Part 2: Blast from the past... Egyptian Adventure with AC....

So, as I was saying... We headed south of Cairo to Al Fayoum. Here is a map to give you an idea. From where the blue line gets close to the lake to the X is about 60miles. So its a HUGE lake!

Before arriving at the ruins we stopped a couple times to snap some pics and admire the view...

Next we arrived at the temple of Dimeh al-Siba. "Dimeh al-Siba, Dimeh of the Lions, was a Ptolemaic city believed to be founded by Ptolemy II in the third century BC, on a site that shows evidence of habitation from the Neolithic period. Today, it is more isolated, but during ptolemaic times it was at the shore of the much larger lake, situated at the edge of Moeris Bay and the beginning of the caravan routes into the Western Desert." "The ruins of Dimeh al-Siba contain the two temples, houses, underground chambers, streets and ten meter high walls that are sometimes up to five meters thick. The walls themselves are a testament to the survivability of mudbrick in the desert environment. The ground is strewn with debris. An uncountable number of shards cover the entire temple mound. They are all over the place. One can even find, we are told, ancient fish hooks, pottery and coins."

I did not take down my photo camera so ill share some of Angelina's fotos....

After the temple we went back around the lake and went to into Wadi El-Rayan Protectorate. Protectorates are the Egyptian version of a National Park. But in this case they allow oil drilling, an ice factory and farming... 

As you can see in the map above there are two lakes with natural springs. Between the two lakes there is enough of a elevation change that you have the largest waterfall in all of Egypt! Plan is to try and go kiteboarding on the southern lake... We will see!

After visiting the lakes we drove about 45 minutes towards the desert horizon to a very unique place, to the extent its a UNESCO World Heritage Site! A whale cemetery in the middle of the desert! Yup... This whole region was under water thousands of years ago. Thats why you find fish and sea shell fossils all over the place... 

This archaeological site is the most important in the world related to proving that whales evolved from land mammals.  The fossils show whales with "well developed five-fingered flippers on the forelimbs and the unexpected presence of hind legs, feet, and toes, not known previously in any archaeoceti." 

From here we headed back towards the lakes to give Angelina her first taste of off-roading up, down and around the mountains surrounding the lakes! Videos will have to be posted later....

I vaguely remember a rap video being filmed after this picture... jaja

After the sunset we headed back towards Cairo... We still had to pack the Jeep before it got flat-bedded to the Sinai Peninsula and pack our suit cases for the next 9 nights!