Traveller's notes
Cruise-conference "Mysteries of Ancient Egypt"
Our trip to Egypt
October 1-11th 2020
Dmitry Pavlov
ATURS travels' organiser
ATURS travels' organiser
October 12, 2020
Another LAH trip "Mysteries of Ancient Egypt" is over, that was held from October 1 to October 11, 2020. The route of the trip was: Cairo - Giza - Saqqara (Serapeum) - Dahshur - Abydos -Dendera - Luxor - Karnak - Edfu - Kom Ombo - Aswan - Abu Simbel* - Cairo.
20 people from 6 countries took part in this trip: USA, France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus. The age of the participants was also various: from 20 to 60 years. There was no language barrier and all of them became a real friendly team during the trip.
To my mind it was the most outstanding trip of all my pervious 30 travels to Egypt.
Everything started from March 2020 when mass media and governments of almost all the countries started to report of the dangerous virus COVID19, it's horrific consequences and the most frightening danger that happened that time.
The trips (to Mexico, India, Peru and Egypt) that had been already prepared had to be shifted for indefinite duration not because the participants were afraid but because the flights were cancelled and many countries were closed due to COVID19. By the end of the summer the situation seemed to become stable, Russia and Egypt agreed to open their borders, LAH decided first of all to arrange the trip to Egypt and announced about it. We rode blind (there was no flight schedule yet) and chose the dates from 1 to 11 of October. We chartered ship, that was at that time on a firm quarantine and had weak perspectives to be soon unanchored.
Everything started from March 2020 when mass media and governments of almost all the countries started to report of the dangerous virus COVID19, it's horrific consequences and the most frightening danger that happened that time.
The trips (to Mexico, India, Peru and Egypt) that had been already prepared had to be shifted for indefinite duration not because the participants were afraid but because the flights were cancelled and many countries were closed due to COVID19. By the end of the summer the situation seemed to become stable, Russia and Egypt agreed to open their borders, LAH decided first of all to arrange the trip to Egypt and announced about it. We rode blind (there was no flight schedule yet) and chose the dates from 1 to 11 of October. We chartered ship, that was at that time on a firm quarantine and had weak perspectives to be soon unanchored.
We also didn't have information whether the most interesting objects of Egypt will be open for tourists by that time or we will have to sneak there in secret.
Anyway the decision was made up and we started our preparations. First of all we asked all the people who failed to go with us in Spring whether they want to go to Egypt in the beginning of October. Certainly many of them refused due to the inclear situation, but at the same time the stronger were intentions of those who decided to take the risks, in spite of the unclear horizons of future. Most of the team made up people who saw our videos with invitation to test yourself in very unusual situation without crowds of tourists hanging around. Our hopes came true and we made up a team of 20 people for less than a month.
Anyway the decision was made up and we started our preparations. First of all we asked all the people who failed to go with us in Spring whether they want to go to Egypt in the beginning of October. Certainly many of them refused due to the inclear situation, but at the same time the stronger were intentions of those who decided to take the risks, in spite of the unclear horizons of future. Most of the team made up people who saw our videos with invitation to test yourself in very unusual situation without crowds of tourists hanging around. Our hopes came true and we made up a team of 20 people for less than a month.
After that the decision changed a few times due to the to delay of the flies. our agents couldn't give precise information about the flights and hotel bookings and couldn't give fixed prices... the situation was complicated with the fact that all the tourists should give an up-to-date proof of no COVID19 in Cairo. all the participants understood that the situation was serius and unpredictable. Finally all the 20 members of the team passed all the difficulties and returned back safe and sound. though no one knew it beforehand.
Sometimes we hear that LAH trips are simply light tourist trips and they are not researchers, they are just tourists! They live in comfortable hotels and go to light excursion programs... It is because these critics do not know realities. This trip proves they are wrong.
Sometimes we hear that LAH trips are simply light tourist trips and they are not researchers, they are just tourists! They live in comfortable hotels and go to light excursion programs... It is because these critics do not know realities. This trip proves they are wrong.
The trip to Gisa showed that the plato and the pyramids are abandoned by tourists. I witnessed many things... I wa in Egypt during the Arabian Spring as well but even at that times there were small groups of tourists. During this trip there was nobody. Sometimes there appeared some local school children and students... At first we were happy as we had a possibility to see all the details and take some samples for investigation, but we were happy only for the first minutes.
Hardly had we approached the Khafra Pyramid when police officers came to us and started to lead us the route they wanted, showing where we can go and what paths are not allowed. Unfortunately, the crack we needed for investigation was in the direction that was not allowed by them. So we had to take all from the places that we could officially reach. But that trip around Giza in a complete silence was gorgeous!
Hardly had we approached the Khafra Pyramid when police officers came to us and started to lead us the route they wanted, showing where we can go and what paths are not allowed. Unfortunately, the crack we needed for investigation was in the direction that was not allowed by them. So we had to take all from the places that we could officially reach. But that trip around Giza in a complete silence was gorgeous!
I won't describe all the details and places of visit as you can see them all on our web site www.aturs.ru. I will only stress that our ship was not issued the license for travels and we had to change it to the on-shore trips. We were not happy about it but eventually we saw much more than we planned to see by the river crouise!
I had fear that people will not be satisfied with the cancellation of the cruise but I was wrong. Everyone understood and accepted that and had a lot of fun to invesigate much more objects that they planned.
I had fear that people will not be satisfied with the cancellation of the cruise but I was wrong. Everyone understood and accepted that and had a lot of fun to invesigate much more objects that they planned.
Like in all LAH trips there was no typical guide tour like: look left and look right.... but they became real investigation partners. They eagerly prepared their own reports and participated in all the situations and tasks when needed.
I want to especially thank the author of YouTube channel MyTechnoLab, Sergey, who came from Belarus and was with us for 5 days. He also prepared his report and his ideas aroused numerous discussions. That was a great time!
As usual after the excursions, in the evening, people listened to the reports from LAH members and participants and there were vivid discussions after that. Those that earlier had been to Egypt only as simple tourists were really surprised too see so many things that a simple tourist is not able to see.
I want to especially thank the author of YouTube channel MyTechnoLab, Sergey, who came from Belarus and was with us for 5 days. He also prepared his report and his ideas aroused numerous discussions. That was a great time!
As usual after the excursions, in the evening, people listened to the reports from LAH members and participants and there were vivid discussions after that. Those that earlier had been to Egypt only as simple tourists were really surprised too see so many things that a simple tourist is not able to see.
I would like to say a few words about Oasis hotel where we checked in instead of Cataract hotel (due to the fact that Cataract hotel couldn't get license in time by our arrival). In Aswan we were surprised when we checked in a hotel on a hill where we could see the night view on Aswan: we had a real pleasure looking at the night lights and the Nile river. In the morning we had a magnificent view on Elefntina from a bird's perspective. I is impossible to describe, you should see it with your own eyes!
2 days that we spent in Aswan we used the best we could. Besides the famous quarry with the unfinished obelisks, we visited Abu-Simbel, sailed around Elefantina, visited the Botanic Gardens, were two times on the West coast and bathed in icily cold waters of the Nile river. It was 43 degrees but the heat didn't seem to be exhausting...
Before going to Aswan we spent 2 nights in Luxor in our favourite Iberhotel. The difference from the previous visits was that we were the only guests and the hotel granted us the best rooms with amazing view to the river and Western mountains; and we had the best meals as the most welcome guests. At that time we visited the Colossi of Memnon, the Valley of the Kings, Rhamesséion, Karnak and Luxor Temples. In the evenings we rode the horse vehicles to the local shops for the souvenirs and wine.
We travelled not only along the South of Egypt, we visited Cairo Museum and also Giza The Great Pyramid: the King Tomb, The Great Gallry, The Princess Camera and the Underground Camera. We also were in Saqqara (Amon-Tafnath shaft, Unas Pyramid, Djoser Pyramid, Userkaf Pyramid, Serapeum). We had time to visit Dahshur and were inside the Red and Bent Pyramids.
The last day of the trip was planned to full of relax but due to the unexpected changes of the program on the go we decided to visit Meidum with its famous tomb, Mastabas 16, 17 and made a few videos with interviews with the members of our team. We ended our trip with a bus tour to Lakhun that was recently opened for visit.
We returned to Cairo in the late evening and had dinner in Caviar restaurant which is well known among LAH members. Andrey Sklyarov used to be there and made videos for his film series "Mysteries of Ancient Egypt". The restaurant has a magnificent view to Chefren and Cheops Pyramids
The evening program was initially the wrap-up, but finally it turned into the mutual exchanges of the impressions from the whole trip by the pool in a warm and friendly atmosphere.
P.S. I would like to give my deep gratitude to Dmitry Maslennikov and his wife Mira, the people of Egypt, who made a great job for organizing all the day-to-day issue for our group during the trip and travel company "Festival Travel" who made everything at the best level!
The evening program was initially the wrap-up, but finally it turned into the mutual exchanges of the impressions from the whole trip by the pool in a warm and friendly atmosphere.
P.S. I would like to give my deep gratitude to Dmitry Maslennikov and his wife Mira, the people of Egypt, who made a great job for organizing all the day-to-day issue for our group during the trip and travel company "Festival Travel" who made everything at the best level!
ABOUT US
We are a team of like-minded people. We believe that a travel must be exciting, dynamic, full of varieties and our history must be clear and true.
We have arranged many expeditions, conferences and seminars in Egypt, Mexico, China, Peru, Bolivia and other countries where you can find many evident artifacts and other traces of the technogenetic civilazation that was present on our planet long time ago.
We have done dozens of films and video reports, most of them you can watch free on our Youtube channel, that already has more than 180 000 subscribers. Materials done by our members have been watched by over 50 mln people all over the world.
We are Laboratory of Alternative History.
We have arranged many expeditions, conferences and seminars in Egypt, Mexico, China, Peru, Bolivia and other countries where you can find many evident artifacts and other traces of the technogenetic civilazation that was present on our planet long time ago.
We have done dozens of films and video reports, most of them you can watch free on our Youtube channel, that already has more than 180 000 subscribers. Materials done by our members have been watched by over 50 mln people all over the world.
We are Laboratory of Alternative History.
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OUR NEXT EGYPT TOUR
November 19 - December 1, 2020