Africa Travel Information

Update: 18 Feb 2011: After Hosni Mubarak’s February 11th resignation as Egypt’s president, the Egypt travel industry looks set for quick recovery. Already, some countries, like the UK, have eased their Egypt travel advice. Some big travel agents have announced plans to resume trips to Egypt as early as next week.

It is still important to continue monitoring the situation before making your holiday arrangements, but I remain optimistic the situation will get back to normal very quickly. If you plan to travel to Egypt any time soon, I recommend that you take a look at some of these great Egypt holiday packages at the Africaguide website.

The Great Pyramid at Giza. One of Egypt's key attractions

At the time I am writing this post, the news about the ongoing street protests in Alexandria, Cairo, Aswan and other cities in Egypt is almost stale news. Global news websites like CNN have covered the two-weeks old political unrest in great detail.

The political implications of the protests aside, the tourism industry is turning out to be the biggest loser so far. Just yesterday, Thomas Cook announced that the Egyptian and Tunisian protests will cost them about £20million. This is as a result of booking cancellations and emergency evacuation.

Consider the fact that Thomas Cook is just one of the several hundred travel agents that organize holidays to Egypt. Compared to Thomas Cook, most other travel agents may be smaller, but their combined total volume of business is obviously very big. I am not an expert in economics, but logic (twisted perhaps) tells me that if all agents are facing cancellations of similar magnitude, Egypt has already lost tens of billions of dollars in tourism revenue in these two weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

Egypt Holiday Booking
This post offers general information about Nile cruises and why they are a popular way of exploring Egypt. If you just want to book a Nile Cruise holiday or other form of Egypt vacation, I recommend that you see some of the Egypt holiday packages offered through the Africa Guide website, one of the most credible Africa travel portals.

Enjoy Your Egypt Holiday in Style

As a holiday destination, Egypt stands head and shoulders above other African countries. So much that probably everyone in the world knows about the Egyptian pyramids and the other relics of ancient Egypt civilizations. You should read my previous post on the top-five must-see sites in Egypt if you need an introduction to some of the country’s attractions. Read the rest of this entry »

Egypt is the top-most travel destination in Africa, thanks mostly to the many historical sites from the ancient days of the pharaohs. In today’s post, I highlight five of the most visited sites of ancient Egypt, including their photos. Unless I specify otherwise, all the pictures I have used in this post were licensed under a creative commons license by their creators/owners by the time I was using them in this post.

1. The Pyramids at Giza

The Great Pyramid of Khufu in Giza, Egypt. Photo by: Girolame at flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/girolame/

The Egyptian pyramids are probably what everyone thinks of when planning to travel in Egypt. While there are several pyramid sites all across Egypt, none is as popular as Giza. Among the three pyramids at the Giza necropolis, the great pyramid of Khufu (pictured) is the most magnificent. It is the only one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world that is still intact.

Scientists believe that this great pyramid took about 20 years to build during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu, with its construction being finished in the year 2551BC. Like most other Egyptian pyramids, the great pyramid was built to serve as a tomb for the then royal family.

If you are lucky, you may get a chance to go into the pyramid when you travel to Giza. But that means you have to wake up early since the authorities only allow 300 people in at any one time.

Read the rest of this entry »

The pyramids at Giza, Egypt. Image courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org

Arguably, nothing today is more symbolic of the engineering prowess of the ancient Egyptians than the pyramids. Most of these pyramid-shaped structures are believed to have been constructed between 3000 BC and around 1800 BC, a period between the old and middle kingdoms of ancient Egypt. Over 100 pyramids still survive today, though many more certainly existed before. It is believed that most pyramids were constructed as tombs for the Pharaohs and other members of the royalty.

The pyramids at Giza are the most known. The largest of these, the pyramid of Khufu (popularly known as the great pyramid of Giza), is the only remaining member of the “Seven wonders of the ancient world”. Read the rest of this entry »

Egypt – The Land of the Pyramids

Egypt is undoubtedly one of the most popular travel destination in Africa. Its many historical sites attract millions of visitors to the country annually. These sites are a heritage from the ancient civilization dating back to the days of the Egyptian pharaohs. The great pyramids are top among the tourist sites and are what most people identify Egypt with.

There are however several other equally famous and interesting sites to visit in Egypt. Some of these are:

• The two temples at Abu Simbel
• The Karnak temples
• Valley of the kings
• The great pyramids at Giza
• The Sphinx

Read the rest of this entry »