Abu Simbel – The Egyptians Could Build and Do Anything!

I flew over the vast Arabian Desert on the way to the incredible Abu Simbel. My jaw-dropped as I gaped at this overwhelming structure while listening to the real story from Sherif. Construction of the temple lasted for about 20 years. The purpose was to impress Egypt’s southern neighbours, and also to reinforce the status of Egyptian religion in the area. In 1959, it became under threat from the rising waters of the Nile. The legend is that “Abu Simbel” was a young local boy who guided re-discoverers to the site of the buried temple, which he had seen from time to time in the shifting sands. Eventually, they named the temple after him.

The entire site was carefully cut into large blocks (some weighing up to 30 tonnes), dismantled, lifted and reassembled in a new location 65 metres higher and 200 metres back from the river, in one of the greatest challenges of archaeological engineering in history. Looking at this incredibly massive and detailed temple while imagining it having been relocated is unfathomable! The Egyptians could build and do anything! How did they do it!!

I explored inside of Abu Simbel with Jackie from New York and Paul from Pittsburgh. It was so cool seeing all the hieroglyphics etched along the walls. There were no photos allowed to be taken on the inside. I was so sad to learn this information because it was so awesome and interesting on the inside. There were guards roaming around, but when he walked away I quickly took a few pictures here and there. Paul did as well. Unfortunately for Paul, a guard caught him taking a photo because of the flash even though he turned the flash off. The guard took his camera from him and made him delete the photos. So he did. A little while later, the same guard saw me take a quick photo. He walked over and held out his hand, but there was no way I was going to let him delete my photos. I just pretended that I didn’t notice him standing right beside me and acted casual and really enthralled in my surroundings. Eventually he just gave up and walked away.

As we were about to leave and head back outside, we took one last look at Nefertari painted on the walls near the entrance. Suddenly, after Paul left, another guard whispered to Jackie and me hurriedly, “Quickly, Quickly!” and motioned for us to take some quick photos. Shocked and confused, we didn’t know how to respond but soon our reluctance faded and we took advantage of the free pass to violate whatever reason photos were banned.