A photo tour of the local street life in Giza suburbs

Giza is the third largest city of Egypt, built in the west Nile shore, about 20km southwest of Cairo. Giza plateau is well known for the archaeological site of Giza Necropolis, with the famous Egyptian Pyramids and the Great Sphinx. At its suburbs, there is another important archaeological site, Saqqara Necropolis and the old capital of Egypt, Memphis. During my visit in Egypt about 1.5 year ago, I spent a whole day exploring these two significant sites, together with local friends. When it was about time to return to Cairo, we went through the south suburbs of Giza Governorate by taxi and, after passing through the Nile by the local ferry, we went on to the north for the capital center. The route from Saqqara towards the opposite side of the Nile was so interesting that I thought I ought to share this experience with you.

Passing through fields with countless herons that were flying or searching the soil for food, and through the small town being on our way, I tried from inside the taxi to capture moments with my camera of the everyday life of the locals, in the streets, in the coffee shops, inside their stores. Some of these scenes were really shocking: grown-ups and children were sitting down at the dusty streets next to animal poop, home-grown donkeys were eating from the garbage, buildings were almost falling apart and were dirty, being either halfway painted or colorful, some other locals were shopping, others were begging, or some others were just drinking their coffee and enjoying their shisha. Tap water is not drinkable in Egypt and for this there are everywhere big tank constructions of drinkable water, which however is not safe for tourists. Carriages, with either donkeys or horses, are the gold-standard transportation means in the country and the traffic jam was awful, even in small towns. The whole atmosphere gave me the sensation of a very poor neighborhood, but my local guides informed me, to my big surprise, that these people were not actually belonging to the poorest citizens of the country!

Reaching the small port in the Nile shore, we had to queue up to get on board the small ferry boat, so as to cross the opposite side of the river and then move north, toward the Cairo center. I met there a young Egyptian girl carrying a plastic crate on her head, who were selling corns. She was so shy that she wouldn’t let me photograph her. She boarded the same ferry that I also did, together with other girls, also selling goods. From what I was told, they were getting supplies from the port to sell inside the ferry routes. So, as they approached our taxi to sell their goods, I took the opportunity to shoot some photos. Even though my local friends instructed me to stay in the taxi, as it was not completely safe to wander around, I was really curious and I got out.

The ferry boat was full of vehicles carrying all kinds of stuff, even wooden cages with chickens. The locals were staring at me as I was the only foreigner on the boat, notably blonde (the Egyptians adore blonde women), also holding a camera, and some were amused but others were annoyed by it. Children, as always, were more receptive to the idea of a camera and, although at first they were hiding away, in the end they plucked up courage and were asking me to photograph them! I even got some selfies with the girls I met before, yes, those shy ones… the ones that were so much ashamed in the beginning!

The distance between the two shores of the river was not that long, but I was lucky enough so that even during this half hour while crossing the Nile, I enjoyed beautiful golden colors in the horizon, as the sun has begun to set already…