Our luggage was safely stowed aboard the Jaz Cruises‘ riverboat Jaz Celebrity in preparation for our voyage beginning the next day. But as for this day, Wednesday, 26 February 2025, we were out touring with our absolutely wonderful Luxor and Aswan Travel-assigned guide and expert in Ancient Egypt, Mohamad Salah. No. Not this Mohamed Salah, who spells his first name with an “e”:
Rather, I’m referring to this absolutely amazing chap, Mohamad (with an “a”) Salah
At any rate, Mohamad had two full days in the Aswan area in store for us beginning with a local tour of Aswan High Dam, Lake Nasser, and the Philae temple complex on this day; followed by a lengthy, all day excursion to the Abu Simbel temples the next.
Our first stop was the Aswan High Dam. This immense structure, constructed with help from the U.S.S.R., was the tallest embankment dam at the time of its completion in 1970. There’s a lot to that story, not least of which were (primarily) Cold War politics and (secondarily) the recognition by the U.S. that completion of the dam would devastate Egypt’s agricultural industry, which depended upon the annual Nile floods to replenish nutrients to the soil. Today there stands a monument at the Aswan High Dam commemorating the ties between Egypt and the U.S.S.R.:
Here are two images of the Aswan High Dam:
After our visit to the dam, it was time for a boat ride to a small island in the small resevoir between the Aswan High Dam and the Aswan Low Dam located some 4.3 miles/6.9 kilometers north of the High Dam.
So, off we went with Mohamad Salah on this next adventure. Next stop would be the Philae Temple Comples:
Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)
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