The road less travelled

Many archaeological sites in Egypt are developed for tourism and declared officially open to the public, but remain unvisited because they are either difficult of access or off the regular tourist track. Jill Kamil has surveyed some of them, and suggests solutions
For many decades, much time and effort has been put into developing outlying archaeological sites as tourist destinations to alleviate the pressure on better known sites. But unfortunately, once restored, they are not visited as often as they should be, with the result that they begin to deteriorate. Some such destinations have gone from ruin first to restoration, then to a state of reversion, and are now undergoing restoration once again.
El-Kab: Known locally by the name Si-ment, the tombs of El-Kab lie between Esna and Edfu. Back in the mid-1980s, they were restored and the site set up as an important new destination complete with a car park, a resthouse, and a new stairway leading up to the tombs. The tombs are historically important, and some of the reliefs are in an excellent state of repair. This is the burial site of two of the city's bravest sons, Ahmose, son of Ebana, and Ahmose Pennekhbet, who were both recruited to fight in the armies of the Pharaohs Ahmose and Thutmose I in about 1567 BC. It was expected that Nile cruisers would stop there for a few hours on the way between Esna and Edfu, and that those travelling by car between Luxor and Aswan would also visit the tombs.
The dream was all very positive, but proved very temporary. The car park is now strewn with litter. Those few visitors who did stop there found the tombs locked and bolted, without a ghaffir (guard) in sight. The cruise ships, alas, sail straight by.
Heliopolis: It was a similar story with ancient Heliopolis, the biblical On, centre of the ancient sun cult. This area was given a new lease of life in the early 1980s. The surviving obelisk of the Middle Kingdom Pharaoh Senusert I was cleaned, and miscellaneous statues, stelae and blocks of inscribed stone -- discovered by Flinders Petrie in 1912 -- were placed on display. Some of the smaller objects were mounted on boards, and all were clearly labelled.
When the site was officially opened, it was a pleasure to see that information about the history of the site was provided in three languages. This mentioned that On was once a great seat of learning, and for several months it was noticed that local people in Mataria were taking an interest in the monuments. But at that time there was no easy access to the site. The new flyover had not been constructed, and few tour buses made the journey into one of Cairo's most densely populated areas.
By 1988, an aura of neglect enveloped the site. Corroded barbed wire prevented even the most determined of visitors from entering the museum compound, where only a few of the carefully prepared labels identifying the objects remained, and where young men and women were using statues and stelae as convenient supports for notebooks, handbags and soft drinks.
Now the site has been redeveloped and reopened. All monuments deserve to be cleaned, conserved and protected in this way. Let us hope the momentum will be maintained as part of a coordinated plan to meet and encourage tourist demand.
One thing is certain: tourism suffers not from a shortage of destinations so much as promotional shortcomings. Creative skills are needed to publicise new sites, or newly-restored sites, in order to generate real interest on the part of travel agencies to include them in their itineraries. This will be fruitless unless, and until, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), which is responsible for restoration, supports the tourist industry.
Over the years, announcements have been made of "ten new historic sites being opened on the Theban necropolis", or "nineteen more tombs shortly to be opened at Beni Hassan" and "additional noblemen's tombs on the Theban necropolis". Newly restored tombs have been opened at Saqqara and elsewhere, and many more sites in the Delta have been excavated. But try to visit them, and a tourist could run into difficulty. Tourists remain at the mercy of their tour guides and bus drivers, who will only take them to see what can be conveniently shown in a restricted time.
As for independent travellers or students of Pharaonic history, these cognoscenti may welcome accessibility to additional tombs, but how many can obtain access to them? Anyone who has sought to visit a specific nobleman's tomb at El-Gurna will know that it is far from easy. Like tour guides, the guards are not too keen on climbing to largely inaccessible tombs.
Nearer to Cairo is ancient Memphis. Busloads of tourists are taken to its museum and the museum compound, but do they ever see the mummification beds of the Apis bulls, once cleared of weeds, restored and ready for visitors, and now almost invisible beneath a new growth; or the ruins of the temple of Hathor nearby; or, indeed, the marvellous little chapel where the god Ptah is seated between two goddesses, both nursing Seti I as a child. All are within easy walking distance of the museum, yet there are no sign posts or access routes.
While there is much to be gained by support and encouragement of the tourist industry, the merit of each site marked for tourist development needs first to be carefully assessed. There should be accurate, detailed figures of "consumer demand".
This is the age of computer technology. The time is ripe to establish a proper database, with visitor attendance figures for specific sites showing variations over the years, and throughout the seasons of each year. Without reliable statistics on which to base decisions, funds are wasted on developing facilities for tourists at sites that are seldom visited.
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