[Seth] Hot Times in Egypt

When the temperature is displayed in Celsius, we Americans sometimes get confused about how hot or cold it is.  So when we saw that the temperature was going to be between 44-47 degrees Celsius while we were in Egypt we knew it was going to be warm but we did not really understand how warm.  As it turns out, 47 degrees Celsius is like standing on the surface of the sun -- for those of us that remain challenged by the metric system, it is about 116 degrees Fahrenheit. 

But we only had a few days in Egypt, so like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (I know, I know, they were in Babylon not Egypt, but I promise the analogy is accurate), we ventured forth to visit the sites of the ancient Egyptians along the Nile.

Even the camels were unhappy with the heat -- at the stepped pyramid in Saqqara

Kate on a camel in Giza

After spending a couple of days in Cairo, we flew south the Abu Simbel.  Abu Simbel is on the shores of Lake Nasser that was created when Egypt built the Aswan High Dam.  The lake was going to submerge a number of Egyptian temples, so in an incredible feat of engineering, two of the temples (temple to Ramses the Great and temple to Nerfertari, his wife) were moved up the bank to a spot above the lake. 

While it is not totally clear why Ramses decided to build these temples so far south on the Nile (there is literally nothing here), the speculation is that he did it to intimidate the Nubians (modern day Sudanese) that were thinking of invading Egypt.  Considering the scale of the statues outside, the carvings under Ramses's feet of his conquered enemies, and the countless paintings inside the temple of Ramses smiting his enemies I think it would probably have worked.

Cannon outside Ramses II temple at Abu Simbel

 Next we headed downriver to visit sites in Aswan, Edfu and Luxor. 

Phillae Temple (dedicated to Isis) from the Ptolemaic dynasty

Light show at Edfu temple (dedicated to Horus)

Egyptian night on the boat we were traveling on -- Beal girls were looking great since there was AC

One of the highlights was visiting the Valley of the Kings where the Pharaohs of 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties were buried.  We were able to visit King Tut's tomb that was famously discovered intact by Howard Carter in 1922.  When Carter was asked by his patron Lord Carnarvon (side note, Carnarvon owned Highclere Castle that is the stand-in for Downton Abbey, and died shortly thereafter which gave rise the legend of the Mummy's Curse), what he could see when peered into the tomb for the first time he just said "wonderful things."  Well, the tomb itself which now only contains the mummy of King Tut as everything else is in the Cairo Museum was the least impressive tomb that we visited.

Just like Howard Carter, we saw wonderful things in the Valley of the Kings -- just not in this tomb which was relatively small and poorly decorated

The most impressive tomb that we visited was that of Ramses V and VI.  It was lavishly decorated and was 116 meters long descending into the rock (in comparison, King Tut's tomb was only about 30 meters long).   At the bottom is a double burial chamber for the father and son who were both Pharaohs. 

Tomb of Ramses V and VI

We then finished our visit to Egypt by stopping at the temples of Karnak and Luxor.  Happily the temperature had now dropped to about 41 degrees celsius (or 105 degrees celsius) and we had some cloud cover.  

Karnak, by some measures, it the largest religious complex in the world and contains the Hipostyle hall which has to be seen to be believed as it has 134 massive columns (some of which have now fallen) that were up to 70 feet high.  It also contains many (and I mean many) statutes of Ramses II which I suppose is ok since he was responsible for finishing the Hipostyle hall.

Kate and Cannon hanging with statue of Ramses II

Columns in the Hipostyle Hall

Setting sun at Karnak

Two of the 4 remaining obelisks in Egypt are at Karnak temple.

Luxor temple, while not as big as Karnak, was also impressive and at this site are religious structures built by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Coptic Christians, and a modern operating mosque. 

Temple of Luxor (there were originally two obelisks and the missing one is now in Place de la Concorde in Paris)

Karnak and Luxor were connected by a 3 kilometer long road that was lined with sphinx statues that are still being excavated today. 

Avenue of the Sphinx

On our final night, we had a belly dancer on the boat.  Since it was Ramadan, the law in Egypt forbids a belly dancer from actually showing her belly which I suppose means that we just had a dancer on our boat the last night.  She gave Grace and Cannon lessons on how to dance.  Kate and I deferred since we didn't want to show up everyone with our mad belly dancing skills. 

There was a lot of hip shaking going on . . .

We are now off to Morocco.

[Kate] Female Pharaohs

Back when we were in New Zealand (our first country on the trip) I published a blog post on what I had learned about Kiwi women (learning and writing about powerful women in the countries we visit is part of my homework). Since then I have never published any other powerful women findings, but now I am posting what I learned about women in Ancient Egypt, since I found it very interesting. Here is what I learned:

One of the interesting things about Ancient Egypt is that women could become powerful. Although not viewed as being the equal to men, many women overcame this and even became Pharaohs.

Determining the women who ruled Ancient Egypt is more complicated than it sounds for a variety of reasons. Often the mentions and even monuments of female Pharaohs were destroyed by their later successors. There are many reasons for this, but a prominent one is a matter of national pride and identity. A woman to rule Egypt was so drastically different from their tradition and culture, and thus the evidence of such an incident was often obliterated in later years.

Despite that, there is evidence, however scant, that there were at least seven women who were Pharaohs, although many things about them are widely and fiercely debated among Egyptologists.

One of the most famous female Pharaohs is Hatshepsut, who ruled in the eighteenth dynasty in the New Kingdom. She was the first woman to assume the title of Pharaoh, and certainly among the greatest. She became the king when her husband and half-brother (Thutmose II) died. Thutmose II left a son (by another wife) named Thutmose III, but as he was still too young to become king, Hatshepsut took over, and eventually decided to become a Pharaoh.

Among Hatshepsut’s accomplishments was a trading expedition to the ancient land of Punt (believed to be modern day Somalia), which was very successful and brought back many items, such as different kinds of trees and wood, exotic incense, ivory, and more. Hatshepsut also built a temple now refered to as Deir El-Bahari, who is often mentioned as one of the greatest temples in all of Egypt.

After Hatshepsut, but still in the same dynasty, a woman named Nefertiti was the queen, married to King Akhenaten. Akhenaten's time was a strange one for the kingdom because he completely changed the traditional religion of Egypt. In his twelfth year of reign, Nefertiti disappears from the records. Some believe she died, others that she became co-regent with her husband under a different name (Neferneferuaten). It has even been suggested that she ruled after him, as a sole ruler. But all of this has never been fully proved.

Of course, among the most famous female Pharaohs of all is Cleopatra VII, who was the last Pharaoh who ruled Egypt as an independent nation. She was not actually Egyptian, but Greek, who ruled at the very end of the Ptolemaic dynasty. In a war with Rome she was overpowered, and choose to kill herself by the bite of an asp (so the story goes) rather than let her enemies kill her.

There have been many famous and strong women from Egypt, which is a stark difference from many other ancient civilizations. Ancient Egyptian women were powerful, and many even rose to assume the little of Pharaoh.

This is a bust of Hatshepsut.

This is Deir El-Bahari, the temple Hatshepsut built. 
It has been restored, and so only 25% of the
structure is original.

This is the famous bust of Nefertiti.

This is a bust of Cleopatra (which is not done 
in the traditional Ancient Egyptian style, Cleopatra being a
 Greek from a long legacy of Greek rulers).

[Grace] The Next Big Superstar

Guys, I've done it. I've found the next big superstar. Taylor Swift, I'm warning you, prepared to be dethroned. Sorry to all the Justin Bieber fans out there, soon he's going to be old news. The only celebrity who will remain untouched is Beyonce because, well, she's Beyonce.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you.....

BOB BRIER.

Look at that pose! Tyra Banks better watch out, Bob Brier has perfected the art of the smize (smize: the art of smiling with your eyes). If you're still confused as to why I, and my whole family, am obsessed with Bob Brier, I understand. It took me a while to become a true convert, but by the end of this post I promise you will be part of the Bob Brier Fan Club (also known as the Brier Bunch).

My family has always enjoyed listening to The Great Courses lectures. The Great Courses are college-level audio programs going in-depth on all kinds of subjects. In my opinion, some of the best Great Courses series are on ancient Egyptian history. Guess who the professor is behind those ancient Egypt lectures? Thats right, you guessed it: Bob Brier.

My family owns two series by Bob Brier: 1) Great Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt and 2) History of Ancient Egypt. After finishing both of these series, which includes 36+ hours, I now feel like me and Bob are best friends. Let me explain why.

First of all, after 36 hours of listening to one man speak, you start to recognize certain speech patterns. My personal favorite: there are many recurring characters in Brier's lectures (including Pharaohs & Egyptian excavators) and Brier referring to these people as "my man [blank]." Bob Brier's favorite Pharaoh is Sneferu, and so Sneferu was constantly referenced as "my man Sneferu." Flinders Petrie is another favorite of Brier's; Petrie was an Egyptologist and I constantly hear him mentioned as "my man Flinders Petrie." I find this quality extremely amusing because Bob Brier knew neither Sneferu nor Petrie in person - he just learned about them, and then felt a camaraderie for these people who lived so long ago.

Our man, Bob Brier

Also, Bob Brier has taught me a lot. I can't tell you what I ate for lunch today, but I can tell you the intricacies of how the Pharaoh Narmer united upper and lower Egypt. I can describe to you, in detail, the evolution of Egyptian burial techniques and how they all led up to the Great Pyramids. If you ever wondered who can teach you about hieroglyphs and Egyptian mythology, look no further. 

While it's fun to compare Brier to celebrities (Kim Kardashian vs. Bob Brier: Who Will Win?), his real appeal goes much deeper. Brier brings history alive. Through him, I learned about the people in Ancient Egypt: what they feared, what they valued, and how their religion shaped their way of life. Over the course of Bob Brier's lectures, I learned that civilizations of Ancient Egypt might not have been so different from modern-day society. 

That, my friends, is why Bob Brier will take the world by storm. He finds a way to unite people, even if they seemingly have nothing in common. 

Finally, I think everyone's day could be brightened up by looking at these Bob Brier tweets. Follow him @AskBobBrier.

PS The Bob Brier Fan Club aka The Brier Bunch meets at the Cairo Museum on Thursdays. See you there!

[Seth] High above Sabi Sands

Ulusaba

After a couple of days at Kirkman, we headed to the northern part of Sabi Sands to stay at Ulusaba.  Six years ago, Kara and I had visited Sabi Sands (on our first chance to visit South Africa) and we had seen the Ulusaba Rock Lodge on one of our game drives and we had always wanted to come back and stay there.  

Spectacular Setting

While most of the Sabi Sands is low rolling hills, there are rock outcroppings on the north end of the reserve and on one of these is Rock Lodge.  The high view point allows for spectacular views from the lodge over a wide expanse of the reserve.  

Rock Lodge is perched on the middle hill

While we were staying there we could see elephants, zebras, impala, kudu, waterbuck and many other animals just from our deck.  

The lodge is incredibly well thought out and the decorations are amazing.  The land was purchased by Richard Branson and at least until recently he came down 4-6 times per year.  I must admit, Branson's strategy of finding places where he wants to live and then opening up luxury hotels to create income while he is not there is brilliant.  

Game Drives

While we stayed at Ulusaba, we had an incredible guide and tracker team (Jason and Don).  

Our family with Jason, our guide (on the left) and Don, our tracker (on the right)

In Kirkman's we had seen most of the animals that we expected to see in Sabi Sands so we didn't feel any pressure to see any particular animal while at Ulusaba so we told Jason and Don to just find the best wildlife interactions that they could -- although we did tell them that we would love to see a cheetah but that we didn't expect to since they were so rare in Sabi Sands.  From the moment we left the lodge on the first game drive, it was clear that Jason and Don were going to find the animals.  As we drove off the hill, they found lion tracks and started teaching us how to recognize the different animal tracks and scat that was found along the road.  Over the course of the next two days, they led us to a leopard den (with twin baby leopards), found a pride of lions, identifying dozens of birds, walked us to within yards of a journey of giraffes, and perhaps most importantly, drove us all the way across the Ulusaba Reserve to find a cheetah.

Mother leopard and her cub

Beals and a giraffe

Cheetah time

Dancing and Stars

In addition to the incredible game drives, we had the chance to have lunch in the bush next to a river where we found hippo tracks, water birds like pied kingfishers and African fish eagles, and saw bushbucks (a small antelope).  When we left, we were surprised to find lions asleep on the bank of the river just a short distance away.  Moments like this were what made us grateful that Jason always had his gun with him -- although he told us that he had never had to fire it while he was with clients.  In the evening, we also had the chance to see some of the local African tribesmen (tribespeople?) perform some of their local dances and have drinks in the bush.  The dancing was pretty frenetic but so entertaining that even Cannon (who does not like this type of thing) admitted to enjoying it.

On our last evening, Jason and Don also took us to an observatory where we were able to use a telescope to find nebulae, star clusters, Jupiter and its Galilean moons and observe Earth's moon.  We have now spent more than two months in the Southern Hemisphere so it almost felt normal to have Orion in the northern skies and to see the Southern Cross above us.  

It was hard to leave.  But we now on to our next destination and are flying eight hours to the other end of Africa, Cairo.  Over the next week or two, we will be trying to immerse ourselves in ancient Egypt.

[George/Cannon] My Man Snefuru (Warning -- Long and Possibly Boring)

Since we are in Egypt right now I think that it's fitting to talk about one of our family's favorite pharaohs.  Sneferu (Snef-ur-oo).  We first heard about Sneferu from a guy named Bob Brier.  We discovered Bob (we always call him Bob) on a company that sells college lectures, called the Great Courses.  On the Great Courses, we have listened to two courses taught by Bob.  One has 12 1/2 hour lectures, and is about the great leaders of ancient Egypt.  The second is a much longer 48 lecture course, about the overall history of ancient Egypt.  Anyway in both of these lectures he talks about Sneferu.  Sneferu is important because he build the first true pyramid.  But first some background that I learned from Bob.

Before they build Pyramids, people were buried (in case you didn't know a pyramid is a tomb for a king) in sand pits.  But this didn't work because the sand would eventually blow away and expose the body.  This was bad because animals would then eat the carcass, and you needed your body from the next world.  So to fix this problem you would build a structure over the pit so the sand wouldn't blow away.  The structure was called a mastaba.  A mastaba started as a slab, and then evolved into a large rectangle building.  Then came King Zoser (Zah-ser).  He wanted a really fancy tomb.  So his architect Imhotep (Im-ho-tep) had the idea to but a mastaba on top of a mastaba.  This created a step pyramid.  This worked (good job Imhotep) and was the first stone building in the history of the world (the other mastabas were made of mud brick).  This was Egypt's first pyramid (see below).

Me and my family in front of Zoser's Pyramid

Now a couple of generations later along comes Sneferu.  Sneferu decided to build a step pyramid.  Then he has a brilliant idea.  He will fill in the gaps and make a true pyramid.  But his first pyramid doesn't work out.  He gets the angle wrong, and the pyramid collapses.  You can see it today, and it just looks wrong (see below).

The Medium Pyramid

But Sneferu is not discouraged.  He decides to abandon his old pyramid and make another one.  This one is called the bent pyramid, and you'll find out why in a minute.  So he starts to make another pyramid and then Sneferu has another brilliant idea.  He won't be buried below the pyramid.  He will be buried in the pyramid.  It was ruined again.  When you build a pyramid you first dig down to bedrock so no sand can get under your pyramid, making it unstable.  In Sneferu's second pyramid sand got under a corner, and started to shift.  Because of this the pyramid started to cave in before it was finished.  So what does Sneferu do?  He finished the pyramid, but since he intended to build another one, so he put a bend at the top (hence the Bent Pyramid).  The bend helps because it used less money and material.  (See it below).

The Bent Pyramid

Now we are on to Sneferu's successful pyramid.  The Red Pyramid was started by Sneferu after he finished the Bent Pyramid, and this time Sneferu does it all right.  It is 348 foot pyramid, and it's called the red pyramid because when the sun hits it, it the pyramid looks red (see below).

The Red Pyramid

Sorry for this long blog on Snefuru, hope you enjoyed it.  If you want to learn more go check out Bob Brier's lectures on Egypt on Great Courses.

[Kate] Egyptian Geography

There is a famous saying that Egypt is the gift of the Nile.  This was a statement made by Herodotus, a Greek who was a tourist in Egypt during the twenty seventh dynasty (525 BC to 404 BC), which was the time when Persians ruled Egypt.  The Nile increased Egypt's power because not only did it supply a plentiful amount of water, its floods refertilized the farmland every year.  In many ways, the Nile helped make Ancient Egypt into the powerhouse it was in the ancient world.

The geography in Egypt was ideal for the culture and civilization of Ancient Egypt.  Why?  On the East side of Egypt there are mountains.  On the West is the desert, and down South, beyond Egypt's borders and towards Nubia (modern day Sudan), the Nile has cataracts which makes boat navigation through there nearly impossible.  In the North there is the Mediterranean.  Why was this important?  All these features kept the Ancient Egyptians isolated and protected.  Egyptians never colonized, and few ever left Egypt.  For them Egypt was the holy land, where all civilization sprang from.

A map of Egypt.

Another odd thing about Egypt: the Nile flows the "wrong" way; on a map it's flowing upward, the only major river to do so.  This adds extra confusion for a lot of people, because Upper Egypt is the the South (upriver) and Lower Egypt is in the North (downriver).

Interestingly, this makes sailing along the Nile very easy.  Why?  Well, if you're going North, you're going downriver, so you just go with the current.  And if you're going South, you just put up your sails, and the let the wind, which is heading South, propel you.  This made trade and travel easier.

The Nile in Egypt.

Despite often being thought of as desert people, Ancient Egyptians really weren't keener on the desert than us.  The overwhelming majority lived on the banks of the Nile.  Living there was a much easier lifestyle because of the water and fertile soil, and so that was where the all of the cities were based.  Hardly anything extended into the desert.

An interesting side note is that Ancient Egyptians (generally) lived on the East of the Nile, and were buried on the West side.  The reason for this is that the sun rises in the East, and sets in the West.  Thus the East is associated with the living the and the West with the dead.  

Ancient Egypt was a long lasting and powerful civilization, and many of the reasons for that (but certainly not all) lie in the Egyptian geography.

[Seth] Safari Time

Sabi Sand Wildtuin is a collection of private game reserves that border on Kruger National Park.  Kruger N.P. is tucked into the northeast corner of South Africa.  At about 7,500 square miles, Kruger is about the same size as Wales.  It is particularly famous for its high density of wild animals including the Big 5: lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalos (I cannot figure out why buffalos are part of the big 5 as there are so many other cooler animals). Hundreds of other mammals make their home here, as do diverse bird species such as vultures, eagles and hundreds of other colorful species.  Due to the potential danger, both to people and animals, the rules at Kruger dictate that visitors must stay on the marked roads and stay in they cars.  Because of all of the restrictions, private game reserves have grown up adjacent to the park and have effectively expanded its borders (for instance there is no fence between Kruger and Sabi Sands).  On the private reserves, there is more flexibility for the safari jeeps to go off-road and there are some opporutunities to go on walking safaris (for those 16 years and older).

We had the opportunity to spend four nights at two different lodges inside Sabi Sands.  When staying at safari camps, you typically have two game drives each day -- one at dawn and one at dusk -- and you eat a lot of food.  

Dawn in the bush

Dusk in the bush

Moon and Venus at twilight 

So you have very early mornings (5:30 am wake-up call), followed by hot chocolate (or coffee/tea) and then leave for the morning drive.  The drives are in a 4x4 Land Rover and are led by a Guide who is assisted by a tracker who sits on a little seat attached to the front of the vehicle.  After a couple of hours in the morning drive, usually at about 9 am, you stop out in the bush for another hot chocolate and biscuits before finishing by the drive at about 10 am which is followed by breakfast and then a late lunch.  After a quiet afternoon you have tea at about 3 pm and then depart on the second game drive.  At sundown, there are sundowner drinks in the bush (with snacks like biltong and dried fruit).  After sundown, the drive back to the lodge is focused on spotting nocturnal animals and the tracker uses a spotlight to try and find bush babies (small nocturnal primates), owls, chameleons, and other nighttime creatures.  Of course, upon your return there is an elaborate dinner.  All and all, there is a lot of food and surprisingly little exercise since it is too dangerous to do much beyond walking around the grounds during the daylight (at night you need to be escorted for your safety).

Kirkman's Kamp

For the first two nights, we stayed at Kirkman's Kamp.  Kirkman's is the renovated Toulon Farm where Harry Kirkman lived.  Harry was a legendary rancher, lion hunter from the last century (he supposedly shot more than 500 lions) and later ranger and conservationist.    

Kirkman's Kamp

While at Kirkman's, we quickly saw the big 5, including tracking a female leopard and her cub as they first ate an impala in a tree and then walked directly through the lodge on their way to find more something else to eat -- ideally not a lodge guest.  

A leopard standing directly in front of our room

We also had the chance to see lions, black and white rhino, and wild dogs.  

Black Rhino

Sleeping lions

African Wild Dogs

On our last morning at Kirkman's, we saw a confrontation between a leopard,  who was quickly trying to finish the remains of an impala that it had killed the night before, and two hyenas that saw no reason that the leopard shouldn't share.  The hyenas quickly convinced the leopard of the justness of their cause although there may have been some hard feelings when it was all over. 

Just before the leopard decided to share . . .

After a couple of days at Kirkman's, we headed further north to Ulusaba for the rest of our stay.  Stay tuned.

[Grace] What's Better Than A Leopard? TWO BABY LEOPARDS

PSA: Everyone in their lifetime should go to South Africa and see the animals.

Our safari experience was so amazing, and I already want to go back (for reference, I was there yesterday). I have been lucky enough to have seen some incredible things over the past few months, but even I have a hard time remembering experiences that can rival South Africa.

While in South Africa, I saw some incredible animals. Personally, giraffes are some of my favorites. My mom adores leopards, as should everyone - they are remarkable animals. There aren't many things better than a leopard.......except TWO BABY LEOPARDS!

Our third night out on safari, and our first night at our second safari lodge, we drove over to the den of a mama leopard with very young cubs. The cubs were just seven weeks old and so when we were driving around in our big safari cars we had to be very careful not to harm the animals in anyway; one of the rules was that if the mom leopard was not there, we shouldn't stay too long with the babies.

When we first got to the leopard den, we didn't see anything. Earlier in the day the all three leopards had been hanging out, but now we didn't see any of them. We were just about to leave and try again the next morning when I hear Cannon saying "Look over there!"

Sure enough, he had spotted a leopard cub!!! OH MY GOSH LOOK HOW CUTE HE/SHE IS.

Since the mom wasn't around, we couldn't stay and watch for long. But we did get a chance to see both leopard cubs and we saw them wrestle (first picture). It was one of the most precious things I've seen in my entire life. 

The next morning, I was ready to go and see the leopards again. I hoped that the mom would be there so we could stay and watch for a long time. Much to my delight, all of the leopards were home. For most of the time, I just had the camera up to my face and kept on snapping away. I got so many good pictures! Please admire them.

Baby leopard meowing.

Baby leopard looking around.  

Mama leopard!! So majestic.

The leopard cub playing with it's mom.

Can you spot the two leopard cubs? 

Practice your roar, little one.

Look at those blue eyes! Much prettier than any human baby I've ever seen.

The leopard cub was playing with it's mom tail!! You cannot tell me that is not the cutest thing you have ever seen in your life. 

This is my favorite picture. Look at how adorable it is! The cub was playing with it's mom tail, and then the mom started waving her tail around and then the cub hissed at it. A fearsome predator.