Deserts have always had a mesmerising, almost terrifying, effect on men. It’s vast, well-nigh endless, and very confusing. It is alien in its features, eerily quiet and when a sound ruptures the silence you would think it is screaming at you from all directions at once.
But they are also magnificently serene, and it is hard to beat a desert’s night sky for its glory.
Deserts are some of the most unforgiving habitats on the planet, they are barren wastelands where only the hardiest of creatures can have a hope of surviving. They are harsh and cruel, exceptionally hot during the day, and very cold during the night. During colder periods of the year, temperatures can plummet below freezing come night-time. Distances are another dilemma in the desert, they are dangerously deceptive; objects in the distance seem very close that you can touch them, while in reality they are far enough you could probably perish before reaching them.
Not all who visited Egypt, whether in ancient or relatively modern times, were impressed with the ancient architecture of the early Egyptians. Some, like Herodotus and Diodorus of Sicilia, didn’t think very highly of the pyramids builders, especially Kheops and Khefren, they thought they were tyrants and heretics. Others, like French writer Pierre Loti who visited Egypt in 1907, thought the sight of the Pyramids, the Sphinx and the surrounding desert, looked apocalyptic, awful, and surreal! Read more…
