Afrinkong
The Nile and the Desert
A green ribbon a few kilometres wide, and sand for a thousand kilometres either side of it.
North Africa · Afrinkong
Egypt
The Nile, and five thousand years.
The oldest continuous tourism in the world, and still the reason most people first think of Africa — the Giza plateau, the Valley of the Kings, Abu Simbel, and the Red Sea reefs on the other coast.
Where it is
Africa · North Africa · Egypt
The land in brief
- Spans
- 1,150 km E–W, 1,060 km N–S
- Latitude
- 32°N to 22°N
- Borders
- 2 countries
- Sea
- Has a coast
- Best time
- The cool half of the year. Upper Egypt in August is not a holiday.
Also in North Africa
AlgeriaThe largest country in Africa, and the emptiestLibyaLeptis Magna, and the sand sea behind itMoroccoAtlas, Sahara and the medinasSudanMore pyramids than EgyptTunisiaCarthage, the Sahel and the desert south
Compare Egypt with another countryAll fifty-four, worked through the same twenty-seven categories.When to come
JFMAMJJASOND
The cool half of the year. Upper Egypt in August is not a holiday.
01Highlights
What Egypt is known for.
Six of the twenty-seven, and the ones most people come for. The rest are below — and none of them is filler.
Birds of the Delta
Two million migrating birds use the Delta and the Red Sea coast as a flyway each year.
Sinai
Mount Sinai and Saint Catherine's, and granite peaks over two thousand metres above the Red Sea.
The Red Sea
Some of the clearest reef diving on earth, an hour's flight from the pyramids.
The Fayoum
Not forest — the Fayoum's palm and olive, and the acacia of Wadi el-Rayan.
Coptic, Islamic, Pharaonic
Three layers still in daily use, sometimes in the same street in old Cairo.
02Experiences
25 ways to spend the time.
Every country we cover works through the same twenty-seven categories, so you can hold two of them side by side and compare like with like rather than one brochure against another. Compare Egypt with another → The two not listed here are the hero picture and the case for going, which has a section of its own below.
Landscapes
- The Nile and the DesertA green ribbon a few kilometres wide, and sand for a thousand kilometres either side of it.
- SinaiMount Sinai and Saint Catherine's, and granite peaks over two thousand metres above the Red Sea.
- The First CataractThe Nile's cataracts at Aswan — rapids rather than falls, and the reason the boats stopped here.
- The Nile ItselfFeluccas under sail at Aswan, and a river that has been the country's main road for millennia.
- The Red SeaSome of the clearest reef diving on earth, an hour's flight from the pyramids.
- The FayoumNot forest — the Fayoum's palm and olive, and the acacia of Wadi el-Rayan.
Wildlife
- Birds of the DeltaTwo million migrating birds use the Delta and the Red Sea coast as a flyway each year.
- The Western DesertNot big game — desert fox, gazelle and the silence of the Great Sand Sea.
- Reef and OasisReef protection on the Red Sea, and oasis agriculture that has managed water for millennia.
- Dive, Sail, RideReef diving at Marsa Alam, feluccas at Aswan, and camels in the Western Desert.
People and culture
- Coptic, Islamic, PharaonicThree layers still in daily use, sometimes in the same street in old Cairo.
- Nubians and BedouinNubian villages above Aswan and Bedouin communities in the Sinai and the Western Desert.
- Moulids and RamadanThe moulid processions, and Cairo at iftar when the whole city eats at once.
- Papyrus, Glass and CottonHand-blown glass in Cairo, Egyptian cotton, and papyrus made the way it always was.
- Ful, Koshary and BreadBreakfast is ful and bread; lunch is koshary; both are older than most cuisines.
- Straightforward with ChildrenShort internal flights, boats instead of buses, and a story at every stop.
- The Corniche at DuskFamilies out along the river, tea on the pavement, and the traffic finally slowing.
Places
- Cairo and AlexandriaTwenty million people on the Nile, and a Mediterranean city that remembers being Greek.
- Mamluk CairoThe mosques, sabils and madrasas of the medieval city, largely still standing.
- The Valley of the KingsSixty-odd tombs cut into a single dry valley, most of them painted floor to ceiling.
- Karnak, Luxor, Abu SimbelKarnak took two thousand years to build; Abu Simbel was moved sixty metres to save it.
Ways to travel
- Desert CrossingsDiving the Red Sea, walking the Sinai with Bedouin guides, and crossing the sand sea by vehicle.
- Dahabiyas and Desert CampsSmall sailing dahabiyas instead of the big cruisers, and camps in the White Desert.
- The Light at SixDesert light at either end of the day is the whole reason to be up early here.
- SiwaEight hundred kilometres west, a Berber-speaking oasis with its own language and salt lakes.
03Why go
The case for Egypt.
Why Visit This Country
The Oldest Journey
People have been travelling to see this country for two and a half thousand years.
Hidden Gems
Siwa
Eight hundred kilometres west, a Berber-speaking oasis with its own language and salt lakes.
Eco Tourism
Reef and Oasis
Reef protection on the Red Sea, and oasis agriculture that has managed water for millennia.
Heritage
Karnak, Luxor, Abu Simbel
Karnak took two thousand years to build; Abu Simbel was moved sixty metres to save it.
04Go deeper
All of Egypt, four ways in.
Who would take youAfrinkong
The ground is ours right across Africa: your vehicle, your driver for the whole journey, and the days shaped around what you came for.
In Cameroon, Uganda and Namibia you travel with companies of our own as well.
Plan your journey →
Begin
Your Egypt starts here.
Tell us the month, or simply the thing you want to see, and a guide who works there will answer.