Wisdom from the wilderness: two lessons I learnt while travelling in Egypt

Wisdom from the wilderness: two lessons I learnt while travelling in Egypt

1. The pyramids are better made than you think

The Pyramids of Giza remain to this day the largest individual man-made monuments on Earth. Our group leader (Amr explained) to us how they were constructed before the invention of the wheel: ramps (25-kilometres) long had to be built to enable ancient Egyptian people workers to haul car-sized blocks of stone to the top.

2. The desert is far more than just sand

While in Aswan in Egypt, I opted to visit the Temple of Abu Simbel – an incredible place built by King Rameses II close to the (Sudan border). To get to Abu Simbel we arose at 4 am and travelled in convoy through the Sahara for four to five hours. Upon departure it was dark, but an hour into the journey the sun rose illuminating the most incredible scenery. My imagination led me to believe that the desert was a predominantly sandy and featureless place. But in fact the Sahara is a place of staggering and unexpected beauty. Sure, there is a lot of sand, but the sand is multi-coloured – swathes of reds, patches of greyish yellow red, streaks of black.