By Chrispin Inambao
CAIRO
With a population of 30 million plus residents –
not taking into account the multitude of workers and traders that daily commute to the city, the megalopolis of Greater Cairo the executive and business seat of Arab-speaking Egypt – is colossal by any measure.
Heavy traffic chokes its streets that at this time of the year and its busy streets are decked in all manner of colourful Christmas holiday decorations despite Egypt being Islamic.
Being the largest agglomeration in Africa, it simply has no equal as it swallows border cities such as the famed Gaza City and Six October City. Salah Salem at whose intersection with Al-Estad El-Bahary Street is the hotel where the writer of this article and many other journalists from various African countries, namely Algeria, Sudan, Lesotho, Zambia, Mozambique, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Nigeria, Liberia, Gambia and others were housed during a recent 25-day study tour of the Republic of Egypt.
The population of Cairo dwarfs that of the entire Rwanda (9 million), Namibia (1.9 million), Zambia (12 million), Botswana (1.6 million), Zimbabwe (15 million), and that of several others too numerous to list. And it is larger than Johannesburg by far.
My arrival at the invitation of the Union of African Journalists (UAJ) was almost without drama though I briefly had an anxious moment when my luggage like that of 30 or so fellow travellers could not be found upon my arrival at the international airport in Cairo.
It took almost a week before I was gradually reunited with my luggage and this greatly lifted my spirits. Under normal circumstances I would have rejoiced with an ice-cold Six Pack. And to cut a long story short Sharia law rules supreme in Egypt and as the old adage “When in Rome do as the Romans do,” myself and others had no other option.
Despite their laws that may seem foreign to many of us, it would be a gross travesty if one fails to mention the warm hospitality of the hosts and the friendliness of the great Egyptian people in general, whether you bump into them along their streets that teem with multitudes of people or when you meet them at one of their extremely busy markets.
For all those coming here to visit the Red Sea, Mount Sinai, the world-famous Pyramids or any of the many places of Biblical significance, the colossal and wonderful marketplace of Attaba is a must-see not only for bargain hunters but also for all visitors.
Laden with all manner of goods ranging from high-quality handcrafted Persian carpets to leather products and electronics and other fancy products this market that is as loud as it is colourful, bustles with a sea of traders eagerly anticipating to peddle their goods.
Though the streets are heavily clogged with a seemingly endless stream of traffic cruising at a relatively high speed in spite the perpetual congestion – what struck me the most was that miraculously I did not witness a single road accident.
And probably true to the saying the Supreme Being Above works in miraculous ways, pedestrians somehow cross these roads crammed with fast-moving traffic without being harmed. Built over the centuries the city has thousands of antiquated buildings in densely built up areas. And though the streets are a beehive of activity with shops open around-the-clock, pick-pockets and all other monkey business are unheard of and kleptomaniacs and their ilk are punished severely and could risk life and limb –
thuggery is simply not tolerated.
Cairo has many colourful mosques where the Muslim faithful pray. Muezzins religiously call Muslim adherents to prayer. In open spaces it is not unusual to find these people who believe there is no God but God on their knees on their exquisitely coloured mats facing Mecca, praying. Unlike Christians, Muslim prayer is an obligatory five times a day without exceptions.
What also struck me is that weddings here take place any day of the week and each night at the hotel where we stayed we witnessed up to three such matrimonial unions each night. And at these weddings I never saw a single beast being roasted to feed the hundreds of those invited nor a single bottle of beer opened apart from bag-pipe music being played and yet the celebrants could not have been any happier.
But in many of our cultures in Southern Africa we try to impress by having very extravagant weddings, where the invitees would drink themselves to a stupor.
Pharaonic Monuments
During our visit of course we had to visit the world-famous and extraordinary Pyramids of Giza and the grand Sphinx. And we, like the dozens of tourists, bused to the sight were all awed by this sight and I could see some jaws flying open not believing what the eyes were seeing. Breaktakingly the most famous structures in the world are the epitome of Egyptian technical and engineering ability. They are listed among the world’s seven wonders.
The stately stone statues housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo sculpted in the Pharaonic era and the mummy-shaped coffins and the sarcophagus and King Tutankhamen’s Treasures are other significant artifacts that were worth seeing.
When we sojourned to Alexandria we were shown the fabulous castle where the former Egyptian King Farouk (ousted in 1952) lived in opulence complete with a harem he built at the expense of the poor for countless of his concubines along the Mediterranean coast.
The visit to Port Said and particularly to the Suez Canal and of course the numerous lectures by a dozen renowned professors on a variety of topics were very educational.
Established in 1860 as a major habour, Port Said is situated along the Mediterranean Sea at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. It is in many ways Egypt’s most beautiful city. It has wonderful panoramas decorated with palm trees, water fountains, historical buildings and public parks that give this coastal tourist city a distinct charm.
We were also taken down memory lane when we visited the African Society Building (Africa House) where many of the prominent African revolutionary leaders namely Namibia’s former president, Sam Nujoma (Namibia), Nelson Mandela (former South African President) and the late Mozambican president, Samora Machel, operated from.
During his tenure as president Nujoma visited this historic building but Mandela was given the most rousing reception as he was mobbed by a crowd of almost 100ǟ