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Egypt
  • Michael and Helen Cook

Egypt

A 17-day adventure by Michael and Helen Read more
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  • Trip start
    April 23, 2025
    Michael and Helen CookEgyptMichael and Helen Cook
    1Flying into Cairo Airport
    1View of Pyramids from our hotel roof

    First view of Pyramids of Gizza

    April 23 in Egypt ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Our flight to Cairo was on time and smooth enough. An hour uber later and we are at our hotel with views of the nearby pyramids from our hotel roof.

  • Michael and Helen CookEgyptMichael and Helen Cook
    The ShynxInside the Great Pyramid climbing to the tombA simple tomb in the heart of the Great Pyramid

    Pyramids of Gizza

    April 24 in Egypt ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    So less time has passed between Cleopatra and us than had between Cleopatra and the building of the Great Pyramids. Burj Khalifa in Dubai has been the highest building in the world for the last 15 years but the Great Pyramid was the highest building in the world for over 3,800 years!

    We spent a few hours this morning walking around the site and going inside the largest Pyramid. All very impressive    Read more

  • Michael and Helen CookEgyptMichael and Helen Cook
    The entrance to GEM13Early bird guide?1

    The Great Egyptian Museum

    April 24 in Egypt ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    This afternoon we visited the Great Egyptian Museum which was magnificent. It has taken a long time to build and will be opened fully in July. The size and scale of the building really shows off the artefacts many of which are themselves huge. The fact that it only covers the history of one culture over albeit over a huge span of history also makes it really compelling.Read more

  • Michael and Helen CookEgyptMichael and Helen Cook
    The Step Pyramid
    Oops the Bent PyramidThe Red PyramidStatue of Ramesses IIOne big finger nailLunchMaking ice cream

    Saqqara and Memphis

    April 25 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    This morning we visited the older pyramids of Saqqara and Dahshur. These were all older than those at Giza and basically show the architects working out how to make a pyramid.

    The first was a the Step Pyramid (2700 BC) and is the oldest surviving stone building in the world. The second was one of the earliest “failures” was the Bent Pyramid (2600 BC) where they got the angle wrong and it was never used. But the third “Red Pyramid” (2575 BC) was perfect and provided the model for those at Giza which followed.

    Afterwards we went to the museum of Memphis the early capital of Egypt    Read more

  • Michael and Helen CookEgyptMichael and Helen Cook
    Appetisers
    FalafelMaking bean stewEgyptian coffee - the stall has been there for 100 years and uses the original machinesMolokhiya - a soup made with a leaf that is very commonKosharyBaklavaA selection of desserts - various pastries, usually soaked in sugar

    Food tour

    April 26 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We had a fun time yesterday exploring some Egyptian food on a walking food tour. Here we tried many local dishes (see captions for details) whilst hearing about how they are made and some of the history behind them. We did pass on the fried cows brain - didn’t really want Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease as a souvenir! Very tasty, my favourites were the falafel (made with fava beans rather than chickpeas) and Michael’s was Koshary. This is Egypt’s national dish made with pasta, lentils, fried onions and tomato sauce. This place we ate at is the most popular in Cairo and the owner a bit of a local hero. He started his business from the cart in the picture. Lots of dessert too, the Egyptians seem to have a sweet tooth.Read more

  • Michael and Helen CookEgyptMichael and Helen Cook
    African Green Bee-Eater
    Little OwlBlack Crowned Night-HeronClamorous Reed Warbler living up to its nameGreater Painted SnipeWhite-Throated Kingfisher with mousePied KingfisherFood pass to juvenile (left)DragonflyCattle EgretIndian Silverbill with nesting materialBlack-Winged Kite1European Bee-EatersGreat Grey Shrike. Parent feeding kidsKentish PloverWood SandpiperCrested LarkSenegal CoucalSenegal Thick-Knee

    Birding Lake Quarun

    April 27 in Egypt ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We try to go birding most places we go now to see new birds and keep developing our birding skills. On our big trip last year we had some amazingly skilled guides and we learned a lot from them and saw some amazing wildlife experiences.

    It was a bit more difficult finding a guide in Egypt but we eventually found Ahmed online and he had good references. We started out at 3.40am from Cairo and were birding by 6am. We saw some great birds and 68 species of which 9 were lifers. We also had brief sighting of an Egyptian Wolf (a kind of Jackel). Our guide certainly knew where to look.

    However, our guide’s ID skills were lacking with whole families he didn’t even try to identify (gulls and hirundines). He also got several IDs wrong and we had to correct when recording our sightings which left us doubting about the others he made. But since I mostly had photos we could confirm them. The guide would largely ignore Helen too which is something we have noticed in Islamic countries before. But the most negative thing from the day was that $50 USD went missing from our bag during the day and it had to be the driver. It left a bad taste after an otherwise good day but we move on - if you travel enough you experience this kind of thing and have to assume they needed it more than you and/or are the poorer for it rather than you.    Read more

  • Michael and Helen CookEgyptMichael and Helen Cook
    1Our boat - the Ghazala Explorer
    The saloonOur dive kitOur roomThe sun deck1

    Joining our Dive Boat

    April 28 in Egypt ⋅ 🌬 30 °C

    We have now moved down to the Red Sea and have joined our dive boat and home for the next week. We are going to be doing 3-4 dives a day for the next 6 days/7 night trip.

    We probably won’t have internet for much of the time when out at sea so may not update much.Read more

  • Michael and Helen CookEgyptMichael and Helen Cook
    Hawksbill Turtle
    Dive BuddiesWreck of Salem ExpressBlue Spotted StingrayClownfish (Nemo)ParrotfishReturning to our boatWhite-eyed GullSpinner Dolphin3

    Red Sea Diving

    Apr 28–May 5, Red Sea ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We have just arrived back in port after a week diving in the Red Sea. I (Michael) did a total of 18 dives in 6 days with 13 hours underwater (Helen did a few less). It was quite tiring but great fun.

    We dived some impressive wrecks including the freighter Numidia which was build in Glasgow in 1901 but sunk a year later with no loss of life after hitting the reef. More seriously was the large ferry Salem Express which sank on route back from Saudi Arabia with the loss of 470 lives (mostly pilgrims returning from Mecca).

    The highlights included seeing three new species of shark - Hammerhead, Thresher and Oceanic White Tip - and several Manta Ray sightings which were amazing. The videos show this marine life best. All the footage was shot by me on my GoPro so it isn’t the greatest quality.

    We also did two courses Enriched Air Nitrox (to allow us to dive with different air mixes) and Deep Diver which allows us to go to 40m which we did a few times. It takes about 15 minutes to surface safely from this depth so you need to solve your own problems.

    We have a few days resting and birding before coming home on Friday.    Read more

  • Michael and Helen CookEgyptMichael and Helen Cook
    El Gouna
    1Towel ArtBread tableSweet things1Honey options1Yogurt optionsKestrelCollared PraticoleSpur winged lapwing chickSpur winged lapwingEastern Olivaceous WarblerSquaco HeronLittle Egret

    El Gouna

    May 5–9 in Egypt ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    So El Gouna is a strange place, Costa del Disney on the Red Sea coast. This was nothing 30 years ago just desert and coast.

    An entrepreneurial Egyptian businessman purchased the whole area and transformed it into a series of man-made harbours and channels and also freshwater lakes. Check out the map to see what I mean! He then built a network of hotels shops and restaurants which he still owns and rents out. It is now a luxury resort for foreigners and Egyptians alike.

    Because it has security to get in it is hassle free and we welcomed that after Cairo.

    We have mostly chilled here after full on diving week. The breakfast buffet included in our hotel was something to behold.

    We did try a bit of birding at 6am one morning but only added Eastern Olivaceous Warbler to the life list. All the potential Reef Herons were annoyingly Little Egrets. Oh we did have a pair of Osprey nesting around on the harbour markers outside our hotel too.    Read more

    Trip end
    May 9, 2025
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