Golfing in Egypt

Temple of Luxor at sunset.

Beware!  The title is a trick.  We never saw a golf course on our just-completed trip to Egypt although they do exist.  Some are located on the Mediterranean coast to the north and some on the Red Sea to Egypt’s east.  The largest cluster, according to Google Maps, is around Cairo where most of Egypt’s population resides.  Palm Hills, a John Sanford and Nicklaus design, even uses the pyramids of Giza as a backdrop.  However, on our trip from Cairo up the Nile River to Aswan and Abu Simbel and back again, we admit that golf was not on our minds.  The following list touches on some of the amazing sites we experienced:

1)  The sun setting on the Nile River as it winds through Cairo, a city of eclectic architecture, high rises, and bright lights.  Egypt needs to take better care of its life-giving river, perhaps the most important river in the world; sadly, it is polluted and its banks are littered with garbage.

2)  Waking up one morning to find the Temple of Kom Ombo, brilliant as the sun rose, directly outside our riverboat window only steps away.  It has been there for 2200 years.

3)  Walking through the barren hills of the Valley of the Kings in brutal 100+ degree heat in order to duck into the cool, elaborately decorated tombs of pharaohs who had undertaken their journeys to the afterlife 3500 years ago, an indescribable feeling.

4)  Traveling 300 miles by air just to see the breathtaking Temples of Abu Simbel, a double miracle.  First – that human beings of the 13th century BC could have carved the temples out of a solid cliff.  Second – that human beings in the 1960’s could save the temples by relocating them piece by piece to higher ground before the waters of newly created Lake Nasser could engulf them.  Thank you Egypt and UNESCO.

5)  Passing by hundreds of Nile riverboats either abandoned, retired, or out of work on the banks of the Nile from Luxor to Aswan.  The crowds of tourists have disappeared; at times we were the only tour group at a site.  Our Uniworld boat (ship?) had an eighty passenger capacity; only thirty of us enjoyed this river cruise, great for sightseeing but terrible for the Egyptian economy.

Do not journey to your own afterlife not having seen Egypt.  The country poses no more dangers than any tourist destination you visit these days.  We traveled with Uniworld River Cruises and felt very safe at all times.  If you travel in the near future, you will encounter smaller crowds and always very warm, welcoming people.

As the 5th century BC Greek historian Herodotus so eloquently said of Egypt, “Nowhere in the world are there so many marvellous things of unspeakable greatness.”