Egypt 2021

Already 63 royal tombs have been discovered inside this valley. Unfortunately, most burial sites have suffered from robbers, floods and also mass tourism. According to the Lonely Planet, the average tourist produces 2,8g of sweat during a visit inside a tomb! The humidity, the carbon dioxide and the friction all compromise the stability of these wonderful works of art. The Egyptian government faces a difficult dilemma: almost 12% of the country’s annual GDP stems from tourism - it’s even higher if you also consider the hidden incomes such as the dreaded baksheesh (Egyptian name for tipping). Limiting tourism therefore severely impacts financial growth in this already struggling country. “Best-practice conservation efforts notwithstanding, our fascination with the past is destroying rather than preserving it for future generations.” [The Science of Preserving Egypt’s Cultural Heritage, by Maria Golia (June 2014)]

I reckon that the best approach would be to limit mass tourism entirely. Indeed, gaining access to the tombs must be so excessively expensive that it ought to deter superficial tourism entirely. (It wouldn’t be worth it paying 100-400€ to take a selfie inside Ramesses’ tomb, but it would be worth it for someone who’s studying Egyptology or for someone really dedicated to this trip.) Consequently, replicas ought to be made accessible to the broader public because I do believe everyone should be able to experience the beauty of Egyptian craftsmanship.

I won’t be discussing all the West Bank sights separately as this would require writing a whole book. Beneath this piece of text, you can find a few photos from the Valley of Kings to give you a good first impression.

Esna is an interesting little farmer town, locate slightly south and upstream from Luxor. It was once home to a beautiful Ottoman caravanserai, also the center of commercial Esna. Having had enough of very touristy attractions all day, we decided to leave the boat and its onboard “entertainment” to head for the raw, somber and dusty backstreets of the city. The smog and sand gave it a mystique atmosphere. Do you know that muted silence you get in the winter when a thick duvet of snow has covered the streets of a village, absorbing all sounds around it? This same otherworldly feeling could be found in these streets. The dust, the sand and the thick warm summer air absorbed all noise, leaving us isolated in this stone labyrinth of Esna.

The Temple of Horus is the main reason for visiting this city. Having been built slightly higher than other surrounding temples, this is one the most completely preserved temples in Egypt. It provided archaeologists with a lot of unique data; its historical significance therefore cannot be underlined enough. The roof of the temple is still intact, something rather uncommon. At 36 meters, the pylons are massive, containing a beautiful carving of Horus (falcon) and huge reliefs of Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos, the pharaoh that built this temple.

My experience, however, was dramatically impacted by the horrific Hantour drivers. Hantour is the Arabic word for carriage, of which the city of Edfu is completely saturated. Our tour operator organized transport to and from the temple in such horse-drawn carriages. The relentless whipping forced those poor animals to gallop under a 40°C sun between heavy and utterly noisy car traffic on a street so damaged that even a landmine field would have been more comfortable. It was an absolute disgrace to exploit horses like this, to make them suffer for personal gain and lack of job alternatives. I did some research, and I found a lot of likeminded tourists complaining about this problem. When I confronted the tour with these medieval practices, I was told that horse carriages are the only efficient way to reach the temple. I promptly checked it on Google Maps: it takes a meagre 20 minutes on foot… More so, I went for a walk in the city and found a charmingly authentic Egyptian market, which I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. This awful experience left me very disappointed with Edfu.

After this somewhat unfortunate experience, we set sail for Aswan, with a short stop at Kom Ombo to visit another Horus temple and the Crocodile museum, 4km from the town center. Although the Lonely Planet spoke quite positively about the city itself, we didn’t get to visit it because of our tight schedule. During our trip along the Nile, it was fascinating looking around and observing agricultural Egypt more closely. It was quite noticeable how the banks of the river got narrower, making the looming desert more obvious than ever. Temperatures also rose to reach punishing >43°C in the sun.

Kom Ombo temple was nice (I only shot analogue photos there so we’ll have to wait for them a bit longer), the Crocodile museum was useless so I would recommend it.

At this point it is time to talk about a typical modern Egyptian architectural style that has become quite dominant in this country. A good illustration hereof can be seen in the photograph above. Notice how all the colourful houses seem to be unfinished? This is a neat trick that many Egyptians have adopted in order to avoid taxation on their houses. As long as the building is still under construction, it cannot be taxed. As a consequence, even luxury hotels or skyscrapers are left in a pitiful state, and the Government misses out on all these taxes. A beautiful example of a Loss-Loss situation. The Government doesn’t earn any money and the cities get inexorably uglier as new buildings are being erected this way. Cairo is the prime example of this shameful habit, check out the photos further down this page.

There are several things that you can do in Aswan: most notably you can visit the Aswan Dam, the Old Cataract Hotel, the Temple of Philae and finally the temple of Abu Simbel.

Aswan High Dam

My recommendation would be to skip the visit to the Aswan Dam itself. It’s not very impressive compared to other hydroelectric dams around the world and you get to see Lake Nasser as well when visiting Abu Simbel. On the other hand, the political, historical and geographical significance of the Aswan High Dam are crucial to understanding the region. Indeed, after the fall of the Egyptian monarchy in 1952, Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the construction of the new Dam. In a complex Cold War diplomatic manoeuvre, both the United States as the USSR were heavily invested in the new Egyptian Republic but eventually the Russians sealed the deal by investing more than 1,1 billion USD into the project. To make matters even more complex Israel invaded Suez in 1956, helped by the French and British expeditionary forces. These three countries were eventually forced to retreat by the United Nations, which strengthened Nasser’s power in Egypt even further.

The Dam provided a continuous flow of water downstream, therefore optimizing agricultural efficiency and minimizing destructive floods and droughts. This improvement, along with the generated electricity, allowed the Egyptian Republic to sustain a continuous growth. On the other hand, rapidly rising water levels upstream of the dam threatened 100,000 Nubians living there as well as hundreds of important historical landmarks such as tombs and temples. An outcry from various archaeologists around the world prompted UNESCO to act quickly, assembling several teams of engineers to salvage as many monuments as possible. In a race against the rising tides, gigantic complexes such as Ramses II’s temple were relocated entirely. In total, 22 structures were saved, many more were lost. This whole operation became the very first project of the now famous UNESCO World Heritage Program.

Abu Simbel and Philae Temple

Two of the salvaged temples are worth visiting, depending on your schedule. The most impressive one is obviously the temple constructed by Ramses II in Abu Simbel. Although wonderfully preserved, its architecture and carvings are on par with several other temples in Egypt. It is the engineering wonder behind it that captivated me the most. Blocks weighting over 20 tons were cut out of the mountain to be reconstructed 100 meters further, above the new water line of Lake Nasser. The second temple that deserves a visit is the Temple of Isis in Philae - just next to Aswan.

Look at the photographs below and try to imagine how people managed to move these constructions almost 60 years ago.

Giza

The main reason why people choose to visit Cairo is quite obviously the Pyramid complex of Giza. At over 138 meters, Khufu’s (aka. Cheops) pyramid dominates the skies, followed closely by Khafre’s complex at 136 meters. Even though the latter one is slightly smaller, its elevated position on a hill gives it a much more impressive appearance. More so, the polished casing stone is still visible at its top, something that is missing on the massive pyramid of Khufu. Indeed, these monuments used to be covered in white polished limestone in order to reflect the sunrays. As such, the flanks of the pyramid didn’t resemble stairs as much as they do now. In order to visit these giant man-made monoliths, take a few deep breaths, straighten your composure and make yourself ready to hold your ground as an aggressive battalion of mischievous merchants and vexatious fake tour guides will try any imaginable ruse to squeeze as much money out of you as is possible. Try to conceal yourself behind a herd of tourists as they will attract most of the attention.

Entering the core of the pyramids themselves is quite expensive (400 EGP or 22€). Luckily, this price discourages most mass tourists who just need a picture of themselves in front of the Cheops Pyramid or on top of a camel. Furthermore, the tunnels are rather narrow, scaring off the claustrophobic few. The result is that you turn out to be almost alone inside the granite tombs. It is almost impossible to believe that humans, 4500 years ago, were able to cut out these gigantic pieces of granite so precisely. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to use my camera inside. Indeed, the tomb looks as if it were made only a few years ago which makes complot theories about alien construction somewhat more understandable.

Saqqara, Red & Bent Pyramids

If you apprehend these tourist traps and the masses, I strongly recommend a visit to a less frequented pyramid complex, further south. Indeed, although magnificent, the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid don’t receive as much love as they truly deserve. Therefore, we were all alone in front and inside the pyramids there. Take note however, that the tunnels to access the burial chamber of the Bent Pyramid are significantly narrower and steeper than those of Cheops. It demands a good mental en physical condition.

Finally, make sure to visit Saqqara, were Imhotep allegedly designed Egypt’s first pyramid: the pyramid of Djoser. Entering the burial chamber of Djoser is not worth it, but the museum and especially the tombs around it are deserving of your curiosity. The stone carvings are magnificent and will stay in your memory forever.

It is whimsical to note that inside of Cairo, a small community of Coptic Christians is making a living by recycling waste. Quite derogatorily, they are called the Zabbaleen (= garbage people) by the Cairenes. Nonetheless, whilst most recycling companies in the West boast a recycling rate of 20-30%, these people manage to recycle up to an impressive 80% of the collected waste! Not surprisingly, some families amassed impressive fortunes doing this dirty work.

This introductory text was necessary to underline a disheartening observation I made in Cairo: it is not clear where this garbage town ends. Indeed, if I may be entirely honest, the whole city of Cairo is a disgrace. The constant honking of car horns makes the city a nightmare for the ears. The smog, the waste and the exhaust fumes of the millions of old cars aggressively destroy your nose. Finally, the constant threat of dishonest locals trying to sell you anything or invite you for a “free” tour of some mosque or monument and the chaos on the streets makes walking around as a tourist a true challenge. There is rarely anything truly beautiful to see in this city of more than 22 million people. Indeed, the very few sights that have been spared by continuous destruction are dirty, poorly maintained or not all that wonderful enough to justify going through all this urban punishment. One might think that Cairo is rather cheap for tourists because of the interesting exchange rates. Wrong! Tourists must pay special tourist prices, comparable to most Western cities. Impossible to haggle as they are the “official” prices.

It is worth a visit though if you want to experience true Egypt and are sick of the very polished and sterile tourist tours focusing on Ancient Egypt. Be warned however, you will leave Cairo having lost some faith in humanity.

During our trip to Egypt, we had a superficial taste of probably one of the most wonderful, fascinating and powerful civilizations the World has ever seen. The Ancient Egyptians truly were ahead of their time, economically, socially and technically. We saw proof of rudimentary medical tools, financial systems that tried to be as fair as possible, craftsmanship unsurpassed by European craftsmen until well into the late 1300’s… We learnt that the Egyptians were more feminist than most historical societies: indeed, some Pharaohs were female and women ruled the household. The Pharaoh was often depicted next to his wife (technically next to his preferred wife as polygamy was frequent at that time) in a very intimate relationship (cfr photo). We understood how all these great monuments were built voluntarily by farmers in order to get closer to the Pharaoh and the Gods. Furthermore, we understood the significance of the river Nile and how it sustained life in this hostile climate.

We were rather disappointed by the new Egypt, as it felt corrupt and steadily declining… It was extremely difficult getting to know local inhabitants because we felt that almost invariably, they would ask us for a bit of money for their kindness… Fortunately, however, we also met some truly good people there as well, such as our tour guide, a brilliant dermatology resident, and a banker. All talked passionately about their country. I do believe the people are inherently goodhearted, the corrupt government’s mismanagement on the other hand is slowly destroying the beautiful gift of the Nile.

Finally, we also came to realize that all our European efforts in sustainability and ecology are going to be in vain if we don’t tackle the outrageous pollution problems in third world countries. Plastic waste suffocates the waterways, vast clouds of smog cover the cities and little do the locals seem to care about the growing ecological disaster.

Acknowledgment

Most of all I would like to thank my great friend Emmanuel, who organized a great part of this trip and whose company made the trip even more enjoyable. His knowledge and humour were warmly welcomed after stressful days in busy Cairo.

Furthermore, I would like to thank Mahmoud (aka. Ocean) for guiding us in Luxor and Aswan. His knowledge of Ancient Egypt was profound, he taught us well and he eventually became like a friend to us.

Finally, big shout out to the Lonely Planet, who’s 2019 wonderful guide led us during this wonderful journey.