Egypt - A Monumental Struggle (to stay awake)

December 8

Hello everyone!

Remarkably, my school has already closed for our Christmas break. After my Caribbean crusade last year, I’m looking forward to spending the Christmas and New Year period at home with family and friends. However, the joys of a four-week holiday mean that I can satisfy my itch to discover at the same time. Where I’m going is a place which has drawn discoverers to it for a long, long time. The home of the last remaining Ancient Wonder of the World.

The Great Pyramid and Sphinx at Giza

The Step Pyramid at Saqqara

I loved learning about Egypt as a kid and vividly remember coming on a day trip from Cyprus when I was 16. As awe-inspiring as it was, it merely scratched the surface - a little over 12 hours in a place which led human civilisation for millennia. A lot older and a tiny bit wiser, I decided to spend more time in the Land of the Pharaohs before returning to the UK for Christmas.

Blast from the past in 2004

Walking like an Egyptian - The Bangles did it better

As with most places in Africa, Cairo is accessible from Lilongwe via a transfer in Addis Ababa. After a stressful Friday morning last month when it seemed that I had been bumped off my first flight, I discovered that the first leg of my journey was leaving ninety minutes later than when I booked the tickets. This gave me one hour between the two flights, with the second one leaving at 10:05pm.

Or so I thought...The delay of the second leg left me much more confident that my bag would make it onto the plane. It also left me landing in Cairo, Egypt’s behemoth of a capital, after 2:30am, and arriving at a hotel just before 4:30am. I had woken up at 5am the day before.

The dreaded delay message on the screen in Addis

I probably snatched an hour of sleep on the plane and a little bit in a taxi. I then got into bed, which felt amazing simply because I was able to lie down...For two hours. Time to explore, see!

Dark sunglasses - an excellent way of making people think my eyes are open

My trip is starting in one of the places I saw on that wild day trip 15 years ago, in Giza. You may recognise its main attraction…

Great Pyramid of Khufu

The Giza pyramids were built during the 4th Dynasty, with the Great Pyramid belonging to the Pharaoh Khufu. At 146 metres tall, it was actually the tallest human-made structure until Lincoln Cathedral was built in 1311. Almost 4000 years later. 4000 YEARS.

The Eiffel Tower, when built in 1889, overtook the pyramid

This dog had found a nice sunbathing spot on the pyramid

This and a lot more was being explained to us by an Egyptologist in the shadow of the tomb. Hard as I tried to listen, I was finding myself oscillating between shivering (Malawi is a lot hotter than Egypt in December) and swaying in a half-asleep slumber. Eventually we were given the chance to explore the complex ourselves, with the warning that we would be harassed.

About 2.3 million stone blocks were used to build the pyramid

Many blocks came from Aswan, over 800 km away

I love being harassed at the best of times. On minimal sleep, it’s fair to say that my fuse was a little bit shorter than normal. I tried to explain this to a man who asked me, “Why so sad?” after I told him that I really didn’t want to buy a magnet.

The dogs harassed far less than vendors

My normal approach is to have a bit of fun with people like this - I don’t want to be rude to people who are merely trying to make a living, and if their English is good enough then it can make their day a little bit more interesting. Take the old man who offered me a camel ride. I was never going to ride his camel but we chatted to the point when he pointed at my running watch and asked how much it costs. “A lot - probably 5 camels,” I say. “No,” he replies whilst prodding at it, “It’s plastic.” I couldn’t be bothered going into the intricacies of a GPS watch.

This was built by Khufu's son, Khafre

Walking around the second pyramid, which I actually prefer as its limestone tip hints at the illuminating beauty of the pyramids in their prime, I got called boring by a man because I wouldn’t buy a shawl. “I am boring, look at my boring hair,” I told him. He then responded with one of the stranger burns I’ve heard. “You have a sour head.” I don’t even know what that means.

From a distance, this pyramid looks taller than the Great Pyramid -
it isn't. It's built on slightly higher ground.

All of these were interesting distractions from the mind-boggling structures we were walking around. Our guide claimed that, contrary to previous opinion, slaves weren’t used; instead, an army of tens of thousands of workers were conscripted. This has been backed up by historians but I’m sceptical. Consider how back-breaking, probably deadly, it was to construct these structures. Did they really go through all of this for love of their king? 

The Great Pyramid is actually 14 metres shorter
than it was when built, due to erosion

It is believed that between 20,000 and 30,000 people
worked on the construction of the Great Pyramid

Quite possibly. Even so, it was a monumental task. Over 2 million blocks were transported, often from hundreds of kilometres to the south, to Giza to be organised, worked on and hauled up an ever-increasing height. Then consider the inside of the temple (we didn’t go in this one). All so one king (and a few others) could be buried. Imagine if we did that now!

There are 3 pyramids in the Giza complex. More than 130 pyramids have
been found in the area known as Ancient Egypt.

The pyramids are guarded by a large sphinx. Not sure how well it does that job, as the creature with a lion’s body and human’s head can’t move and the pyramids have long been looted. I love the detail of the sphinx and its more polished finish offers a different perspective on Egyptian masonry.

Carved out of a single sandstone rock, the sphinx is
73 metres long and 20 metres tall

The blame for the missing nose is often attributed
to British or French forces - others believe is was
Ottomans or a local religious leader

Giza’s pyramids are Egypt’s largest and most renowned - but not the first. The first known pyramids were actually built a little bit further south, in Saqqara. The king at that time, Djoser, built the first pyramid a century before. It looks different as it is a step pyramid - a mastaba. Our guide told us that people call it the ‘wedding pyramid’, as you’ll see from the pictures.

The complex is about 30 km south of Cairo

Pyramids here date from 2630 BC

Saqqara was the burial site, the necropolis, for Memphis when it was capital of Egypt. As a result, there are many other pyramids here, including initial attempts that didn’t quite work. There are also many in a state of ruin, owing to natural erosion and human endeavours.

Tombs for priests and nobles, called mastabas, are visible

More sites are being discovered at Saqqara,
with something being found a month ago

The adrenaline of seeing these ancient wonders was just about the only thing which kept me awake and moving on my first day in Egypt. They really are wonders of our world and it is our luck that they have stood the test of time, through thousands of years of war and weather, so that we can stand open-jawed in awe at their size and splenzzzzzzz…

The superlative Sphinx

Worth staying awake for!

Love you all,

Matt