September 23

 We arrived home at midnight on September 23. Only 26 hours of travelling!

Aswan, Egypt

 September 21, 2024

We returned to Aswan after Abu Simbel in late afternoon. The Old Cataract hotel is absolutely beautiful. Agatha Christie wrote Death on the Nile in this hotel. They apparently had a tour of her room but we missed that. We had dinner here and packed it in for the night. Below are photos of the hotel and room.

We had to check out of the hotel the following morning and were supposed to go on a tour of the Nubian village and the local market. I was still in no shape to participate in this tour so I hung out in the hotel lobby for three plus hours and waited for Ralph to return. Temperatures are still in the 40’s and incredibly uncomfortable. Ralph toured the village but skipped the market because we’d already seen enough “crappy, junky souvenirs “ and been accosted by more than enough aggressive vendors. The Nubian people were the group that lived in the land that ended up being flooded by the construction of the Aswan dam. They were all moved to various locations in Egypt outside that flooded area. 

Apparently, many of the homes and families have pet crocodiles, no idea why they have them.

Once Ralph returned from the sightseeing, we had a late lunch and headed to the airport for our flight back to Cairo. The flight was over an hour delayed so we arrived back in our Cairo hotel at midnight…a very, very long day!

LAST NILE CRUISE DAY

 September 19th and 20th

On our last cruise day we took a small boat, one of HUNDREDS of them, which took us to an island temple.

We then returned to our Nile cruise boat for lunch and later in the afternoon we boarded a feluka, a Nile sail boat, and went for an hour sail on the Nile. Then returned back to the cruise boat for dinner and the last night aboard.

Below is a cross section of the Aswan dam. It’s impossible to photograph it. There are two dams in the area, one about half as high as the larger which is 111 metres high.

We disembarked this morning, September 20th, and our bags were taken to the hotel and we were put on a short flight to Abu Simbel temple. The entire temple had to be moved because of the Aswan dam being constructed. The Egyptian government and Unesco, along with many donors from other countries contributed to the cost of the move. It’s difficult to imagine how they managed to do this. The temperature was in the 40’s and just ridiculously uncomfortable. 

EGYPT, NILE CRUISE

 September16 to 19, 2024

We have been without internet for several days. During all this time I have still been quite ill with bronchitis…it seems forever since I’ve felt well. I am recovering, but too slowly for my liking! Still coughing and out of breath and, the temperatures in the high 30’s and low 40’s aren’t helpful.

We flew from Cairo on the 16th, and boarded our cruise ship, Sonesta St. George in Luxor. We visited temples in Luxor and Karnak. We have Abdul as our Egyptologist guide. He is very knowledgeable but also very detail oriented. Consequently, we spend many hours seeing and learning about the temples. I think we’re almost able to read hieroglyphics ourselves ! The photos below are not necessarily in the order we saw them but I’m just trying to add a post while we have internet. This is our last night aboard the Sonesta. Tomorrow we have a short flight to another temple and overnight in an hotel. The next day we return to Cairo and stay two nights. Our last day is touring the Egyptian Museum, and we leave Cairo for home. We will be up for more than 24 hours travelling back to Vancouver…not looking forward to that but will be glad to get home!

Below is the temple for Ramses

One of the temples we visited was a short distance from our boat so we travelled by horse and buggy to the site. That was an experience! There was a traffic jam consisting of horse and buggies, cars, vans, buses, tuktuks, and pedestrians! One of our fellow boat passengers had a collision with their buggy and a car!

In the photo below are some vendors who have attached their boat to ours in the hopes that someone will purchase their wares.

Below we are travelling through one of the locks on the Nile.

This is a very poor country with obvious class differences. At every temple you are bombarded by hawkers, vendors, and children begging. Lots of horse and donkey carts used for transport and tuktuks as well.. Everyone is trying their best to survive by selling you something, and they’re very persistent!

Cairo, Egypt

 September 15, 2024

We arrived in Cairo yesterday, from Johannesburg, on an 8.5 hr overnight flight. And yes, we’re both incredibly tired. I am still quite sick, with a bad cough and shortness of breath. Of course, being in economy class, it’s next to impossible to sleep. We got an early check in, thank God, and we both took a short nap to try to prepare ourselves for our full day of sightseeing tomorrow.

Our guide is Ola, an Egyptologist with multiple levels of education regarding the history oh Egypt. Neither Ralph, nor I, are ancient history buffs, so much of our tour was well over our heads! Today we started in Memphis with a large statue of Ramses II. 

Next we drove to the tomb of Kagemni. There we wandered through the various rooms and were taught something about all the hyroglifics and carved pictures adorning the tomb walls. Tho one below has a hippopotamus eating a crocodile. Hippos weren’t well thought of in ancient times because “they destroy the earth “.

After that, we drove to the saqqara necropolis. There we saw all the column in and the only step pyramid in Egypt. The king built the bottom two layers for himself, the next two for his wife, and the last two for the children.

Next we went to the three important pyramids near the sphinx. It was close to 35 or 40 degrees so we walked closer to take photos. 

We then made a stop at a carpet school where they teach the children carpet weaving. It’s incredible how quickly they can work and the amount of work involved in carpet making. Of course, as in Turkey, they tried hard to sell us something. Supposedly, the carpet maker gets 65% of the profit from the sale of the carpet…a bit hard to imagine that is true. It does, at least , give them an opportunity to learn a skill.

Ralph chose to walk around the perimeter of the largest pyramid but, given I’m still very weak and short of breath from my bronchitis, I waited in the air conditioned car. While walking around the pyramid, he was badgered about riding a camel and finally gave in.

After that, and in the same area , we saw the sphynx. It is not a tomb but made from a single piece of rock. It is meant to protect the horizon

Victoria Falls

 September 11th, 2024

I was still so sick upon arrival in Victoria Falls, and the following day with our tour, Ralph went out with the guide and I sat around feeling sorry for myself. He enjoyed the Falls but, because it is after the dry season, they weren’t as spectacular as they can be.

Chobe game reserve, Botswana

 September 8th & 9th

We left MalaMala reserve, flew to Victoria Falls in order to cross into Botswana. This is a reserve with more water animals. Our new camp was also very comfortable.

The photo below was of a watering hole in front of Chobe camp.

Below are a few Guineafowls

Below are hippos doing what they do best!

Below are a family of Baboons. 

Below is a ringtail mongoose.

 

More of the same.

Below is looking across the Chobe river towards Namibia.

Below is a Baobab tree.

Below is a male Kudu.

Buffalo skull.

Flock of pelicans on the Chobe river.

A herd of buffalo crossed in front of our jeep.