Egypt25

We had long pondered a trip to see the wonders of Egypt, and when the chance came up, we went for it! We visited all the famous sites, sadly with the exception of the Temple of Karnak, because of illness. Pyramids, Sphinx, Grand Egyptian Museum (which had only been open a matter of weeks!), Aswan High Dam, Abu Simbel, Temple of Hatshepsut, Valley of the Kings - all nailed, plus a selection of less well-known cultural sites too.

We also got to visit Wadi Hitan, The Valley of the Whales, and marvelled at both the hyper-arid landscape and the fossilised whales and other animals there.

The birding was good without being spectacular: Julia got one life tick in the form of Nile Valley Sunbird, and we both got a stack of Western Palearctic ticks, such as African Swamphen (although that has been relumped!), Senegal Thick-knee, Senegal Coucal, Reed Cormorant, African Pied Wagtail and so on, and a "right mega": Crimson-rumped Waxbill, which only occurs in the WP (in tiny numbers) near Abu Simbel.

A sprinkling of exciting migrants (Isabelline Shrike, Siberian Stonechat, Red-throated Pipit and stacks of Ferruginous Ducks) and desert species (White-crowned and Desert Wheatears, Trumpeter Finch), plus the odd resident form of Yellow Wagtail (pygmaea) topped it all off nicely.

As noted, "Ramses Revenge" did mar the latter stages of the trip, and it took several weeks to recover! Ah well....

Read the full blow-by-blow report!