A land of magnificent World Heritage Sites and a thousand tourist clichés, Egypt was enticing visitors millennia before Thomas Cook sailed his steamers up the Nile. It was here that the Holy Family sheltered, Alexander conquered and Mark Antony flirted. Napoleon stopped long enough to pilfer a few obelisks, the Ottomans paused to prop up the great and barbarous pasha Mohammed Ali, and the British stayed around to get the train system running and furnish every spare nook of the British Museum. And all this was long after Menes united the two states of Upper and Lower Egypt, and set the stage for the greatest civilisation the world has ever known.
Lingering over coffee in a cosmopolitan cafés in Alexandria, or sipping a calming glass of shai (tea) after a frenzied shopping episode in Khan al-Khalili in Cairo are activities as popular today as they were back when 19th-century tourists started to arrive en masse. Magnificent monuments are everywhere – the pointed perfection of the Pyramids of Abu Sir, soaring minarets of Cairo’s skyline, and majestic tombs and temples of Luxor are just a few of the wonders that generations of visitors have admired during their city sojourns, jaunts up and down the Nile and expeditions through spectacularly stark desert landscapes. Of course, one of the many reasons why Egypt remains such a fascinating tourist destination is that it is very much a country in flux. Egypt may be famous the world over for the Pyramids of Giza and the Valley of the Kings, but these ancient monuments are just part of the equation.
The Red Sea to Luxor
Blog: AdventureSkope – the ramblings of Scott Kennedy – 25 February 2009
Desert Camp Jan 14, 2009Night falls early in the desert. It’s half past six and it’s been pitch dark for over an hour. Dinner was served early and nearly everyone of our traveling tribe has shuffled off to bed. Me included, the interior of my tent is illuminated by the glow of this computer screen.
Read the full postWelcome to Sudan!
Blog: AdventureSkope – the ramblings of Scott Kennedy – 25 February 2009
What an adventure the last few days have been – like a lifetime of new experiences packed into just a few short days. Those who have not visited Sudan and only know of it from the news, only know the bad side of this nation. Genocide, civil war and poverty dominate the headlines whenever you hear anything about this place. Actually being here however is a totally different story. What I’ve found is not war, famine, unrest or anything of the like – Sudan for me is a breath of refreshing air.
Read the full postCentral Sudan, Khartoum and the Road Home
Blog: AdventureSkope – the ramblings of Scott Kennedy – 25 February 2009
Doha, Qatar – it’s been a long time since I’ve posted on this blog, for much of that time I was in the remote wilderness of Sudan and the idea of internet access is a lucid dream. In the past few days, I’ve been in anything but the past. Doha is a future-world where the skyscrapers grow from the desert like pine trees in the boreal forest. We’ll get back to Doha in a second, lets rewind back to Dongola, Sudan and start where we left off.
Read the full post
