It’s Camel Time

We’re riding in a bus back from seeing Ramses II’s magnificent temples in Abu Simbel.  It was an early morning (up at 3:30, on the road by 4) because Abu Simbel is a 3-hour drive south of Aswan.  For those who know their Egyptian geography, this put us 50km from the border with Sudan.  Apparently there have been incidents of Sudanese bandits preying on tourist buses (not unlike ours) and kidnapping all aboard.  The trip is made early and with a huge convoy of other buses and police to reduce the risk.  The landscape is desert, and looks hot, even though the temperatures have been cool most days.  I can see mirages in the distance that look like huge lakes.

Abu Simbel is amazing for at least two reasons.  One is the grandeur of the temples themselves.  There are two: one dedicated to Ramses II and one to his favourite wife, Nefertari.  The scale of the temples is a reflection of the ambition and ego of the king considered to be the greatest of ancient Egypt.  His statue sits with three other gods at the far end of the temple, and the sun shines directly on him twice a year: February 22nd (his birthday) and October 22nd (his coronation).

The second thing that’s amazing is that the temple currently sits 200m above the hillside into which it was originally carved.  When the Nile was dammed in the late 50s to prevent flooding, the rising waters behind the dam started to cover these temples and many other ruins in the valley.  The Egyptian government, with help from UNESCO, carved the temple into pieces and re-constructed it in a man-made hillside.

Yesterday was another busy Gap day that was highlighted by the reason for this post’s title: a camel ride!  A motorboat took us across the Nile to West Aswan where we were paired up with a camel and a guide.  We rode our camels through the dunes as the sun was setting.  At times the dunes hid any hint of civilization and you could almost, almost, feel like an authentic desert explorer.