Abu Simbel and the great Nile Dam
Aswan is in Upper Egypt which confuses me cos it's in the far South I've been brought up on maps that have north at the top and south and the bottom. The catch cry here is "Welcome to Alaska!" which is a kind of city-wide joke on all the foreigners. Aswan is HOT. It's hot and dusty and you can feel that the desert is only just a little way away; around the corner; over that hill. But that's true for most of Egypt; in Cairo you turn one way from the pyramids and you're facing highrise appartments, the other way and it's just sand, all the way to Morrocco. The bits of greenery in between become almost indescribably precious in when the desert is so close.
Aswan is on the Nile, 300 kilometres from the Sudanese border, and it used to be the start of Nubia. Nubia, or more precisely Nubians, or to be honest, Nubian slave girls have always seemed to me to be almost mythological. In history clases at school we learnt of people bringing tributes to Pharohs, Emperors and Mongol Hordes, of giraffes, frankinsence and Nubian slaves. I guess I'd belived that the people had long ago been swallowed by history, like the Moors (moops!). Well they haven't. Nubians abound in southern Egypt and in Northern Sudan, and they are wonderful, laid back but very proud people. Unfortunately Nubia itself was swallowed, by the Great Nile Dam, which in the 1960's inundated the entire country of Nubia. The people scattered, relocating on islands in the Nile, upon which they now run pleasure cruises for tourists over their drowned homeland.
We had dinner last night with a Nubian family, who live across the river from Aswan on Elephantine Island, an island which has been a centrepiece of trade between 'black' africa and the north for over 5000 years. There are hieroglyphics carved into the rocks clearly visible from the river to prove this, if they tombs of Middle Egyption nobles dug into the rocks didn't give it away first. Now the Island is host of Egypt's largest population of Nubians: two villages, with about 6000 people in total. The older people still speak Nubian amongst themselves, but they elder I spoke to got very quiet when I asked about the younger people and said that even though the island had two schools, the children were forced to learn in Arabic only. I wonder how much longer these people can survive. Already they say they are feeling the effects of the dam. In the past, the Nile would flood the island every year, bringing rich topsoil from upriver and making this area incredibly fertile. Now there is no mud to replenish the soil and farming is harder, Hammoud (the Elder who gave us a tour) say they didn't like to use chemical fertilisers but they didn't have much choice. Still the Nubians are survivors, for thousands of years they were the Pharoh's slaves and workers, and if they can find a way to adapt they will.
I haven't told you anthing about my group. We are only small, and everyone is about my age or a little younger. We have a brother and sister from Australia, a Northern Irish ex-rugby player who met his girlfriend playing in New Zealand. They've been living in Northern Ireland for the past 3 years and are now going to give it a go in New Zealand, this trip is a break in the journey there. I'm the only single woman, and there's one single guy, a portugeuse guy who's researching nanotechology in England and, although he's nice enough, is probably better suited to the inside of a laboratory then the outside world. Upon first glimpse of the magnificent pyramids, he leaned to me and said bleakly, 'I thought they would be bigger'.
Our guide is a lovely woman nearing the end of her second Intrepid contract and clearly excited to be going home (with her new Egyption(?) fiance) and we have a trainee guide too, an Egyption whose real name was apparently deemed unpronouncable and is now called Gandhi - mainly I think because of a definite physical resemblance.
I have so much to talk about and not enough time. Must go to dinner now, and tomorrow start two days on a sailboat down the Nile! Bliss. Will blog again from Luxor (yes that's a real place too!)
Aswan is on the Nile, 300 kilometres from the Sudanese border, and it used to be the start of Nubia. Nubia, or more precisely Nubians, or to be honest, Nubian slave girls have always seemed to me to be almost mythological. In history clases at school we learnt of people bringing tributes to Pharohs, Emperors and Mongol Hordes, of giraffes, frankinsence and Nubian slaves. I guess I'd belived that the people had long ago been swallowed by history, like the Moors (moops!). Well they haven't. Nubians abound in southern Egypt and in Northern Sudan, and they are wonderful, laid back but very proud people. Unfortunately Nubia itself was swallowed, by the Great Nile Dam, which in the 1960's inundated the entire country of Nubia. The people scattered, relocating on islands in the Nile, upon which they now run pleasure cruises for tourists over their drowned homeland.
We had dinner last night with a Nubian family, who live across the river from Aswan on Elephantine Island, an island which has been a centrepiece of trade between 'black' africa and the north for over 5000 years. There are hieroglyphics carved into the rocks clearly visible from the river to prove this, if they tombs of Middle Egyption nobles dug into the rocks didn't give it away first. Now the Island is host of Egypt's largest population of Nubians: two villages, with about 6000 people in total. The older people still speak Nubian amongst themselves, but they elder I spoke to got very quiet when I asked about the younger people and said that even though the island had two schools, the children were forced to learn in Arabic only. I wonder how much longer these people can survive. Already they say they are feeling the effects of the dam. In the past, the Nile would flood the island every year, bringing rich topsoil from upriver and making this area incredibly fertile. Now there is no mud to replenish the soil and farming is harder, Hammoud (the Elder who gave us a tour) say they didn't like to use chemical fertilisers but they didn't have much choice. Still the Nubians are survivors, for thousands of years they were the Pharoh's slaves and workers, and if they can find a way to adapt they will.
I haven't told you anthing about my group. We are only small, and everyone is about my age or a little younger. We have a brother and sister from Australia, a Northern Irish ex-rugby player who met his girlfriend playing in New Zealand. They've been living in Northern Ireland for the past 3 years and are now going to give it a go in New Zealand, this trip is a break in the journey there. I'm the only single woman, and there's one single guy, a portugeuse guy who's researching nanotechology in England and, although he's nice enough, is probably better suited to the inside of a laboratory then the outside world. Upon first glimpse of the magnificent pyramids, he leaned to me and said bleakly, 'I thought they would be bigger'.
Our guide is a lovely woman nearing the end of her second Intrepid contract and clearly excited to be going home (with her new Egyption(?) fiance) and we have a trainee guide too, an Egyption whose real name was apparently deemed unpronouncable and is now called Gandhi - mainly I think because of a definite physical resemblance.
I have so much to talk about and not enough time. Must go to dinner now, and tomorrow start two days on a sailboat down the Nile! Bliss. Will blog again from Luxor (yes that's a real place too!)
posted by becsh at 1:27 am
2 Comments:
"I thought they would be bigger."
mmprfll.
hey becky,
sounds like a lot of fun and amazing times completely unlike 40 hour office work in Melbourne. :) can't wait for the photos, and really envy your dreamy boat travel... here it is quite nicely sunny. zoe and jessie have been fighting unfortunately >:( and have had to be separated a bit, i hope they chill out. i have some cute photos of them together. talk to you soon! i miss you,
x anne
Post a Comment
<< Home