more impressive when the pyramids were in a new shape and covered with a golden top, according to Greek sources. You cannot believe that they were built thousands of years ago considering the means they had at that time. Today's constructional engineers using computers could not do it better. At least, they had time enough to complete the work during the lifetime of a Pharaoh, as it had to be ready upon his death. The next day we visited Memphis, the capital of the old dynasty, the Egyptian museum and the alabaster mosque of Mohammed Ali, the Khan el- Khalili-Bazaar and the Koptic quarter of Cairo. Apart from about 90% Moslems there are about 10% Koptic, the Christian successors of the old Egyptians, living in Egypt today. Today, Cairo including all suburbs has about 16 Mio inhabitants and is still growing. The infrastructure can hardly follow the rapid growth. The supply of sufficient water and electricity is a problem and of course you must provide sufficient food for all the newcomers, but there is only a small corridor of arable land on both sides of the lifeline Nile. More people mean more cars. There is an enormous amount of traffic in Cairo. They have hardly any traffic lights. We were surprised to see that the traffic is somehow moving without big problems. The drivers use the horn permanently, even if there is no good reason to do so. Abu Simbel EgyptAir took us via Assuan to Abu Simbel near the Sudan border. Our hotel was situated at the Nasser Lake. It seemed we were the only guests, so we had the pool to ourselves. There are not so many tourists coming in July/August staying one or two days; they prefer to go by bus from Assuan and not to stay overnight. It was the hottest place in Egypt with temperatures from 42 to 45 degrees Celsius with no substantial cooling during the night. There is not so
much you can see in Abu Simbel, except the temples of Abu Simbel and the statues of Ramesses II at the front. Hoch-Tief, a German building contractor, indeed did a good job when dismantling stone by stone and re-installing everything about 65m above the original position, because of the rising waters of the Nasser Lake. Ramesses II looks to the south. It looks like he is giving a signal to the African tribes living south of his empire that he is watching them. A local Egyptian who spent one year in Cologne taught us to understand the hieroglyphics and paintings in the temples. Assuan to Luxor Back in Assuan we did not go to a hotel like the Cataract Hotel Agatha Christie once stayed in, but embarked on a comfortable Nile-ship with 60 cabins for passengers to take us to Luxor. From the sun-deck you can see cultivated fields and date-palm groves passing by. At times the desert comes very close to the river. The Nile is not an easy waterway for maneuvering. The ship zigzagged across the river to have sufficient water under the keel. During the 3 day trip we went alongside in between to visit interesting places like the island of Agilkia to see the Philae Temple, the Valley of Kings, a granite quarry or sailing with a Feluke to the Lord Kichener island, which is today a botanical garden. If you see the row of high columns belonging to one of these temples or a 60 tons heavy obelisk you wonder how the old Egyptians could have moved them to get them to the final destination about 1000 km away. Obviously, they were transported by ships from the quarries in the south to the north and then by sledge to the building site. It was a logistical masterpiece. There are various graves at Thebes in the Valley of Kings to visit, however, this time underground and not like in the pyramids where the Pharaohs were closer to the sky. The simple reason is to hide the graves from treasure-seekers, although in vain as nearly all graves were plundered. All the places in Egypt being of interest to tourists are well guarded by police and/or soldiers, although we never had the impression that we were in danger. The first source of income in Egypt is tourism followed by Suez canal tolls. Sharm el Sheikh After a short flight we were no longer in Africa, but in Asia or to be more precise on the Sinai peninsular, the Asian part of Egypt. The majority of tourists going to Egypt stay in hotels situated between Sharm el Sheikh in the south and Nuweiba near the border of Israel/Jordan to enjoy swimming, snorkeling, diving, etc. in the Gulf of Aqaba which is an eldorado for divers. Whilst in the Maldives the coral reefs have been destroyed by about 2/3 due to the "El-Nino" effect and now recovering slowly, the Red Sea reefs are still intact. From the deck of a bulkcarrier bound for Aqaba to load bauxite or discharge grain, you would see the string of hotels on the Egyptian shoreline, whilst there is sheer nature on the opposite Saudi Arabian side. The hotel was well booked. However, at this time of the year mainly occupied by Italians, followed by Russians. We were told that the Germans come during the "winter" months from October onwards. The temperatures will of course come down, but you must keep in mind that sandstorms may be more frequent then. We took a chance for a trip through the mountains and canyons of Sinai first by Land Rover and then by camels to a place called "blue hole", a famous diving ground north of Sharm el Sheikh. Sharm el Sheikh to Cairo Leaving Sharm el Sheikh, the last 600 km were covered by car with a stop at the monastery St. Catherine near the so-called "Mount Moses" with a height of about 2300 m above sea level, where according to the Bible, Moses received the Ten Commandments. The St. Catherine monastery goes back to the 4th century A.D. The crusaders had been there, later Napoleon and in this age, the present Catholic Pope. The monastery was never destroyed during all the centuries. Today about 25 Orthodox monks from Greece live in St. Catherine. The cultivation of the gardens was already given into the hands of the Bedouins. The next day we took camels or better dromedary to take us to the "Mount Moses". It was a wise decision, although we had to pay 40 pounds. I do not think NORD NEWS Winter 2003 15
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Winter 2003

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