2004 09 – Egypt – Day 7

It was a great view and wonderful experience going all that way stopping only the one time for a short rest.

I name my donkey Silver. Our tour guide Wael is in the background.

This picture is taken a little later in the day on our hike down to Hatshepsut. You can see where the people are standing on the ridge is where we ride our donkeys. Passing over Hatshepsut going near the cliffs edge was, at times, a little more excitement than many in the group wanted but I was confident in my donkey.

Our first view of the Valley Of The Kings. Our donkeys could go no further.

They tell us that the path is too steep for us to be on the donkeys safely, the last bit is done on foot.

There were people trying to sell you things even as we climbed down the mountain side, it was hard to believe. There was plenty of excavation going on. We walked through to meet the rest of group that did not take the donkeys but went by bus instead. They had a long wait for us and spent some of the time in a restaurant drinking tea as we rode our way up. Boxed breakfasts were prepared for us before leaving and we took the opportunity to eat now as our guide did some explaining.

Nagwa was our guide again today for the Valley of the Kings and later for Hatshepsut. We had the opportunity to enter 3 tombs with our admission and it was extra 40 pounds for the entrance into King Tuts tomb; most of us did just that. A good display of what was found in this tomb back in the Cairo museum and I couldn’t see myself going all this way and not seeing this.

Once again there was no pictures allowed and the many armed guards in the area were on alert more than usual. This adventure today would be more memorable if a few pictures could of been taken but it is as it was.

Next, we had the option to either ride the bus to Hatshepsut our take a 45 minute hike over the mountain trail where we had come through with the donkeys. I opted for the hike along with about half the group. Our hike started around 10:00 a.m. and it was getting just a little hot by then. There was no official outside temperature but our guide said it was probably near the mid 40’s; it was always a good idea to bring plenty of water.

In 1997 a terrorists group walked into the Hatshepsut temple area and killed many tourists. As we walked down the slope towards these temples Wael went into more than enough detail of how it all played out that day. Some of the guards at the front of the temple were killed by the terrorists who then they made there way to the temple area. They started to shoot all the tourists, a few lucky tourists made their get-away through the hills that we just walked through. The official count of the dead was 87 but Wael explained to us that he knew people that were working to help clean it all up and said the number was closer to 180 dead. At the time the shooting there was another Explorer group just like at the Valley of the Kings, they quickly made there way further into the hills away from the danger. The terrorists then hijacked a bus and demanded the driver to take them over to the Valley of the Kings. But, the driver took them the wrong way and more than likely saved many lives. Once the terrorists realized the driver was taking them in the wrong direction, they shot him in the arm. The terrorists then fled only to be caught and killed or killing themselves instead of surrendering. Our guide Nagwa was with a group at the Valley of Kings and was lucky the bus driver tricked the terrorists. Much detail was given by Wael and it was almost surreal to be standing there looking over the temple as he explained it all.

The temple is its original state except this ramp that has been reconstructed.

After our 30 minute visit at Hatshepsut it was back on the donkeys for a 45 minute ride back through the Valley and through some of the back streets of the village area. We were back on our small boat going over to the Doma where lunch was waiting for us all by 1:00 p.m.