Visit Badrashin, A New Way To Enjoy Egyptian Historical Tour

JAKARTA - Visiting Egypt, tourists will usually be taken to visit the famous pyramid, Giza as well as to visit the Sphinx which is in the same area.

However, if you are visiting Egypt in the near future, the tourist route you will take may be different. This coincides with the launch of the 'Visit Badrashin' program, a sustainable tourism project, which engages the local community. 

This project focuses on rural villages bordering a number of ancient sites in Egypt. The scheme takes visitors to a patch of lush green farmland with palm trees that stretches south of the pyramids of Giza, between the lesser-known pyramids of Saqqara and Dahshur and the western bank of the Nile.

"When a tourist visits, they can pass a farmer here and enjoy a cup of tea in the field, buy handicrafts from a woman who sells them or eat traditional food from the area," said Heba Ragab, a tourism expert working on the project, as reported by Reuters.

The project includes the villages of Saqqara, Abu Sir, and Dahshur, all in Badrashin District, Egypt. Local people are provided with tourism training, as well as protect and increase their income.

"They trained me on how to handle clients. Previously there were never tourists who came to this area. So, now I have become a local tour guide," said a local resident named Mohamed Hamdy.

Not long ago, a small group of tourists was taken on a tour of the UNESCO-protected world cultural heritage site complex, Saqqara, before being taken to a nearby traditional iftar dinner during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

Then continue with toast, grilled chicken, and end with a few cups of mint-infused tea, while enjoying the warmth of a bonfire in the open air.

Repackaging tourism is one of Egypt's efforts to revive its tourism. Last year, the number of tourists who came to Egypt only amounted to 3.5 million from the previous 13.1 million in 2019, in line with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In early April, Egypt held the Pharaoh's Golden Parade which drew attention, when 18 mummies of the king and 4 mummies of the queen were transferred from the Egyptian Museum to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization.

Previously, the Egyptian authorities, by cooperating with various researchers from within and outside the country, announced a series of archaeological discoveries, which are expected to generate Egyptian tourism.

The research team from abroad who were involved, among others, a research team from the University of Santo Domingo, Dominica, who managed to find a gold tongue mummy, while doing excavations at the ancient site of Taposiris Magna.

There is also a joint American-Egyptian research team led by Dr. Matthew Adams from New York University, who managed to find an ancient Egyptian beer production site that is claimed to be about 5 thousand years old.