Egypt Guide
The Nile Valley
Egypt has been called the gift of the Nile, for without the river it could not exist as a fertile, populous country, let alone have sustained a great civilization five thousand years ago. Its character and history have been shaped by the stark contrast between the fecund Nile Valley and its Delta, and the arid wastes that surround them. To the Ancient Egyptians, this was the homeland or Kemet – the Black Land of dark alluvium, where life and civilization flourished as the benign gods intended – as opposed to the desert that represented death and chaos, ruled by Seth, the bringer of storms and catastrophes.
After a century and a half of excavation by just about every Western nation – and by the Egyptians since independence – the Nile's monuments constitute the greatest open-air museum in the world. Revealed along its banks are several thousand tombs (over 900 in Luxor's Theban Necropolis alone) and scores of temples: so many, in fact, that most visitors feel satiated by just a fraction of this legacy.
To enjoy the Valley, it's best to be selective and mix sightseeing with felucca rides on the river, roaming around bazaars and camel markets, or attending the odd moulid. Most visitors succeed in this by heading straight for Upper Egypt, travelling by train or air to Luxor or Aswan, then making day-trips to the sights within easy range of either base – most notably the cult temple at Edfu – in addition to exploring the New Kingdom temples and tombs of Karnak and the Theban Necropolis from Luxor. Prices for Nile cruises have never been lower, whether you shop around before you leave; at travel agents in Cairo, Luxor and Aswan; or on the boats moored at Aswan, which is also the point of departure for felucca cruises to Kom Ombo and Edfu. Further north, Middle Egypt is chiefly known for its temples at Abydos and Dendara, but independent travellers and adventure tour groups also visit the tombs of Beni Hassan and the ruins of Akhenaten's capital at Tell el-Amarna.