Great Pyramids of Giza by camelback

My wife and I spent a month traveling independently in Israel, Jordan and Egypt in March ’10. We engaged several very good guides along the way, but we were especially impressed with our Cairo guide, Samir Fayek (phone +2 0122 399 5147, samirfayek@hotmail.com). Samir showed us a number of interesting sites that were well off of the normal tourist path, and his English was excellent. We really enjoyed the very special way that he arranged for us to see the Great Pyramids of Giza. While thousands of people were streaming into the site by bus, we took the back way in by camel. It sounds hokey, but it was a genuine experience! We traveled for about 20 minutes over the sand dunes to the pyramids, enjoying spectacular views the entire time. There were virtually no other people on the back side of the pyramids, which added greatly to our overall enjoyment of the moment.

WILLIAM TERRY SMITH

Scottsdale, AZ