I HAD AN AMAZING HORSE RIDE THROUGH THE FIELDS ON THE WEST BANK AT LUXOR, 🇪🇬 guided by Ahmed.
I had no idea where Ahmed would lead, however as we headed west, I realised that we were travelling alongside the bed of the massive man-made lake, Lake Aten, created for the Malqata Palace of the Pharoah Amenhotep III in the 14th century BC.
Check my video below.
The fields here were overwhelmingly devoted to sugar cane, and we crossed over narrow gauge rail tracks that could transport the crop during peak harvest season.
Not only did Amenhotep have his palace near here – but his mortuary temple is just to the north, so the Malqata’s lake may have been a harbour for cargo ships as well as a pleasure lake. It’s a massive rectangle of about 125sq hectares – about 125 rugby pitches or more appropriately 1000 Olympic-sized swimming pools! Its location is easily marked out by villages sitting on the spoil heaps on its edges – or in the west by the spoil heaps themselves. The height of the earth that was excavated puts the housing above the Nile River flood level, which in historic times would swamp the entire area.
My horse was a gentle ride (really difficult to get more than a stroll), and Ahmed was trying out a newly acquired horse – that it was hoped would act as a lead horse, so we carried on at a walking pace.
We followed tracks through straggling villages to Madinat Habu – and the mortuary temple for Ramesses III. This is next to the most northerly excavations from the lake, where they lie in a double row stretching for 1,800 meters to the south. On a bike ride I went south from Madinat Habu to Shelwit.
Luxor has a remarkable wealth of archaeology; however, on this visit to Egypt, this ride was equally memorable.
Watch my short video from the fields to Madinat Habu.
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