A Wonderful Diversion
At the end of last year I left London to go and visit my family in South Africa who I had not seen for almost 2 years. A window in the travel restrictions opened and this enabled me to go and see my loved ones finally. I spent 3 glorious months in South Africa before it was time to return to my temporary home of London.
Since South Africa had been placed on the red list, it was not possible for me to fly directly to London. This meant that I had to divert to another country that was not on the red list and spend a minimum of 14 days there before I could fly to the UK. Due to South Africa’s location and the number of other countries who had been placed on the red list, as well as the lack of flights to London, there weren’t that many options available to me. The two main ones at that time were Kenya and Egypt since their airlines are reasonably priced and they have flights to the UK. After much deliberation, I decided to go with Egypt since it is a country I have had a long love affair with. I am fascinated by the history of Egypt and had visited 4 times previously. However I had always gone to the same place each time I visited. That place is called Dahab and if you haven’t been, I highly suggest you take a trip there! It is a quaint little seaside town located about 2 hours drive from Sharm el Sheik on the Red Sea and is famous for a notorious diving spot called the Blue Hole.
This time I was flying to Cairo via EgyptAir and the initial plan was to stay in Cairo for the entire 14 days before taking a flight to the UK. As is often the case when I travel, I tend not to book accommodation for the entire duration of my trip just in case I want to explore elsewhere. Being able to change plans at short notice has allowed me to have spontaneous experiences that I might not have had otherwise. It had been my dream for as long as I can remember, to visit the Pyramids. I had already booked a hotel in downtown Cairo for the first 3 nights of my stay. The hotel itself was lovely but the surrounding area was utter chaos (to say the least!) and as run-down as you can imagine. As an African myself, I am used to seeing a certain level of poverty and dilapidation but nothing prepared me for downtown Cairo. Just getting in a car in Cairo is a risky ordeal since the roads are pure havoc. Below is an example of the “sidewalk”. Or at least part of one.
After my 3 nights at my swanky (but poorly positioned) hotel were up, I decided it was time to go and see the pyramids (and get the **** out of Cairo central). Fortunately I managed to find a hotel close to the pyramids, but the photos on the website looked almost too good to be true. Almost as if they had been photoshopped. In fact it turned out they were very real. If anything, the photos didn’t do the hotel justice. Waking up in the morning, opening your curtains and seeing the pyramids RIGHT THERE was an experience I will never forget. Not only that but the hospitality at the place was second to none. Rather conveniently, the manager of the hotel also happened to be an official tour guide and each night, during dinner and while viewing the famous sound and light show from the rooftop of the hotel, I was treated to valuable insights from a man who grew up playing amongst the pyramids. He can be seen in the picture wearing a white hoodie.
Staying at the hotel afforded me the opportunity to that many beautiful photos both during the day and at night.
After many wondrous days spent viewing the pyramids from up close, I eventually decided it was time to move on and perhaps see what else Egypt had to offer, so I took a flight from Cairo to Aswan, following the Nile along the journey.
I spent a couple of nights on Elephantine Island (named for it’s shape resembling a tusk) and then, never having done a cruise in my lifetime, decided it was time to dip my feet into the cruise lifestyle. Due to a lack of tourists I got a great price for a room onboard a luxury cruise from Aswan to Luxor. But not before taking a very long taxi to Abu Simbel – an absolute MUST see if you ever visit the region!
As you can see by the photo above, it was the perfect time to see such places without hordes of tourists crowding around.
From on top of the cruise ship I was able to take my favourite sunset photo of all time.
If you have never done a cruise but are interested in doing at least one in your lifetime, it has to be a cruise on the Nile river. It doesn’t get much better this! Trust me.
