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Egypt - The land of the Pharaohs

  • Visit to Abu Simbel
  • An Egyptologist as our tourist guide
  • All entrance fees included
  • 4 nights Nile cruise
  • Visit to the Valley of the Kings
  • Visit to Saqqara Necropolis

Overview

Home of the ancient Pharaohs, myth and legend, Egypt is a beguiling destination of temples and tombs that is sure to leave an impression on any visitor.

Our guide in Egypt is not only a qualified Egyptologist, but also a Bedouin, a nomadic Arab people, who have historically inhabited the desert regions of North Africa. His wealth of knowledge is matched only by his passion for his country. A journey through history therefore comes alive through local story-telling. The facts and fables will stay with you forever...

Itinerary

Day 0: Depart Johannesburg

Depart from OR Tambo, Johannesburg to Cairo, Egypt.

Day 1: Arrive Cairo

Early arrival at Cairo International Airport. The group will be met and assisted through immigration and customs.

Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is the largest city in northern Africa – a thriving mixture of cosmopolitan culture, history, and tradition. This city is alive all day and all night and the streets are legendary for their chaotic traffic.

As our arrival is early, we immediately start with a half day tour and visit the Pyramids and the Sphinx.

Visit the famous Pyramids of Giza built for some of the mightiest Pharaohs - Cheops, Chepren and Mycerinus. The Great Pyramid of Giza remained the tallest man-made structure in the world for 3,800 years. The bases of the three Pyramids of Giza together cover more than a million square feet, roughly nine mid-town Manhattan blocks. To put the pyramids in perspective, they were ancient even before the Greeks or Romans had a word for ancient. When the Chinese first started lying the great wall, the Great Pyramid of Khufu had already stood for 800 years. Nearby you'll also discover the magnificent Sphinx which acts as guardian to the Pharaoh's enormous funerary monument.

Optional entrance: From time to time, it is possible to enter the Great Pyramid of Cheops. An additional entrance fee is charged for this. (US$ 50.00 per person and can be paid directly.)

The Sphinx is cut from bedrock with the original shape been restored with layers of blocks. It is 73 meters long from paw to tail, 20.21 meters high from the base to the top of the head and 19 meters wide at its rear haunches. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt and is believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom during the reign of the Pharaoh Khafre.

Set menu lunch at a local restaurant.

After lunch transfer to hotel for check-in. Time to refresh and relax.
Dinner at hotel.

O/N: Kempinski Nile (or similar) (lunch and dinner)

Day 2: Luxor

Check-out, transfer to the airport and early flight to Luxor.

Depart from Cairo to Luxor.

Arrive Luxor where you will be met at the airport.

Visit the East Bank (Karnak Temple & Luxor Temple).

The massive temple complex of Karnak was the principal religious center of the god Amun-Re in Thebes during the New Kingdom (which started from 1550 until 1070 BCE). The complex remains one of the largest religious complexes in the world. However, Karnak was not just one temple dedicated to one god – it held not only the main precinct to the god Amun Re – but also the precincts of the gods Mut and Montu.

Lunch at a local restaurant in Luxor.

Luxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian Temple complex located on the East Bank of the Nile River in the city Luxor and was constructed from 1100 BC-1600 BC. Unlike the other temples in Thebes, Luxor Temple is not dedicated to a cult god or a deified version of the king in death. Instead, Luxor Temple is dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship; it may have been where many of the kings of Egypt were crowned in reality. To the rear of the temple are chapels built by Amenhotep III of the 18th Dynasty, and Alexander. Other parts of the temple were built by Tutankhamun and Ramesses II. During the Roman era, the temple and its surroundings were a legionary fortress and the home of the Roman government in the area.

O/N: Sonesta St George Hotel, Luxor (or similar) (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Day 3: Luxor

Breakfast and check-out.

Optional: it is possible to do an early morning balloon flight over the Valley of the Kings and Temple of Hatshepsut. If you do the balloon trip you will be picked up at the landing site to join the group for the visit to the Valley of the Kings.

7:00 Visit the West Bank. The Egyptian belief that ‘to speak the name of the dead is to make him live again’ is certainly carried out in the building of the tombs of the Valley of the Kings. The king’s formal names and titles are inscribed in his tomb along with his image and statues. Beginning with the 18th dynasty and ending with the 20th.

The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut is an ancient funerary shrine. Built for the Eighteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Hatshepsut, it is located beneath the cliffs at Deir El Bahari, on the West Bank of the Nile near the Valley of the Kings. The mortuary temple is dedicated to the sun deity Amun and is situated next to the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II, which served both as an inspiration, and later, a quarry. It is considered one of the ‘incomparable monuments of ancient Egypt.

Board the river cruise ship and enjoy lunch.

Afternoon at leisure.

Dinner onboard.

O/N: Movenpick Harmees (or similar) (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Day 4: Towards Edfu

Breakfast on board.

Morning visit to Luxor Museum.

Sail towards Edfu via the Esna Lock. Enjoy afternoon team on board as well as a welcome cocktail reception. Dinner on board.

O/N: Movenpick Harmees (or similar) (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Day 5: Horous Temple in Edfu

Enjoy breakfast while sailing to Edfu.

Visit Horus Temple in Edfu. The Temple of Edfu is an ancient Egyptian Temple, located on the west bank of the Nile in Edfu. The city was known in Greco-Roman times as Apollonopolis Magna, after the chief god Horus Apollo. It is one of the best-preserved shrines in Egypt. The temple, dedicated to the falcon god Horus, was built in the Ptolemaic period between 237 and 57 BC. The inscriptions on its walls provide important information on language, myth, and religion during the Greco-Roman period in ancient Egypt. There are also important scenes and inscriptions of the Sacred Drama which depict the age-old conflict between Horus and Seth.

Sail to Kom Ombo.

Lunch on board.

Visit the Temple shared by two gods Sobek & Haeroris in Kom Ombo. The Temple of Kom Ombo is an unusual double temple in the town of Kom Ombo in Aswan Governorate. It was constructed during the Ptolemaic dynasty and some additions were later made during the Roman period. The building is unique because its double design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries, and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods. The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world with Hathour and Khonsu. Meanwhile, the northern part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon God Horus.

Sail to Aswan.

Dinner on board followed by a oriental “Galabia Party” show.

O/N: Movenpick Harmees (or similar) (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Day 9: Explore Cairo

Breakfast at the hotel and check-out.

Morning visit the Saqqara step pyramid. Saqqara contains the oldest complete stone building complex known in history, the Pyramid of Djoser, built during the Third Dynasty.

Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon visit of Coptic Cairo. This will include a visit to the Coptic Museum, Hanging Church and St Serge Church.

Transfer to Cairo Airport to check-in for return flight. Depart from Cairo on an overnight flight to OR Tambo Johannesburg.

O/N: Onboard flight (breakfast)

Day 7: Aswan

Breakfast on board and check-out.

Visit the High Dam, the Granite Quarries and Philae Temple.

Philae Island at Aswan reminds of the famous legend of how Isis found Osiris who was killed by his brother! The temple was the patroness of Ptolemaic rule. The word Philae or ‘Pilak’ in ancient Egyptian means ‘the end’. The word literally signifies the southernmost limit of Egypt. The temple was named after the Philae who was the last bastion of the ancient Egyptian religion and hieroglyphic terms.

Depending on time of flight – (time permitting) visit the Unfinished Obelisk the largest known ancient obelisk located in the northern region of the stone quarries of ancient Egypt in Aswan. Its creation was ordered by Hatshepsut (1508–1458 BC), possibly to complement what would later be known as the Lateran Obelisk (which was originally at Karnak, and was later brought to the Lateran Palace in Rome). The unfinished obelisk is nearly one-third larger than any ancient Egyptian obelisk ever erected. If finished it would have measured around 42 m and would have weighed nearly 1,090 metric tons, a weight equal to about 200 African elephants. The obelisk's creators began to carve it directly out of bedrock, but cracks appeared in the granite and the project was abandoned. The bottom side of the obelisk is still attached to the bedrock.

Transfer to Aswan Airport to check-in for the flight back to Cairo.

Arrive in Cairo, meet and greet and transfer to hotel. Evening at leisure.

O/N: Fairmont Nile City (or similar) (breakfast)

Day 6: Abu Simbel

Breakfast and transfer to Aswan Airport for an early flight to Abu Simbel.

Flight from Aswan to Abu Simbel.
Arrive Abu Simbel Airport and transfer to the temples.

Visit Abu Simbel Temples. The Abu Simbel temples are two massive rock temples at Abu Simbel a village in Nubia, southern Egypt, near the border with Sudan. They are situated on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about 230 km southwest of Aswan (about 300 km by road). The complex is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Nubian Monuments" which run from Abu Simbel down river to Philae (near Aswan). The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside in the 13th century BC, during the 19th dynasty reign of the Pharaoh Ramesses II. They serve as a lasting monument to the king and his queen Nefertari and commemorate his victory at the Battle of Kadesh. Their huge external rock relief figures have become iconic. The complex was entirely relocated in 1968 to an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir. The relocation of the temples was necessary, or they would have been submerged during the creation of Lake Nasser, the massive artificial water reservoir formed after the building of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. (The visit to Abu Simbel will be for about an hour depending on the flights.)

After the visit return to Abu Simbel Airport to fly back to Aswan
Lunch on board.

Afternoon Felucca on the Nile around Kitchener Island.

Dinner on board followed by a Nubian show.

O/N: Movenpick Harmees (or similar) (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Day 8: Cairo

Breakfast at hotel main restaurant.

Meet your Egyptologist and start your half day guided tour to visit the Egyptian Museum. The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or Museum of Cairo, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display, the remainder in storerooms. The edifice is one of the largest museums in the region. The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities contains many important pieces of ancient Egyptian history. It houses the world’s largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities.

Lunch will be at a local restaurant after which you can explore the El Khalili Bazaars. Khan el-Khalili is a major souk in the historic center of Islamic Cairo. The bazaar district is one of Cairo's main attractions for tourists and Egyptians alike.

Dinner will be at leisure.

O/N: Fairmont Nile City Hotel (or similar) (breakfast, lunch)

Day 10: Arrive Johannesburg

Early arrival in Johannesburg.

END OF SERVICE

Dates

13 April 2024 – 21 April 2024

Rates

Land Package Cost:

Per person sharing: USD 3 300
Single supplement USD 1 280


Included

  • Return airport hotel transfers
  • 3 x nights in Cairo on bed and breakfast basis
  • 1 x night in Luxor at the St George Hotel DBB
  • 4 x nights on M/S Movenpick Harmees on full board basis
  • Meals as indicated on the programme
  • Half day guided tour of the Pyramids and Sphinx
  • Visit to Abu Simbel temples
  • Felucca ride around Kitchener Island
  • Half day tour of the High Dam, Unfinished Obelisk and Philae Temple
  • Visit to Kom Ombo Temple
  • Visit to Edfu Temple
  • Morning visit to Valley of the Kings & Hatshepsut Temple
  • Half day visit to Luxor Temple & Karnak Temple
  • Full day guided tour of the Coptic Museum, Hanging Church and St Serge Church and visit to Saqqara
  • Full day tour of the Egyptian Museum and visit Khan El Khalili Bazaars
  • English speaking Egyptologist for the duration of the tour

Excluded

  • International flights
  • Domestic flights in Egypt
  • Travel, medical and luggage insurance
  • Visa cost
  • Drinks during meals
  • Gratuities to restaurant staff, porters, drivers, and guides
  • Items of a personal nature
  • Fees charged at sites to take photographs or video
  • Any expenses due to COVID-19 requirements

OPTIONAL

Balloon flight over the Valley of the Kings near Luxor: USD 115.00 per person

Reservations

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