Field Report 7:
Safaga, Egypt - June 13, 1998

A back office at the Hotel Menaville, 9:15 PM

By Chris Kostman

 
Hello friends!

It hasn't been easy, but I'm back on-line from here at the Red Sea. The main news is that we are still not at work because our military security clearance has not arrived for the bulk of the team. There are now 14 of us staying 2km south of the actual archaeological site at the permanent divers' campground known as Sharm el Naga ("Camel Cove"). This is really starting to frustrate people and some of the more fed-up in the group are preparing to leave for home at the first of the week.

To help keep up morale and also kill a few days, I joined up with fellow teammate Dave Clarke, a diving instructor, geologist, and glacialogist from Toronto, Canada, in organizing a group roadtrip to Luxor. With the help of a local guide and travel outfitter with Thomas Cook known as Ahmed, we arranged a small, air-conditioned bus to take nine of us overland to the Nile Valley, four days ago.

We departed just after sunrise from the Red Sea Coast to join the 7am morning convoy from Safaga inland to Luxor. About a dozen military types with machine guns and full flak jackets rode in pickup trucks at the front and back of our line of buses, minivans, personal cars, and taxis through the quiet desert mountain passes, ostensibly to protect us from terrorists or bandits. The trip took three and a half hours and was uneventful except for the way our driver was driving in the local style (enough said).

Luxor was sadly beyond quiet due to the horrific massacre there last year (euphemistically referred to here as "the accident"). Truly a ghost town, we basically had Luxor (and our hotel) to ourselves. For example, over 30 of the big cruise ships that ply the waters between Luxor and Aswan, to the south upstream, were sitting tied up and unused. It was very sad and I really feel sorry for all the people who depend on the tourism industry for their livelihood. Apparently 65% of the population here works in tourism and they are the ones paying the price for the coldly calculated efforts of a few extremist fanatics. Sad, sad, sad. The people in Luxor were so desperate for any money from us, pleading honestly with their eyes for any business we could send their way, whether buying a falafel sandwich, a ride in a horse-drawn carriage, or some sort of tourist curio to take home and put on the shelf.

Because the town is hurting so desperately for business and because we had the insider help of Ahmed, we were able to get the private bus ride to and from Luxor, plus two nights lodging and breakfast in a nice hotel (Pola Hotel) with a rooftop pool and terrace for a mere $42 per person total.

As for Luxor, we visited the world famous Luxor and Karnak Temples on the East Bank, as well as the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, Colossi of Memnon, Ramesseum, Medinet Habu Temple of Ramses III, and Temple of Queen Hatshepshut on the West Bank. Great lunches at the open buffet at the Nile Restaurant, a two hour sail in a felucca sailboat on the Nile, trips to the bazaar, and numerous rides in horse-drawn carriages along the Cornice rounded out the trip.

Yesterday we rolled back east to our beach-front home at Sharm el Naga, taking the evening convoy so that the excitement could be heightened by everybody driving with their headlights off, as is the custom here. Today I did two spectacular dives with Dave, during one of which we made the acquaintance of a giant sea turtle who was sitting throne-like on a huge, horizontal fan coral. The ocean experience here really is superb and beautiful, beyond words.

I have a few more special training and exploration dives planned in the area for the next week as my teammates and I await news on military clearance. However, I have decided to head for home if nothing is happening in that department by the 27th. At that point, I figure it will be time to cut my losses and get home with a whole lot of great diving experiences, some new friendships, but not a whole Summer spent waiting in vain for bureaucratic gyrations to go our way.

All the best and I'll keep you posted!

-Chris Kostman
 

To read more Field Reports, click here.