Egypt As You’ve (Probably) Never Seen Her

Now for something less cringy than a film about myself: another photo round-up from the Middle East.

While following the Nile from Cairo to Aswan on my bicycle, I was continually struck by the complete absence of other travellers. I’d always thought Egypt was supposed to be one of the world’s top tourist destinations.

It became quickly obvious that almost every foreign visitor to Egypt has come in order to a) gawp at ancient ruins or b) lie on a beach by the Red Sea. The remainder of this densely-populated Arab nation in the top right corner of Africa remains conspicuously disconnected from its own parallel dimension of English-speakers and overpriced street food and six-thousand-year-old pieces of rock.

Being on a bike, my journey through Egypt’s agricultural heartland intersected only occasionally and briefly with this apotheosis of blinkered, guidebook-led travel, which is coordinated by the country’s tourism industry and state security department with unparalleled skill.