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These are the Ancient Egypt Pyramids that have outlived all who have seen them... They'll still be here when you and I are gone...Our sacred journey to the Ancient Egypt pyramids strarted like this... We arrived at Mahmoud's friend’s house and we were offered some strong Turkish coffee. They seated us outside on a wooden bench, while waiting for the camels to arrive. It was an old, poor neighbourhood of Cairo – I was a bit scared, I had no idea of what was going to happen! 
Soon our camels and guide arrived. The camels were very thin, looked underfed and dirty. We started off – the guide, a short dark-haired young man, whose eye-lashes were nearly as long as that of the camel, Vintz, myself and Mamout. The guide and Mamout were on small horses, Vintz and myself on the camels. It felt slow and akward in the beginning – we were walking on camel back through the backstreets of Cairo – the city was awakening – people were starting the day’s work, opening the doors to their shops, sweeping the sidewalks, cleaning the road. Children were running past; chickens and old hungry-looking dogs were crossing the road in front of us ….. some flies were always near the camel’s ears. Slowly our procession was travelling towards the desert. Soon we were at the edge of the red sand dunes …… and began the trek across the sand. It was wonderful!! It became more quiet around us …………. The noise of Cairo was growing softer and softer ………… eventually it was only us and the desert. The camels kept their slow pace - it felt great to sit high on the camel’s back and see forever in the outstretched distance of the desert.After about an hour’s trek across the desert, we saw the first sign of the 3 ancient Egypt pyramids. We stopped on top of a high dune, to eat an apple an a piece of bread and watch the sun rise over Cairo and the Great Pyramid of Khufu. It was magnificent!! The color of the sand was coming alive, the sun was yellow –brown because of the sand and the dust and these Ancient Egypt Pyramids looked like they were glowing . Khufu(Cheops) is the oldest and largest pyramid at Giza, standing 146m high when it was completed around 2570BC. After 46 centuries its height has been reduced by only 9m. About 2.3 million limestone blocks, reckoned to weigh an average of 2.5 tonnes each, were used in the construction.
The experience of climbing through such an ancient structure is unforgettable, and completely impossible if you suffer the tiniest degree of claustrophobia. We climbed down to the King’s Chamber – the roof weighing more than 400 tonnes, consists of 9 huge slabs of granite. On the eastern side of the pyramid was the Queens’ Pyramids – 3 small structures about 20 m high. We walked around the Pyramids, watching tour bus after tour bus depositing tourists at the mouth of the Pyramid . Long lines were queueing ….. I was grateful not to be part of the crowds ……I experienced the Ancient Egypt Pyramids my way!!
Much of the nose and beard has been hammered off by either Napoleon or adventurers of the 19th century. Sadly, the Sphinx is now suffering the stone equivalent of cancer and is being eaten away from the inside. By what, the experts don’t quite know – pollution and rising ground water are the two likeliest diagnoses. We spent an hour or more around him, watching from all angles, taking pictures, talking to him – going back in time again and reliving the past. Many many hours after the start of our journey, we returned to our friends house. We said goodbye to our guide and our camels and took the taxi ride back to the Shepherd hotel. What a wonderful way to experience the desert and the Pyramids!!
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