The October 2023 tour to Egypt was a great success, despite being overshadowed somewhat by the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Palestine. This ongoing conflict in no way affected the tour and everything went as planned in a completely safe environment. The only downside was a last minute cancellation by an American couple who, despite all sorts of assurances to the contrary, decided it was too dangerous to join us.

Day One

We left Johannesburg on a, not packed but certainly noisy, flight to Cairo. For me the first successful return to Egypt; earlier attempts having been thwarted by the non-opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum. Even this time was endangered by events unfolding across the border in Israel and Gaza. A late cancellation impacted on costs but other people had booked and paid, and I needed to get back.

A safe arrival in Cairo saw us greeted by our guide for the day, laden with water and falafel sandwiches. As I have written before, the journey from Cairo International Airport to Saqqara has lost some of its charm by using the new ring road and avoiding the city centre.

First stop was Dashur and the Bent Pyramid although nobody felt up to attempting the challenging interior, however, we had a close up look at the casing stones and how they were incorporated into the main structure. A quick photo stop at the Red Pyramid and we were heading for the one time capital of Memphis. Very little remains of the white walled city, but it is still worth the visit, to see the magnificent Hatshepsut sphinx and, of course, the colossal supine statue of Rameses the Great in its own purpose-built museum.

Time to move to Saqqara and the pyramid of Teti I plus the two magnificent tombs of Mereruka and Kagemni. Our guide was fantastic and led us through all the rooms of both tombs explaining all that we saw. The tombs belong to high-ranking officials and this is clearly represented in the number of rooms in each tomb, as well as the different aspects of the owner’s life portrayed throughout the tomb.

Although the superstructure of the pyramid of Teti has collapsed, it is still worth a visit, as it is what’s underground that matters; the Teti buial chamber contains a fine example of the early pyramid texts.

The Serapeum will always carry an air of mystery about it, as explanations of these colossal sarcophagi seem to always fall short. The looks of astonishment on their first sighting of the vast stone sarcophagi from this tour’s group of travellers matched all those that had come before.

Next stop was the Step Pyramid itself. Our guide’s explanations made me see the entrance colonnade in a new light, as I was made aware of just how experimental it actually was, being part of the first real stone monument. For the first time I saw the stone doors for what they were, a copy of wooden doors with a pivot point and floor clearance, but all in completely non-practical solid stone. The columns were not columns but reed bundles carved in stone, but as the builders lacked the experience of building columns from stone, they are not freestanding. The entrance colonnade brings you to the main heb sed court and so to the magnificent Step Pyramid. There were plenty of tourists, which, given the difficulties Egypt has suffered over the last ten years or so, can only be a good thing.

Our guide, had said he would save the best for last, and so he had. We made our way down past signs of ongoing work until we arrived at the final resting place of Mehu, Vizier and Chief Justice, another high-ranking official in the reigns of Unas and Teti. The state of this tomb is nothing short of magnificent, with vibrant colours bringing the relief carvings to life. This was not just paint on plaster but delicate high relief stonework overlaid with life-giving colour. One is so used to these kind of walls being damaged and almost unviewable, but this certainly isn’t the case here. Each section of wall is more breathtaking than the last. This is definitely one tomb I shall bring guests to, again and again.

Time for a late lunch consisting of exquisite lamb and chicken with a variety of Egyptian salads served with delicious flat bread. Too good.

And now, time to head for the airport and our evening flight home, er… I mean Luxor.

A simple flight and a late night drive brought us to the scene of where so much had taken place more than three years ago. What greetings from staff and personnel, that just reminded me what a special place this was and is. Welcome home, tomorrow is another day.