Cairo rooftops - in the morning dust...
... and the traffic to match. Terrible place.
The locals do a lot of sitting and chatting.
Police Camel at Gaza- beware! Check out the haze from the sand - this was the back end of the windy season, and the Sahara was on the move.
Pyramid at Gaza. Hot and dusty.
Inside the Solar Boat museum at Gaza. This was the stone cover under which they found the intact (but dismantled) funereal boat of Cheops in 1956.
4,500 years old, and only fully reconstructed in 1971, it is an extraordinary thing to see.
The museum was built specifically to house it,
3 pyramids, lots of coaches.
More tourist police.
and yes, another camel - a local this time. Good job he didn't spot me otherwise he would charged me for the privilege
Locals commuters enroute to the Pyramids shopping mall...
Ubiquitous tourist shopping
A bedouin girl, selling cards.
Our first local guide delivering a brilliant but baffling lecture to the team.
Sphinx and pyramid. Spot the birds on the face of the Sphinx.
Sphinx....
More sphinx. The people here give some scale.
Inside (one of ) the papyrus institutes, with a demo of how it was done. Beware banana leaf imitations!
Painted papyrus on sale.
President Sadat's tomb, with the tomb of the unknown soldier.
Changing of the guard!
Close up of Koran scripts on the pyramid
Three different sets of guards at the tombs - number 1.
- number 2
Guards number 3
The grandstand on the victory road where they used to hold an annual military parade before the senior Egyptian officials - before 9/11. Now considered too dangerous to stage, so the stand is unused.
Very brief stop at the beach - on the west coast of Sinai.
The resort itself was deserted, being 'out of season', so lunch was a quiet affair.
However, some of us managed to walk into a bed of sea urchins and spent some time having spines removed. One of mine made it back to the UK before it finally re-emerged. Ouch !
Driving on the main desert road in Sinai.
Very barren landscape -more rock than sand though.
An oasis !
2am start for the morning walk up Mount Sinai. Ruth, Jenny, Sandra, John, Judith and Janet.
Frequent stops at 'tea houses' en route, so the 3 hour climb didn't seem so bad. Wael telling it how it is....
Donna, Balquees and Nanko take a breather.
Claire and Karl
Spot the borrowed scarf - yes it was a bit nippy.
Last tea house - at 7000 feet
From the top - before sunrise.
The chapel on the top of Mount Sinai.
A bit murky, but who cares.
More landscape from the top.
A truly 'biblical' landscape.
Andrew, Claire, Donna, Sandra, Kirsty and Balquees.
Our intrepid leader Wael, feeling the cold!
At last, the sun put in an appearance!
Sandra, Judith, Jenny, Andrew, Kirsty, Donna, Karl and Claire - as the first rays of the sun appear!
Two hardy souls who climbed down for a private platform for sunrise.
Ah peace and quiet. Not a soul in sight, with Mount St Catherine behind (highest point in Sinai).
Mount St Catherine - with snow still in evidence. End of March 2007
A weird group from somewhere southeast greeted the dawn with songs. It was actually rather good - quite atmospheric!
For a photographer it doesn't get much better than this. Aerial perspective over the Sinai mountains.
And so back down to the last teahouse - now in daylight!
Last teahouse - awaiting descent.
More breathtaking views
Claire and Balquees take a break with our wacky local guide - what was his name?
Camels waiting to carry the unwilling or plain wacked!
Camel station - one way ticket to base camp please !
The trail cut into the hillside.
Bedouin camel man - early morning commuter?
St Catherine's monastry at the valley bottom. More later...
The hotel at the base of Mount Sinai - not bad at all
Ahmed - clearly couldn't take the pace of the early start and the climb.
Loading the bus up ready to leave, to visit the monastry.
St Catherines monastry - site of the original burning bush.
St Catherine's monastry - bell towers.
St Catherine's.
Apparently this tree grows from the roots of the original burning bush. Maybe, or maybe not - who cares, its a good story!
One of the monastry cats - very friendly but employed strictly on an 'eat all you can catch' basis.
Hillside across from the monastry. People here for scale. Very dry and barren.
When the monks die, they are buried until they desicate and then their bones are kept in these rooms. Skulls in here ...
... and the rest of their bones over here.
Monastry cat #2
I told you they were friendly..
Lots of shopping to be done at St Catherines (if you have time)
Overnight stop at Dahab - another deserted resort hotel. Very quiet and the pool *was* cold.
Loading up for our desert safari - landcruisers ready to roll.
Team ready to go.
Views of the sand deserts south of St Catherines
After an exhilarating drive across the sand (photography not possible!) we arrive somewhere/nowhere for a trek.
Into the unknown (well it felt like that)
Claire, Kirsty and Judith. Getting hotter...
Magical sandstone rock formations. It rains here about once a year, floods like mad, and then bakes for the other 365 days.
Jenny, Wael and Ruth - back markers.
Finally some shade - and an interesting(!) canyon.
Hmm - are we really going down there?
Water and wind carving - very wierd.
It looks like this is the only way through - it can't get any narrower can it?
Well at least we're in the shade here!
The end of the 'closed' canyon - modern rock carvings.
Jenny on the carved 'seat'.
There's only one way out - the way we came.
No comment - watch your heads!
Breath in!
..and rest!
A Bedouin oasis for lunch,
The oasis - a small patch of life in the dry surroundings.
Communal tent - very cool, and the food was good as well.
Obligatory shopping - with the bedouin wives. I think we all bought something here.
Bizarre rock formation - of course it's called 'mushroom rock'.
Sandstone texture.
Wierd rock colourings in the mountains. Mainly basalt intrusions into the sandstone.
Camp at Ras Mohammed national reserve. The wind had got up to the extent that we couldn't pitch the normal tents, so it was 'make do' in the shelter with blanket windbreaks.
Trying to keep warm round the campfire, in a force 6/7.
The morning after the night before - 14 to a tent, and Andrew making like a 'mummy'.
The camp - between the dunes on one side...
... and the sea on the other!
Visitor centre at Ras Mohammed - renowned for is marine life. Unfortunately the wind meant that snorkelling and diving was not possible this time round.
Puffer fish - spooky!
And dugong bones. Unfortunately extinct here now - but once they swam here.
Some of the guys unknowingly risking all! Sharm EL Sheik (yuk!) in the background.
Crystal clear waters of the Red Sea.
Startling entrance gate to Ras Mohammed reserve.
..and yet it somehow fits into the environment.
Mangroves at Ras Mohammed - tidal estuary.
Jelly fish - stranded by the wind and tide.
Sea views from Ras Mohammed. Spot the 'white horses' from the wind.
Team at the soutern tip of Sinai - where the Gulf of Suez meets the Gulf of Akaba. Andrew, Claire, (Ashof - local guide), Sandra, Janet, John, Andrew, Charles, Jenny and Nanko. Judith, Donna and Balquees in front. Just missing Kirsty and Ruth on this one.
From the top of the cliff - Gulf of Suez.
Giant cracks from recent earthquakes, showing through to tidal water below. There may be more of this underneath but not yet visible.
Ras Mohammed
After the ferry from Ras Mohammed was cancelled (due to the wind) we had to fly into Luxor. What a hardship - although we would rather have had snorkelling time instead.
The 'Emilio' - home for 3 days !
Karnak - Andrew and Ruth with possibly the smallest obelisk in Egypt.
Rams head Sphinxes at Karnak, Luxor
Karnak - team talk with another local guide, Mohammed.
Karnak
Karnak - the hypostyle hall, from 'Death on the Nile' fame.
Karnak - hypostyle hall.
Karnak - hypostyle hall. Spot the original colours.
Karnak - hypostyle hall. New scarf blagged from our bedouin cook...
Karnak.
Karnak. Ancient Egyptian images defaced by the Christians in antiquity. We do have a lot to answer for...
Karnak. Major restoration/reconstruction work with international funding (millions of pounds) and American engineering. This is big stuff!
Karnak. This is a field of 'bits' for the reconstruction work. Basically the world's largest 3-D jigsaw puzzle!
Karnak. Showing some of the clay brick earthworks used to actually build the outside temple walls
Nanko in a calesh for the return trip to Luxor from Karnak.
Luxor temple - its just kind of in the middle of town..
Luxor temple
Sphinxes at Luxor temple.
On the boat over the Nile, heading for the balloon ride over the west bank.
Luxor, with the temple lit in the early morning.
Nile cruise ship and feluccas.
Our balloon making ready
Kirsty, Donna, Judith and Sandra - team 1.
Others making ready.
Up in the air - with two more ready to go.
This balloon holds 32 people plus pilot - wow!
Some of the land on the West Bank where the authorities are clearing ready for excavation. They believe there could be another 700 tombs (not royal) under this built-up area.
Balloons over the agricultural area along the Nile, and the Ramseum.
Hatshetsup's funereal temple.
Balloon over the Ramseum - Ramesses II's temple.
Mr Smug - I've waited a long time to get up in a balloon! The headscarf was to avoid getting singed by the burners!
Our landing point.
Coming down...
Back on solid ground again. Ground crew fighting with the canopy.
Yo team!
..and dancing to finish (for some)
Ferry boats on the West Bank, Luxor.
Feluccas for hire.
Abydos.
Local guide at Abydos.
At Abydos temple - joke heiroglyphs. Spot the helicopter, tank and aeroplane!
Abydos
Abydos - great colours.
Abydos - amazing detail.
Abydos - fracture from an earthquake around 2,000 years ago.
Abydos - a catalogue of all the kings of Egypt, which formed the basis of the chronology and lineage used by Egyptologists today.
Wael being mobbed by schoolchildren at Abydos after foolishly offering some sweets! The tourist police were not impressed....
Dendera temple - a greek attempt at Egyptian architecture to pacify the locals.
Dendera temple
Dendera temple - possibly the only image of Queen Cleopatra in Egypt.
Dendera temple - different column capitals from everywhere else.
Dendera temple - colours.
And so to the donkeys - Valley of the Kings here we come!
Posse on the road - most of it was actually across the fields.
John and Ruth en-route.
Balquees
Valley of the Kings. Spot the natural 'pyramid' - one of the reasons this place was chosen by the Pharoahs.
Valley of the Kings pep talk before we go in.
Valley of the Kings
First tomb - Tutmoses III. The highest tomb in the valley.
From the top - Tutmoses III tomb.
Inside Tutmoses III.
Tutmoses III - bizarre 'cartoon' heiroglyphs.
Tutmoses III - blue ceilings with stars.
Tutmoses III
Outside Tutmoses III - ready for the next one.
Ramesses III here we come!
Inside Ramesses III
Inside Ramesses III - great colours.
Third and final tomb (you get a choice of any 3 for your ticket!) Ramesses IV
Inside Ramesses IV - fabulous colours, 3000 years old.
Inside Ramesses IV
Inside Ramesses IV - the huge granite sarcophagus.
Its a hot job but someone has to do it!
Queen Hatshetsup's funereal temple
Hatshetsup's temple
Andrew trying to look cool!
Hatshetsup's temple - heiroglyphs
Hatshetsup's temple - wierd columns.
Hatshetsup's temple - excavation and clearance work going on higher up the mountain.
..and so back to the cross country donkey rides. Blackpool was never like this!
The obligatory distribution company photo. DHL in the desert - maybe Tom Hanks was here somewhere.
Judith and Karl deep in concentration..
John and Andrew
The end is in sight...
Luxor from the hotel roof. A lot cleaner and quieter than Cairo - actually quite liked it here.
Luxor Temple and the Nile from the roof.
Pigeons-eye view of calesh and other traffic in Luxor.
Ruth
Andrew
Final night farewells.
