Anonymous wrote:We have the opportunity to travel to Kenya in June. As we are going such a long distance, I am considering a stop in Egypt to see the pyramids. Is this foolish in June/summer months? 2 adults and a teenage boy. Other recommendations for a Kenya add-on?

I spent 4 weeks in Kenya this summer and i hardly scratched the surface of Kenya. Africa is a huge continent, so its not exactly a hop skip and a jump to travel from one end of the vast continent to the next. If you are dead set on visiting 2 countries, then first find out what carriers fly direct to where from Nairobi and determine your tolerance for which airlines you are willing to fly.

Id suggest staying in Kenya and splitting your trip between the bush and the coast. The coast is unbelievable. It blew me away.

The Pyramids are incredibly impressive up close, not sure what PP is talking about. That said, it's not a great time to visit Egypt at the moment. We were just there a couple of months ago, and what other PP said about the pressure on vendors to cash in on the few tourists who are there is true and very annoying. The hotels are pretty empty and that makes them glum. Overall the atmosphere in the country has been very tense/depressed since the Bush administration set the Arab Spring in motion, and Americans are not very popular there at the moment given the destruction that's been unleashed across the region. The economy has been hit terribly which means that infrastructure has fallen into disrepair, etc. Not sure when things will get better but now is probably not a good time.

I think that the odds are you would be ok if you did a strictly fly in trip, see the pyramids and visit the Egyptian museum and then flew out the next day. Bit of a shame as there are many wonderful glorious historic mosques and buildings in Cairo that merit exploring, but the security situation is definitely iffy. I consider myself pretty well-travelled in a range of safety situations and right now I'd be leery of going to Egypt, unfortunately.

By the way, the Giza pyramids were somewhat of a letdown when I saw them for the first time. I loved seeing the other pyramids further outside Cairo, but the Giza ones are now so familiar an image that when you see them it's sort of disappointing when you realize they're just massive blocks of, well, blocks. The scale must have been impressive in the past but in these days the size and scale of the pyramids are hardly awe-inspiring, and what you don't see in the pictures is that Cairo is literally flush against the pyramids, which somewhat spoils the effect.

The other pyramids, the temples along the Nile and in Luxor, were much more mesmerizing. The Red Pyramid at Dashur, about a hour south of Cairo, was my favorite because you really did have a sense of what the Giza pyramids must have been like the past, these massive monuments rising out of the desert, alone in their splendors with no nearby city to ruin the effect. There were also no touts or other visitors at the site when we were there, unlike Giza, which was pretty crowded.

But that is just me. Others, doubtlessly, had a different reaction to seeing Giza.

Friends were recently in Egypt and ended up leaving early. They feared for their safety and generally felt uncomfortable. They are world travelers and had been to Egypt before, but said they have no plans to return.

The pyramids in Giza/Cairo would be OK. I think the ones in upper Egypt would be way too hot. The new library in Alexandria just opened up and it looks amazing.

I would keep an eye on travel alerts for Egypt. They used to have terrorist attacks mostly confined to the Sinai peninsula. But there have been several in Cairo and Giza. Mostly targeting police. But the church was just bombed and there have been a couple of tourist destinations hit recently too.

Tourism has been all but destroyed since the Arab spring. Expect people to try desperately to get lots of money from you. A 10 pound can ride becomes 200 pounds, for example. I feel badly for them, but the pressure they put on you is huge.

There's plenty to see in East Africa. I second Tanzania, and Zanzibar if you have time.

Are you visiting Tanzania when you are in Kenya?

Dubai for a couple days. Oman is gorgeous. Maldives. Madagascar. South Africa.

Based on recent news, it doesn't sound like the best idea.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/09/middleeast/egypt-second-deadly-explosion/index.html

We have the opportunity to travel to Kenya in June. As we are going such a long distance, I am considering a stop in Egypt to see the pyramids. Is this foolish in June/summer months? 2 adults and a teenage boy. Other recommendations for a Kenya add-on?