IN THE LAND OF PHARAOHS
Since
early childhood when we were told in the Primary School about the seven wonders
of ancient world, I wanted to see them. In high school, I learned that only one
of the wonders remains intact, the Great Pyramid; the others are either missing
or exist only as ruins.
The dream laid dormant till I became a doctor and had enough
disposable money but by that time due to other responsibilities, other holiday
destinations and the political situation in Egypt, I kept postponing the visit
to the Great Pyramid.
This year Bibha, my wife got the brochures on classical Egypt
tours and booked a guided tour as a new year gift to me. Our trip was booked to start on 10th
of March.
We were eagerly looking forward to this trip, reading the travel
guides, checking the weather in Egypt and discussing what clothes to take
there. Everything was going smoothly and as planned. And then….
Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu started a war against Iran 12 days before we were due to
fly. Soon the whole of middle east was engulfed.
Up to the last day we nervously kept on checking the U.K. Government
Foreign Travel Advice page and avidly watching all the news and relevant social
media channels. Fortunately, Egypt remained quiet, no missiles or drones
transgressed its skies, and no immediate threats reported. We reached our hotel
in Cairo in the midnight on 10th as planned.
In the morning we were
greeted by a nice sunny warm day and a cheerful local guide, Mohammad, who
remained with our group of eighteen, throughout the whole trip.
Very first morning we went to see the Great Pyramid, situated in
the Giza plateau at the edge of Sahara Desert. I was so excited. Many a times a
much-vaunted iconic tourist place fails to rise to the expectations, nothing like
that here!
The massive, Sphinx which have the body of a lion and a human head (said to be of pharaoh Khafre) is nearby. After the great pyramids, this is the next most magnificent structure here. You cannot but admire those ancient architects, sculptures and engineers.
One wonders how these people 5000 yrs ago built such massive
structure. Next day this mystery was
solved.
Early morning next day, our guide took us to much older burial monuments in Saqqara and Dahshur areas of Cairo. There he showed us the Stepped Pyramid, and with a great flourish said that this pyramid holds the key to the mystery of The Great Pyramid.
the burial ground of Pharaoh Djoser the founder of the Third Dynasty, it was designed by his chief architect, Imhotep. It is made of six rectangular platforms of diminishing size, creating steps and reaching up to 60 metres. Each rectangle had evolved from earlier tombs (mastaba)which were made in the shape of rectangular mudbrick boxes with a flat roof and were only a metre or two high. We saw another pyramid in Dahshur, Bent Pyramid. This was built after the stepped pyramid in a bid to create a smooth sided pyramid. It appears bent because the architect had to decrease the angle half-way for stability. This was built by pharaoh Sneferu father of Khufu. Its height is 104 metre.
From the experiences gained from these pyramids; architects were
able to design and create the perfectly smooth surfaced Great pyramid for Khufu!
The Pyramids were not built by aliens or magic but by the unsatiable
ambition and inquisitiveness of human beings. Their ability to learn from both,
the successes and failures of past and their determination to persevere to
reach their goals.
After 3 days exploring Cairo, we flew to Aswan for our Nile
cruise for exploring the rest of the wonders of Classical Egypt along its banks.
