At Aswan we were back to desert lands but the smooth, tranquil Nile was transformed to eddying waters and numerous groups of rocks called Cataracts.

This is where Egypt meets Nubia and there is evidence of plenty of African influence, reflecting the trade between the two countries dating back to the time of the Pharaohs.

 

Early morning we took to the bus for a day of tours, the unfinished obelisk, the great dam and The Philae Temple.

 

The unfinished Obelisk

This granite quarry produced a unique rose granite which was used in many of the ancient Egyptian monuments.

To remove huge pieces, notches were made in the granite and wood inserted which expanded when wet and cracked the granite to free it.

The unfinished obelisk can be seen laying in situ, it was 42 metres high and would have weighed 1150 tons.

It would have been transported in one piece to a boat and taken down the Nile to be used in a Temple, a big accomplishment even with modern equipment !

Unfortunately it cracked in several places and so it was never detached.

 

  

 

 

The Great Dam

The flow of the Nile was always a big problem for Egypt, increased flow caused the water level to rise and the Nile would flood and destroy the crops, if it was decreased there would be drought.

The answer to these problems was the dam.  The dam would need to do three things:  control the floods of the Nile River, store the water from the floods so that it could be released at a slower rate, and generate hydroelectric power. 

After several offers of funding from the West fell through, the Soviets helped the people of Egypt to design and build the granite dam, which is 3.26 km in length, and rises 111 m above the Nile River base. The dam was built about 13 km south of the Egyptian city of Aswan, and was named the Aswan High Dam.  The Soviets also provided the hydroelectric equipment used in the power station.  It took ten years to build the dam, at a cost of $1 billion.  The dam began operating in 1970, and has proven to be both beneficial and detrimental to the people and the surrounding land.

One of the biggest problems of the dam was that 14 ancient Egyptian sites were flooded and had to be repositioned on higher ground, the cost was in excess of 40 million dollars and was assisted by the UN. In addition to the monuments, around 90,000 Nubians had to be re homed when their land was flooded by lake Nassar.

Below lake Nassar, created by the building of the dam, and the monument built in honour of the commitment of all those who worked on the dam.

 

 

 

Philae Temple

This is where the God Osiris is buried and the temples were dedicated to his bride, Isis, who, with the force of her love, recomposed his scattered limbs and resuscitated him after which he became God of the underworld. 

Between 1972 and 1980 the temple was dismantled from the East bank of the Nile and re constructed stone by stone on a small Island where it would be protected from the damaging waters of the Nile.

We were taken by local boats to the island to see the temple.

 

    

 

 

 

Beautiful detailing on the columns and traces of later Christian times, the Maltese Cross has been carved into the stone.

 

 

 

More beautiful column detailing, the head of the most famous Goddess, Hathor, and beside it you can see that many of the carvings were defaced later by the Christians whose beliefs differed.

 

     

 

Nubian Village

During our trip the air conditioning on our bus failed and we were transferred to another bus.

The tour representative was very embarrassed and offered us a free Nile tour in the afternoon to a typical Nubian Village.

It proved to be a great bonus, passing lots of sailing ‘Felucas’ and children playing in water and viewing various Cataracts or Islands as we motored gently to the village.

 

 

 

We were invited into a typical house, complete with family pet contained in the tank in the middle of the lounge !

 

 

 

The floors were sand and the walls whitewashed and decorated with bright coloured murals.

The ladies made us delicious mint tea

 

 

 

 

We wandered around the village where camels were the only form of transport.

The Nubian man on the left is selling local spices, can you see the crocodile decorating the front wall of his house ?

 

 

 

We had a pleasant journey back on the roof of the boat, taking in the sights along the banks of the Nile.

The Hotel is the Cataract Hotel where Agatha Christie stayed and was inspired to write ‘Death on The Nile’

 

 

 

The picture below shows some of the numerous rocks and strong eddies in this section of the Nile.

Of course before the dam these rocks and Island were under the water and the whole area would have been dangerous rapids.