Egyptian Megafauna

Egypt continues to amaze, and the happy delirium continues, but the two weeks we have spent touring the pharaohnic sights has given us the confidence to bravely assert that we understand the place and are entitled to identify the pillars that hold up the country, in all senses of the word.

Tourism is the first and it appears the most significant pillar. After Aswan we took the road north to Luxor, known to the Ancients as Thebes, passing numerous police checkpoints and commercial donkeys on the way. There is a parallel police force here that mans checkpoints every few kilometres on the roads, and guards monuments, train stations and good hotels. These Tourist Police alone would seem to shave 5% of the unemployment rate. They also pose for photos, if you pay them.

Another part of the allied tourism industry is the army of baksheesh merchants. We took a detour to Edfu temple, said to be in the best condition of any ancient temple.

Shortly after Roman Christians turned it into a church, the local inhabitants used it as a community centre so the ceilings are blackened with soot. Here is an Edfu baksheesh merchant.

One issue with Egypt is the deeply ingrained belief within the population that you get money for nothing. There are not beggars as such – rather clean young school children and otherwise employed grown men stick their hands out and ask for money just because we are white and their forefathers (but probably in reality the Nubians) built the temples we have come to see. They stand next to “no photo” signs and say you can take photos if you pay them some baksheesh (a bribe), or else they will report you to the Tourist Police who will require an even higher bribe. They will tell you your bag needs to be put somewhere (it doesn’t) and then charge you for putting it there. They also loiter around offering gratuitous advice like “this is stone” and “built by pharaoh”, for which they demand suitable compensation. The usual stuff, but this profession is a massive employer.

Another pillar of Egypt is its animals. Many ancient gods took the form of animals. We visited a charity which cares for sick animals. Sick donkeys do not make good photographs, but baby ones do.

We then boarded some bedraggled looking older donkeys and rode along the Valley of the Kings ...

Where Tutankhamen’s tomb is located. There are numerous tombs there, and they open three at any one time. There are probably many more yet to be discovered, and the ones we saw have retained their vivid painted colour even after more than 3,000 years. By the end of this we were getting quite good at climbing down stone passageways and commenting knowledgeably on hieroglyphics, which all self-respecting tourists have to do.

As with everything, animals are both good and bad. It was Penny’s birthday, so we started the afternoon in Luxor by her getting bitten by a cat, suspected to be rabid ...

And we wandered around Luxor, visiting a mummification museum (where we got to see, among other things and just before dinner, the chisel used to crack the bone between the nostril and the skull and a skull cut in two so you could see the linen and herbs stuffed into the brain cavity), and saw this Egyptian temple with a mosque built in the middle of it.

And then had some pizza by the Nile.

We then made the trek (by airconditioned mini-van) across the Sinai peninsula. Egypt is a country of cats. Every restaurant has a few, and those monuments which don’t have dogs are also well stocked with cats.

Matt made a friend at the truckstop on the way to Sinai while trying to peacefully eat his breakfast.

And here are some more gratuitous Egyptian cat photos as more came out of the woodwork.

Another pillar of the Egyptian economy is the Suez canal. It is heavily fortified in parts, and brings in oodles of cash in taxes. Driving past it allows you to see ships “sailing on sand”.

Another pillar is, Matt thinks, the Peugeot 504. He thinks this photo is the essence of Egypt – a Peugeot 504 in a run-down street with a cat on it. Penny thinks it is just a picture of a cat on a car occupying valuable time and space on the blog ...

After Suez we drove past the oasis where Moses struck water from a stone but didn't manage to get a photo of the burning bush, through a combination of negligence and massed tourists ...

And climbed Mt Sinai. You may recall from religious education and regular church attendances that Moses climbed Mt Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. He dropped them when he got to the bottom and had to go up again. Now there is a steep 6km camel trail and 750 “steps of repentance”, which are hard going at times.

It took about 2 hours to get up and it was freezing, but the view was pretty extraordinary.

We then started the long descent to food and a heater.

Next was a day and a half freezing in the wind by the Red Sea, gazing across the water at the lights of bustling Saudi Arabia and of course playing with more cats.

So, that is Egypt. Without the pharaohnic monuments, Suez and Peugeot 504’s, Egypt might have a hard time of it, you would have to think, but it is quite an intriguing destination.

Next stop, Jordan, and more holy sites.