Up the Nile

With the coming of May I applied for my first batch of leave.  In company with one of our Supply Technician I headed into Cairo for a five days-four nights tour along the Nile River.  Lil and I flew directly to Aswan where our luggage was deplaned while we carried on to Abu Simbel.  Just to confuse you, up the Nile means going south into what ancient Egyptians referred to as Nubia.  Although now part of Egypt, in the past Nubia was a part of what we know as the Sudan.

At Abu Simbel we visited two massive temples.  The Temple of Ramses and the Temple of Hathor (built by Ramses for his wife, Nefertari) were moved in the early Nineteen-Sixties through an incredible engineering feat to prevent their being inundated by the rising waters of Lake Nasar behind the High Aswan Dam.  The move relocated the
Temple approximately 60 meters.  As a result of this move the sunlight, which once struck the statue of Ra in the deep sanctuary on 21 November, now hits the spot one day later at precisely the same hour.

Our tour guide took us to the lakeshore a short distance from the two temples.  Here huddled under the single patch of shade; a thorn acacia tree.  Once the earlier tour had cleared Hathor’s temple we entered and wandered through the interior, gawking shamelessly at the bas-reliefs, statues and paintings before moving on to the massive Temple of Re-Hakte.  I think I was the only one who, while walking down the aisle to the entrance between ten-foot statues of Horus, looked up saw a hawk hovering on the thermals.  To attempt to describe the interior would be a wasted effort.  Unfortunately my camera failed to be up to the test and I was unable to secure any suitable photos.

After two and a half hours we returned to the airport and flew back to Aswan.  We were met by our guide, who dropped us off at the New Cataract Hotel.  Following supper Lil and I went down to the dock to meet with two lads standing next to a small felucca.  We sailed down the Nile, past the Old Cataract Hotel on the east bank, and a long island and old British fort on the west.  Tacking back south, our lads dropped Lil and I off on the north end of the island we had passed.  This proved to be a botanical garden.  The Island of Plants was presented to Lord Horatio Kitchener in the 1890s in recognition of his military services. Importing exotic flowers and plants from India and Malaysia, he created a beautiful botanical garden, open daily to the public, attracting a wide variety of birds.  By the time we had reached the south end we found our lads tied up at another dock waiting for us.  We returned to the hotel and some well-deserved sleep.

In the morning our guide took us out to see Philae, another temple that once rested on a small island that is now below water.  It sat behind the British Army’s old, smaller dam below the High Aswan and was shifted after the High Aswan was constructed and Philae was inundated.  Parts of the old cofferdam constructed around the original site still remain.  Following a tramp around Philae it was off to the old Egyptian quarry to view an obelisk that failed to “make the grade” and was abandoned.  Then it was on to the High Aswan for a short stop before making our flight down the Nile to Luxor.

On the way to our hotel our guide asked if we would be interested in attending a Sound and Light Show at Luxor Temple.  Lil and I immediately bought questions.  Booked into our hotel on the banks of the Nile, in a room that overlooked the river and the hills that hold the Valleys of the Kings, Queens and Nobles, we grabbed a quick supper and went out to meet our ride to Luxor Temple.  The light show proved to be almost magical, with the weather playing tricks with unexpected gusts of wind and tiny dust devils that enhanced the show.  It was quite late by the time we returned to the hotel and we went straight to bed.

Another early morning and we were off to the Valleys of the Kings, Queens and Nobles, as well as the Temple of Hatshetsup and the massive funerary statues of Tutmosis III.  The Temple was undergoing re-construction by a group of Czech archaeologists (now finished).  We toured the tombs of Ramses II and Tutankhamun before returning, via the Colossi at Memnon (Tutmosis towering statues).

In the evening Lil and I did a bit of shopping, then it was to bed.  An early morning flight took us back to Cairo, where we were met by the Base Duty Driver.  Ahead lay the long, dusty and hot drive back to El Gorah.