Howdy all, the retelling of my ‘Dhaka to Dakar’ adventure continues today and I pick up where I left off last week, in Cairo, Egypt where I had just arrived. Of all the reasons I had given myself to return to Egypt the biggest one was to visit the Pyramids again, which I had visited in 1999. I returned with a bunch of pretty average photos taken on film. Such an impressive site required better for my records I thought.

But this time around I wanted to see more than just the Giza Pyramids. Yes, that’s right, there are more than just the three Pyramids you can visit when in Cairo. There are a bunch of pyramids at a place called Dahshur, just south of Cairo around 30km from Giza, and between Giza and Dahshur there is another site with more pyramids. And there are others scattered around, I read somewhere there are over 60 in total although presumably most are pretty small. Certainly the two main pyramids at Giza are the biggest in Egypt.

I briefly toyed with the idea of taking a tour, but decided there was little advantage and I wanted to be able to do things at my own pace. Perhaps not the right choice as I tend to take my time. Still, I managed to get to Giza and Dahshur in the one day.

To get out to the Pyramids of Giza I could have taken a taxi, but instead I opted to do it via public transport. It’s a bit of a challenge and I figured it wouldn’t take any longer as a taxi because going through the middle of Cairo in a car in that traffic would be slow and frustrating.

The Metro took me to Giza Metro station from basically downtown Cairo. It involved a change and would have taken 30 or so minutes. From there I was to take a minibus. However, I was directed to the wrong side of the station where all the taxi drivers were lined up trying to get customers. I ended up walking over the overpass around the station to the correct side where all the minibuses were lined up.

Somehow I found my way onto one, and this is where I got held up. People are shouting and yelling all the different destinations the minibuses were going, and I tell someone where I want to go and I get ushered onto a bus. I was the first one on the bus though, and so I had to wait a while for it to fill up, at least 20 minutes. So there I lost time.

There were a number on the bus going to the Pyramids, and we were told where to get off. We could see the Pyramids at the end of the road as we approached, but once off it was not clear where to go and I think we walked well over a kilometre. There was a little group of us including a few friendly guys from Iraq.

At the entrance to the Pyramids, which is just opposite a KFC as I remembered from 1999, it was bedlam at the ticket office. One window of this small hut was open with around 80 people maybe 100 not in any sort of line clamouring for tickets. There was a sort of ‘foreigner line’, but it was almost like a small mob gathered trying to get a ticket before other people.

So the pyramids at Giza, you have three. The biggest is the Pyramid of Khufu, also known as the ‘Great Pyramid’, almost as big is the Pyramid of Khafre, and the third much smaller pyramid at Giza is the Pyramid of Menkaure. In addition to the pyramids at this site in Giza you have the Sphinx and the Temple of the Sphinx. It’s spread out over a pretty large area in the beating sunlight with I don’t know how many people walking about mostly tourists, guides and people selling stuff. So a few thousand at a guess the time I was there at the site.

I entered through the gate to my right was the Pyramid of Khufu. I was immediately approached by a guide insisting I couldn’t go further without a guide. Clearly untrue, I asked a couple in front of him who confirmed this so he could no longer argue with me. I opted to take the road left, and made my way to the bottom of the site in some respects, the lowest point as far as my eye could see which was the entrance to the Temple of the Sphinx.

I met a woman from France who wasn’t having a great time. The heat and the hassle and the people were getting to her. To be honest, they were getting to me too. Her guide told her she had I don’t know forty minutes in the Pyramids before they moved on to the next part of her tour which I think were you know, other pyramids. And this is why I was glad not to take a tour. I was determined to take the time I wanted to. If I only saw these three pyramids all day so be it. I take things at my own pace.

The temple is a great introduction to the site, leading to the Sphinx which if you unaware is part man part lion statue. It’s giant but the viewing areas for it, naturally keeping visitors away from the statue itself. But it wasn’t impossible to get decent photos.

From there it was a hike up the hill to the middle pyramid which is the Pyramid of Khafre. I bought a ticket to go inside this one – you can choose or get a ticket that encompasses everything which includes a small museum too I think which didn’t interest me. First though I walked up to the Khafre Pyramid. You know what? It’s bloody HUGE! Okay, probably not a surprise to anyone. Huge blocks of stone on top of each other. People taking photos. People taking selfies.

I decided to circumnavigate this one. I got close enough to get a couple of shots of the small Pyramid of Menkaure, but when I got to the far side of Khafre people were not allowed to pass that way and I ended up going back around to the far side from where I was now to find the entrance to the Pyramid.

No photography or videoing allowed, but in reality no-one watching closely or caring although I kept the DSLR in my bag. It’s a narrow descent into the pyramid. And then you ascend. Super cramped I had to bend right over the whole time although it opens out briefly before the ascension to the burial chamber of Khafre. Here the guard let’s people take photos with their phones. It’s not as big as you might expect or an impressive, but it’s the inside of a pyramid and I guess you gotta do it!

I walked past the Khufu Pyramid on my way out. A slow 30 minute walk as camels passed me (still can’t be convinced to get back on one) and strangely a number of people saw my DSLR around my neck and asked me to take their photos. Also, a group of girls specifically asked me not to share these photos – they saw the camera and wanted photos taken with a ‘professional’ camera I guess and I emailed them the photos. Others like this couple were fine with me sharing – all the people in question were Egyptian by the way and super friendly, and in fact Egyptians in general away from those who make money from tourists are actually really lovely to meet and chat with in my experience. And really genuine.

So I really needed to eat something and it seemed fitting to have KFC in remembrance of 1999. However, last time it was clean and my friend and I were the only customers, this was not so much the case in 2023! But done! I needed a taxi to get to Dahshur to see another group of pyramids, I had to ask around and negotiate but I did find one guy who would do it for a very cheap price. When I realised just how far it was, I more than doubled what I paid him though.

It’s a wild ride out of Cairo. Around 30km but took over an hour. You suddenly find yourself in rice fields, crossing canals, palm trees, it’s freaking amazing. I arrived at the site very close to closing time, I think it was about 4pm or so but they shut early. Entrance fee paid at a booth a way from the pyramids, my taxi took me right up to the Red Pyramid, the oldest of the pyramids I saw in the day.

Here a guard warned me it was too late but I pleaded and he let me wonder. But then he said no photography was allowed except on phone I think. I walked to the far side of the pyramid to sneak some shots in. Which was poor for the light. But I was there pretty much on my own, it was tots special.

Behind me at that point was the Black Pyramid, quite a way away and the smallest of these three (although there are probably others I wasn’t aware of at Dahshur) and looks quite different. We were allowed to drive out the White or Bent Pyramid too which was also impressive. There was a small group of four to six people there otherwise it was just me, the taxi driver and a couple of security guys.

As the sun started to set, my taxi driver and I headed back into Cairo until he could get me to a Metro stop, with music blazing and feeling pretty satisfied with my day. But I had another day in Cairo yet, and I will save that for the next post!

Thanks for popping by! Sorry for the abrupt finish to this one – take care wherever you may be in the world, and May the Journey Never End!