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Egypt inspiration life Photography story

Day 23~ March 23rd~ Egypt

the boy who spoke to the camel

Our memories work in a funny way that we mostly remember the things that stand out, the odd things…

Have you ever met someone who spoke to animals in the most natural way as if animals understood every word they said? I have.

This boy in this 15 year old film scan was the camel herder during a sunrise trip we took to the pyramids at Giza. It was a very early morning hour exactly at sunrise and I heard him going on and on carrying a conversation that sounded to me like he was speaking to another person. He spoke of things that in my mind a camel could not understand and would have absolutely no interest in, but nevertheless the boy went on and on. And this made me think that if I were to spend hours everyday in the desert and in the company of very few people, would I find it necessary to speak to animals in such an intimate manner? This was another one of those moments that remained etched in my mind and that kept coming back to me each time I saw a camel. Each one of us has some random memories that keep surfacing in our conscious minds and leave us wondering why.

 

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architecture Egypt history life Photography street

Day 19~ March 19th~ Egypt

The great sphinx at Giza

The more we find out about history the less we actually know…

The Great Sphinx in the Giza plateau, original purpose unknown, original name unknown, actual construction date unknown, and despite all that, one of the largest and oldest statues in the world stands proudly looking at us, impressing us and challenging us to find out more. It is so daunting to look at that I am not surprised the arabs call it “Abū al Hūl”, (father of terror). 

No matter how much we know about history, how much information we have gathered, and how certain we are about our theories, the largest part of the puzzle remains unsolved, and yet it begs our investigation.

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architecture Egypt history life Photography

Day 2~ March 2nd~ Egypt

The great pyramids at Giza

I went to Egypt with hundreds of questions and came back with thousands.

Egypt lives in children’s imaginations as the world of fantasy, of pharaohs, of mummies, of pyramids, of kings, of power, of ankhs, and I am yet to meet a child who hears about Egypt without falling prey to its enchantment.

Ancient Egypt is big, it is massive, it is impressive, and it can make you feel so small if you let it. Everything natural and human has a way of returning to the earth, our bodies do, our waters circle up to the skies and return, our seeds grow only to wither again and nourish the soil. Not Egypt. Egypt was always looking beyond the planet’s cozy atmosphere and towards the heavens. The pyramids are gigantic, pointy, sharp, were covered with shiny limestone that reflected and could be seen from space, the stars were charted in Egypt on every sarcophagus, on every tomb, and bodies were mummified to withstand time and to defy the laws of nature here on Earth. Was it  because Egypt had other plans?

There are about 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt, the largest is Giza’s Khufu pyramid photographed above at sunrise, and is the only wonder of the ancient worlds that remains standing.