For the first time in my career I was invited to speak at a conference, in this case "Global PR Trends" held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Cairo, Egypt. The presentation went swimmingly as I talked about Dubai Airports' communication strategy and how it delivered value to the business. If anything I could have shortened it a bit, but I digress. Over dinner that night the conference organizer, Kosta Petrov who hails from Macedonia, insisted I take full advantage of a very rare opportunity to see the pyramids before leaving Egypt. Given the conference started at 10:00, I could feasibly take a quick tour and be back in time for the morning session.

With rubber arm firmly twisted, I set out at 0700 from the hotel in Cairo to the pyramids in Giza.

 It was only an hour drive through the streets of Cairo...to be honest I enjoyed the colour and grit of the city enroute as much as the majesty of the pyramids. After a mildly harrowing drive (dodging pedestrians, donkey-powered vegetable carts and beat up Fiats) we arrived at the pyramid site where I was introduced to Ali, owner of the tour group that would be tasked to take me through the site.

After some minor haggling, we settled on a price and I set out on a horse drawn cart. I could have opted for a camel but taking pictures perched atop one of these ornery beasts is nigh impossible so I opted for the speedier more pragmatic option.

My guide Ahmed told me since the 'revolution' tourism unsurprisingly has fallen off a cliff. Once up to 40,000 tourists would visit the site per week but those volumes are down to a trickle. In fact there were only a handful of other tourists visible on site during my tour.

I felt bad for our horse who had to take a galloping start at some of the hills before he laboured to a crawl as he neared the top ...but as Ahmed put it 'that is his job'. Although I did wonder how much he cleared after taxes.

As we wound our way around the site, I was provided a few interesting historical facts about the pyramids. The stones (some granite, some marble depending on the pyramid) were brought in by boat from Memphis and other parts of Egypt and dragged up a 'causeway' to the thousands of slaves who, like the good stallion who pulled us along, toiled selflessly to immortalize their masters. Over 2 million stones were laid in the biggest pyramid which took 20 years to complete.

There are several false entrances and only one true entrance. And despite the common perception that they are hollowed out crypts heaped with artifacts and treasure, walkways are mere tunnels and the pyramids are all but solid stone.

Anything valuable has been removed from the site and sits in museums in Cairo and around the world. That includes the nose from the Sphinx which sits in a London museum.

After a quick tour of a crypt or two (photos not allowed) we returned to Ali's HQ and I headed back to the hotel, and the conference, pleased that I decided to forgo duty for self and create a lasting memory. And I made it back to the hotel by 1015...so only marginally late!  As for the picture immediately below, I was provided every assurance that no other tourist has ever used a similar pose. If you look closely you will notice that I am not actually touching the top of the pyramid...I only appear to be! 

As usual, thanks so much for taking the time to read!  

Cheers

Lorne