Traveling internationally, especially to places that are hard to reach, is always subject to unplanned disruptions. In our case, airport closures, strikes, and numerous canceled flights caused us to arrive two days late in Cairo, missing tours of the National Museum and the old part of Cairo. Fortunately, we arrived just in time to fly to Luxor, where we boarded our riverboat. Nothing could diminish our amazement in coming to Egypt and its 10,000-year history. It is a trip of a lifetime.
Wrestling with how to write about our trip, I couldn’t make it fit into the chronological format that I’ve used in past trip blogs. I will attempt to provide insights yet steer away from gonzo journaling. I’ll partition my 14-day experience into 5- 7 dimensions for structure. Since the Nile River led to the creation and maintenance of the ancient Egyptian civilization, I’ll start there. Follow-on dimensions will reveal themselves as I begin to write.
God Ra
Ra, the Sun God of Gods, creator of the universe, and giver of life, created Hapi, the Nile God, to serve as the soul and guide of civilization along its banks and give rise to Egypt for over 10,000 years.
All Ancient Egyptian gods/pharaohs have unique heads and headdresses. Ra’s head is a falcon symbolizing majesty and the ability to fly high. His headdress is a sun disk, representing the power to create and nourish life. A cobra representing divine protection, power, and wisdom is draped over the sun disk.
God Hapi is depicted with female breasts to nurture life. The headdress is adorned with symbols of fertility, sustenance, and abundance: fruit, flowers, and the reed, which populates the banks of the Nile.
God Hapi
If we take a moment to muse – what would your headdress look like? What would it reveal about you? Scary, maybe? Fun?
Egypt and the Nile are synonymous on the evolutionary civilization journey. While the Nile River emerged from geological shifts in Earth’s mantle about 30 million years ago, it is the thread that sowed the patches of nourishment, science, reason, freedom, justice, government, and life after death into a quilt of Egypt.
The Nile River’s confluence of two tributaries the White Nile and Blue Nile occurs in Khartoum, Sudan. The Blue Nile originates on the Ethiopian Plateau (6,000 feet) near Tana Lake, which experiences monsoons from June through September. The Blue Nile is the source of 80% of the water flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. The source of the White Nile is more ambiguous as several lakes, including Lake Victoria, flow North and are joined by streams and lesser rivers along canyons and cataracts towards Khartoum. There is general agreement that the Nile, including the Blue and White, is 4,100 miles long. The actual length remains an open question. The consensus is that the Amazon River is the longest in the world, making the Nile the 2nd longest. Comparing the two, the water volume in the Nile River is just 5% of the Amazon’s volume.
The Nile River
The Nile was woven into every aspect of ancient Egypt’s culture, religions, daily lives, and, most importantly, the afterlife. The flooding of the river and the blessings it delivered is immortalized in a Hymn to the Nile, composed in 2100 BCE by a man named Khety. The words are known, but the tune is lost. The river provided water and rich soil to grow food. The nutrient-rich silt deposited along the riverbanks was an agricultural blessing. On balance, it also presented severe challenges. The water level between flood and drought was enormous, estimated to be ~ 100 ft. Visiting the ancient temples, we could see water lines and chiseled boat ties on pillars 80 ft above the base. Mohammed, our guide, suggested that the river was used to move the boulders for the pyramids and to float the granite obelisks carved from a single stone to their emplacement. The other explanation: “aliens moved the rocks!” became the running joke. So, while the population of Egypt was approximately 3-10 million during ancient times, the river was a blessing. However, over the centuries, the benefits were overshadowed by non-agricultural problems and obstacles that hindered population growth and civilization’s advances. Yet the river remains as critical today as it was during Ancient Egypt, but different. The “Taming of the Nile” era began about three centuries ago. I’ll cover that in a later post.
Our attempt to orient where we were headed created high-energy discussions among our group and guides. It tortured our minds a bit. Here is the issue. During prehistoric Egypt, Egypt was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt. Lower Egypt is down-river (towards the Mediterranean) or the northern part of Egypt. Upper Egypt is upriver – South, towards Sudan. At the beginning of the Ancient Egypt period, around 3100 BCE, the founder of the first Egyptian dynasty, King Narmer, united upper and lower Egypt and designated Memphis as the capital of Egypt. Memphis is about 12 miles south of Cairo demarking the two Egypts. Though united, the Upper and Lower Egypt reference continues to this day. Our minds use the familiar Cardinal directions as a key reference. However, the Egyptians used the flow of the Nile as a reference. So, when Mohammed talked about a trip to Upper Egypt, we had to translate that into a southern direction.
As I wrote in the Prologue, security, especially in Cairo, gave us reason to pause our choice to take this trip. Here is what we experienced. Upon arriving at the Cairo airport, we passed passport control and proceeded to the van that would take us to our hotel. However, we could not leave until the police cleared us. Arriving at our gated hotel compound, the guards confirmed the number of passengers with the number listed by the airport police. After passing this first gate, we stopped at a second barrier and waited until they checked our vehicle’s undercarriage with mirrors on the end of long poles and walked an explosive-sniffing dog around our vehicle. A security person would always accompany us. Yes, they were armed with concealed weapons. Should we be fearful or concerned with all these weapons, or should we feel secure that they protect us? I decided to subscribe to the latter.
Early the following day, after only 3 hours of sleep, we returned to the Cairo Airport to fly south to Luxor, where we would embark on the ship River Tosca, our floating home for the next ten days.
Map of our Egyptian Journey
We symbolically entered a time-machine transporter at the Cairo airport and passed through two sequential screening stations. The screening included technology and a full-body pat-down. Men and women had to line up in separate lines. After a short flight to Luxor, we endured a security procedure like Cairo’s – passport control and waiting to be cleared by the police to leave. Departing the airport felt like we exited the time-machine transporter and stepped into Ancient Egypt.
Exiting our Time Machine
Our first stop was the Temple of Karnak. It is the second most visited historical site (the Giza Pyramids are first) of Ancient Egypt. Karnak is amazing. It was developed over 1500 years, starting in 2000 BCE, and is the largest religious complex in the world. More than 30 pharaohs made changes by adding to or modifying the complex. It is divided into three precincts: Amun, Mut, Montu, and several other minor temples and sanctuaries. Only the most noted precinct, Amun, is open to the public. The large, 50,000 sq ft Great Hypostyle Hall is defined by 134 columns arranged in 16 rows. Most are 33 ft tall, but 10 reach a height of 69 ft and a 10 ft diameter. The girders connecting the tops of columns weigh approximately 70 tons.
Model of the Karnak Temple
Lion entrance to Karnak Temple lined with lion statues
Great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak Complex
Hypostyle Hall 70 ton girders bridging columns
Karnak’s large obelisk
After four hours of emersion into this exceptional place – the grand and the details, we were ready for a respite. The travel, time change, and lack of sleep produced a haziness that undoubtedly impacted our ability to see, hear, and absorb information. Thankfully it was time to head for the ship. But first, another security check at the dock. It was a walk-through, a scanning arch that triggered an alarm for anyone walking through. Several military personnel carrying automatic weapons mulled around but paid no attention to the warnings. A warm welcome by the staff and a glass of watermelon refresher awaited us on board. Fantastic! Time to settle into our suites, shed our tired travel clothes, unpack, and take a moment to reflect that we are HERE! Egypt! The moment drifted away by the mild vibration of the ship as the engines engaged. We cast off and began moving to the center of the Nile River.
Arriving at the River Tosca ship
Opening the sliding door of our French Balcony brought in the balmy 80-degree temperature, the smell of burning sugar cane, and the occasional Islamic call to prayer. Our mind’s eye could readerly visualize sitting on the deck of the steamship SS Sudan (Death on the Nile film, 2004), sipping a Great Sphinx cocktail (Vodka, Soda, Lemon, and Apple Syrup). Marvelous! Living in the moment! Very peaceful and restorative after hectic days.
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