In Carter’s footsteps

Sitting on a camel gazing at the Pyramids with the sun on my shoulders, I wondered if this trip could get any better. I had spent the night before settling in at Mena House, a beautiful and welcoming five-star Oberoi hotel overlooking the Great Pyramid in the centre of bustling Cairo. Tucked away off a main road, and a five-minute walk from the Pyramids, is the Sphinx, excavated from 1817 but now in the process of being fully restored.

The city centre is loud and busy. Horse-drawn carriages line up at traffic lights beside rickshaws, cars and motorbikes, while donkeys can be seen pulling carts or eating vegetables beside the road. Beeping horns ring out at all hours and the call to prayer every few hours adds to the atmosphere.

My guide, Helal, was a serious thinker whose occasional smiles were worth waiting for. He regularly helped me fight through the noise and bustle to find local food outlets, which were often cheaper and tastier than fast food or sit-down restaurants. Chicken shawarma – a roti-style bread containing finely chopped chicken, tomato, onion, coriander and mayonnaise – was a favourite. Humous, pitta, kebabs, and meat cooked in tagines tasted so much better than the fare made specifically for Western palates.

After the bustle of Cairo, it was off to Aswan and an island on the Nile where I visited a Nubian tribe on a nearby island. The Nubian people are skilled at making jewellery, woven baskets and wooden figures. The chief showed me around his home where my eyes were drawn to his pet – a small crocodile kept in a cage in the communal area.

Next stop was Abu Simbel, a 40-minute aircraft journey from Aswan. Helal informed me upon landing that it’s only a 30-minute drive from Abu Simbel to the Libyan border. But throughout my stay I did not feel threatened or frightened once by the fallout of the Egyptian revolution in January, or the crises gripping many parts of the Middle East. The concern I had was for the local people, who rely on tourism. Usually in high season, there is an hour-long queue to get into the Pyramids. The day I was there, there were five other people in sight. Now is the time to go.

The two temples at Abu Simbel were built by King Ramses II in about 1260BC as a tribute to himself and his wife, Nefertari. The temples were moved in their entirety in 1968 to a purpose-built site nearby, when Lake Nasser was created by the Aswan High Dam.

Turning a corner to see King Ramses II’s temple is one of those “wow” moments. The facade shows four huge statues of the pharaoh throughout his life. And the inside is no less staggering, with pillars, paintings and hieroglyphics charting the king’s story. The remarkable thing is the temple was constructed so that the sun shines through its opening and on to the statue of the king twice a year – thought to be on his birthday and the date of his coronation.

My final adventure was in Luxor, which I travelled to by train. From here, you can visit The Valley of the Kings, home to Tutankhamun’s tomb. His was the only one not to be looted by robbers in the whole valley. Rumour has it a water carrier on archaeologist Howard Carter’s team found the resting place by chance after dropping a drink and noting that it sank through the floor into the tomb.

The relatively small tomb was crammed with gold statues and chariots and it took 10 years to catalogue the find.

Luxor Temple is also a delight, with its sprawling site packed with columns, obelisks, statues and pylons, which are stone entranceways. But as an extra treat, I was pulled there through the city on a horse-drawn carriage at dusk, so as night fell, its imposing structure was lit by spotlights, casting a romantic glow over the area.

The temple is linked by an avenue of sphinxes to Karnak Temple, which was my port of call the following morning. Both Luxor and Karnak temples were constructed over a number of years by different rulers, and Karnak is more jam-packed and even bigger, with ruins, chapels and a sacred lake. As I wandered around, the most exciting part for me was the hypostyle hall, which is a 134-pillared area. Its 10 metre columns were overwhelming.

I’d travelled by various means, but topping all of them was floating over the Nile in a hot-air balloon at sunrise, overlooking the Valley of the Kings and the other antiquities.

Getting there

Caroline Davison was a guest of On the Go Tours which offers group tours, family adventures and tailor-made holidays in Egypt. Locally guided group tours start at £299 per person, while the 10-day Classic Family Adventure, from £629, includes four- or five-star hotel accommodation (B&B), some meals, transport and guide.

On The Go reservations: 020 7371 1113 and www.onthegotours.com.