East of the River Nile

By Bumpy Walker

In Egypt there is a local prophetic myth: If one drinks water on the banks of the Nile, one day you will return.  For me it took nearly thirty years for this prophecy to be fulfilled. In effect we are in the second generation since my first visit. In the context of recorded Egyptian history this is a mere rounding error to the second decimal place.

Perceptions of Egypt can too often be limited to two view points:  The stories and stones of the pharaohs and / or as an aside to the Israeli-Palestinian issue.  Both are aspects of the Egyptian political and historical ecology however that ignore the reality that Egypt is a functioning  society with all the accompanying  nuances and complexity.     During Trump 1.0, POTUS did use the history of Egypt to contradict the claim of Chinese President Xi's assertion that China was the first civilization . Now President Trump seeks to create a modern “Trail of Tears” to deposit the ethnically cleansed  Palestinians into Egypt.  Shades of the exile of Jesus to Africa.

In the time since my “exile from Egypt” - as a local described this “interregnum,” positive changes have occurred.  The first noted was the  new Cairo Airport terminal.  The second is there is a different President’s portrait on billboards from the airport.  Great histories will be written of the intervening years in Egypt: The Arab Spring, the first People Power moment in Tahrir square, the ousting of a multi-generational leader, the fairest election in modern times, the election of the Muslim Brotherhood to government, the second Tahrir Square People Power movement, the ousting of a government by the military carried on a wave of populist anger, and another election.  

It would be easy to see this as more of the same but there are the added disruptors of  accessible new technology, social media, ready news cycle and evolving AI. How these will affect these local social and political changes will be interesting.

Development

The striking thing about Cairo is the amount of construction activity.  Literally, hundreds of acres of new buildings are being erected on the outskirts of Cairo.   In the last two decades at least two new cities have been built; New Cairo, and to add to the confusion, New Capital. Steel, concrete and glass structures are constantly being erected. It feels like a combination of the London Docklands in the 80s and Dubai in the naughties .  Joining these new centers together are broad highways of sixteen and twenty lanes.  Ideal for the traffic.  Herein is the rub: for an instinctive walker there are few safe accessible crossing points.  A taxi  driver pointed out  that there are traffic management strategies,  a combination of sleeping policemen, traffic lights,  coordinated with zebra crossings. This means that there are waves of traffic rather than a continuous flow.  For a beginner like me, long in the tooth,  made risk averse by experience, I successfully crossed once by tagging behind a Cairoan whom I thanked! Never again!

To complement the new superhighways which go deep into metropolitan Cairo, an automated monorail is being built, expanding the preexisting metro system.  This seems remarkably similar to the system in Dubai.  The investment seems not confined to Cairo, as the successful expansion of the Suez canal was announced today.  This last infrastructure project seems to have been financed locally.

Mobility Apps Services

As previously mentioned, new technology has changed the landscape.  Currently, there are at least twelve mobility mobile apps being used in Cairo. Not only is there a well known international brand but there are local versions.  These  include a service dedicated to women, in which the drivers are women.

As with all new technologies, these present challenges.  While opening the transportation  market to the enterprising, it destroys  the near monopoly of taxis and buses.  From a non-Arabic speaker, unfamiliar with a new city, it makes the taxi-ing service feel more fair,  less chance of being taken the long way round and charged inflated fares.  It also improves the quality of the services, with all cars fitted with seat belts, the drivers sticking as close as “Cairo possible” to the rules of the road.  (More than once I have received a text asking for more than the posted fare.  My response is to lower the user rating and not add any tip).

There has been an increase in sugar-laden , emulsifier stabilised, flavour-enhanced, ultra processed  fast food chains. This, combined with delivery apps, makes these addictive international brands and their local doppelgangers very convenient. A potential  hybrid health threat if not socially managed.   

Personal Targets

My plans include revisiting Aswan to dance once more on the high dam, take another, romantic Nile Cruise to celebrate my wife’s major birthday, visit Abu Simbi to see the statues of Rameses The Great (Self proclaimed) which we didn’t do the last time. The  Saqqara pyramids are the target for next month.  Next week, hopefully, I’ll visit the new Grand Egyptian Museum. In November It is planned to go to Commonwealth  War Cemetery in Alexandria to visit some West Indian soldiers who lie forever in these foreign fields.

To the ancestors go all the honour!

Bumpy Walker has relocated to the “East of the River Nile, (borrowing from the title of the 1977 reggae album by Jamaican singer Augustos Pablo).