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The Great Pyramid Of Giza - A Monumental
Structure
Author: Felix Koskei
Egypt
is one of Africa's richest countries in terms of history.
Egypt's history goes back to the ancient times before the Bible.
The biblical and cultural history of Egypt is as diverse and
intriguing as the undiscovered tombs and cities lying underneath
the desert sand in Upper and Lower Egypt.
Cairo is a
city full of life. One aspect I quickly noticed when
I set foot in Cairo is the traffic. Cairo is home to over 16
million inhabitants of which an additional 2 million people
commute into the city in the morning and depart at sunset. In
spite of the city having huge multiple-lane spaghetti highways,
the traffic is extremely heavy. As you approach the city centre,
a highway of 3 lanes is tuned into 5. The most notorious
motorists are the taxis. As one drives in the city, one of your
hands will permanently remain on the horn. I thought Nairobi had
the worst traffic congestion in Africa, but Egypt for sure makes
Nairobi's traffic child-play.
The pyramids
at Giza can be clearly seen from most parts of the
city on a clear day. The Great Pyramids of Giza is such an
imposing and monumental structure. It is absolutely
mind-boggling to imagine that the ancient man with limited
technology and workmanship could put up such a huge structure.
Of course, how the pyramids were built is a question of great
global debate and may never be conclusively answered. Other
theories even point to outer space aliens as the sole builders
of pyramids in Egypt.
The great pyramid of Cheops, which is the largest of the
pyramids in Giza stands at height of 140 metres. It is a
spectacular sight to arrive at the foot of the pyramid and just
gaze at its sheer size. It is estimated that each block of stone
weighs about 2.5 tons and over 2.3 million of these blocks were
used to build this pyramid. It is estimated that the Great
Pyramid of Cheops weight over 6 million tons. One aspect that I
noticed while viewing the pyramids from afar is the precise and
exact structural design. Although most of the encasing marble
was removed centuries ago and subsequently eroded by rain and
sunshine, safe for the top most apexes, the triangular
structural design is absolutely perfect.
The most intriguing aspect of the pyramid is the entry passage
into its inner chambers. This is a task many people including
myself found challenging. Anyone who is 6 feet tall like me will
definitely run a sweat while trying to maneuver the way up the
internal chambers of the pyramid. The entrance is about 1 meter
square. This does not end there; I then realize that this is
actually a stair case passage rising at an angle. Have you ever
tried climbing up a stair case in a crouch position? Imagine
climbing stairs that the whole passage is 1 meter square. To
make matters worse, it is summer time and the temperatures
outside is around 35 degrees Celsius. The stair case passage in
the pyramid has no windows or air condition; so you can imagine
how hot it is. Other passages descend as other go horizontal.
Inside the pyramid are different burial chambers for the King
and Queen. The tomb was of course robbed centuries ago and was
found empty by archeologists. Any information about King Cheops
was subsequently taken during the robberies and very little is
known about him. He is thought to have been the ruler of a
highly structured society and he must have been very wealthy.
King Cheops was buried alone in this massive pyramid. It is
estimated that his pyramid was built between 2589 - 2566 BC.
From the Pyramids, I visited the Valley
of Temple where dead
kings were mummified. The mysterious Sphinx kept guard at the
cemetery for over 5000 years.
Egypt will not be complete without a visit to the Egyptian
Museum
of Antiquities housing the largest collection of Egyptian
monuments in the world, 250,000 items. Here, you can also see
the jewellery of the famous King Tut Ankh Amun, which dates back
to 1352 B.C. A tour of the Citadel of Saladin is a must. This
was built in 1176. The Alabaster mosque of Mohamed Ali which was
built on 1824 AD is also worth seeing.
In the evening I went for dinner in a floating restaurant while
cruising down the River Nile. On board there was a beautiful
belly dancer to entertain the diners and a folkloric show. The
cruise deck provides a beautiful night skyline of Cairo. The
city is very well lit at night.
In the summer time, Cairo is mostly active during the night than
during the day. This is due to the high temperatures experienced
during the day. Stores, restaurants, malls etc remain open most
of the night.
Other areas to visit in Egypt are Luxor,
Alexandria and Sharm El
Sheikh.
A 4 day luxury cruise along the River Nile is an awesome
experience.
About the author:
Felix Koskei is the editor of http://www.safariafrika.com
and an
experienced tour operator offering safari vacations to various
African countries. Travel Connections has provided hundreds of
travelers with highly personalized safari packages. For more
details visit Travel Connections Ltd
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