2009 Tour Narrative
At the beginning of our 2009 tour, our day in the Delta gave us sustained and uninterrupted views of Greater Painted-snipe out in the open, plus a profusion of White-breasted Kingfishers, Senegal Thick-knees, Spotted Crake, Glossy Ibis, and Marsh Sandpipers. This year, we explored the area down to the administrative border with the Sudan at Shalatein, which provided us with two species from the “Vagrants” section of our field guide, Swift Tern and Pink-headed Dove. On the second day, we enjoyed our best views ever of Lappet-faced Vulture and Hume’s Owl, plus Cretzschmar’s Bunting, Siberian Stonechat, and Masked and Isabelline Shrikes in the hotel gardens.
The authorities everywhere were as helpful and obliging as bureaucracy would permit. Thanks to the efficiency and hard work of our local guide and our excellent ground agent’s team, we managed to travel everywhere we wanted to with minimal inconvenience. We were even given permission for a boat trip on Lake Nassar, which gave us close views of African Pied Wagtail, Senegal Thick-knee, and Egyptian Goose, plus Great White Pelicans, Yellow-billed and White Storks, and Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters and Kittlitz’s Plovers from the shore.
The birds, too were obliging and courteous. Their meet-and-greet and goodbye-have-a-nice-day policy was particularly noticeable at Zaafarana, where Cream-colored Courser, Woodchat Shrike, Hoopoe, Black-eared and Isabelline Wheatears, and Short-toed Larks were all gathered right outside reception at our hotel. Egyptian Vulture and Sand Partridge welcomed us to St. Paul’s monastery down the road. Similarly, Scrub Warbler, Desert Lark, and Tristram’s Grackle awaited us at St Catherine’s; Yellow-vented Bulbul and the spectacular violet, blue, and green Palestine Sunbird at Wadi Feran; Nile Valley Sunbird and Black-winged Kite on Crocodile Island; Purple Gallinule and seven species of heron at Aswan; Mourning and White-crowned Black Wheatears, Blue Rock Thrush, Red-rumped Swallow, and Trumpeter Finch in a magic wadi en route to Suez; and White-eyed and Sooty Gulls on the Red Sea islands.
And notwithstanding this wealth of special birds, we experienced even more of Egypt’s history than the average tourist: not only the star attractions of the Stepped Pyramid, the Great Pyramids, and the Sphinx, the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, and the magnificent temples of Karnack, Luxor, and Abu Simbel—but also the equally important temples at Edfu, Kom Ombo, and Philae, and the early Christian sites of St. Catherine’s and St. Paul’s, plus a whole morning in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo, with the luxury of having the treasures of Tutankhamen almost to ourselves.
- Bryan Bland
Updated: April 2009