It never occurred to me how devoid of people this sight of Giza’s Great Sphinx is until reader Jeff mentioned it in one of the comments. I know it’s ironic – considering I wrote about the lonely touts hanging around, desperate for business back in May, yet I held on to this photo. Hoping I could share it in contrast to the rare travel opportunity I experienced in post-revolution Egypt now flooded with still waiting for tourists.
Since that time I’ve followed the news in Egypt a little more closely, even when was traveling in distant places from London to Las Vegas. Spending any amount of time in a place often connects you to its people; an aspect of travel that’s not easily replicated secondhand. (I’m convinced if it were possible for every person on Earth to meet every other, the world would be unimaginably improved.)
Egypt is now going through its second uprising, waiting for (historic) election results from this past weekend. Since January 25th, the country has seen a 60% drop in tourism, so the Sphinx waits for history to come and go. More importantly, 12.5% of the Egyptian GDP will need to be filled in 2012. As the political climate stabilizes in late winter you’re likely to find even better deals than I did 6 months ago; but it will be nearly impossible to find fewer tourists.
You can see the rest of my photos from Egypt here.