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00:00For 5,000 years, this land, Egypt, and the epic civilization it gave birth to has been
00:15shaped by one thing more than any other. This awesome river. The River Nile.
00:23The Nile helped temples to rise.
00:28Pharaohs to rule. And pyramids to be built. Without the Nile, there'd have been no ancient Egypt.
00:40So I'm making the historical journey of a lifetime. A 900-mile adventure along the Nile,
00:49across the whole of Egypt. I'll explore Egypt's greatest achievements.
00:55It is truly wonderful, isn't it? And find treasures hidden for thousands of years.
01:01Oh, my God. That's a sheer drop down there. This is my chance to travel this fabulous land.
01:06Oh, lovely. And experience it as the ancient Egyptians did, from the River Nile.
01:13From pharaohs to slaves. From facts to fantasies. I want to explore firsthand and to understand
01:21how this river shaped one of the world's first and greatest civilizations.
01:27Join me as I uncover 5,000 years of history along the River Nile.
01:35So far, on my journey up the Nile, I've explored many of the treasures that helped to create ancient Egypt.
01:53And now, as the river gets busier, I'm coming to one incredible stretch that reveals a huge amount
02:07about the Egyptians' obsession with life and death.
02:12Death. This river gave rise to one of the most captivating civilizations in the world,
02:20and a jewel in the crown is where I'm heading now. Luxor.
02:28300 miles south of Cairo, on the east bank of the Nile,
02:32is a famous city full of ancient wonders.
02:36I love visiting Luxor, and I'm certainly not alone.
02:42This is a stretch of the river that's welcomed everyone,
02:44from Tutankhamun to Winston Churchill, from Cleopatra to Agatha Christie.
02:51It was travelers from the Victorian age who helped to make Luxor super fashionable.
02:57Here, they could swap the British winter for 30-degree temperatures
03:01and 5,000 years of culture.
03:05But it didn't come cheap.
03:07The trip from Cairo to Luxor cost an eye-watering £12,000 in today's money.
03:15But to one Victorian traveler, that was small change.
03:20Queen Victoria's son, the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII,
03:24came to the Nile, and he so loved it, he came back twice.
03:29Now, he traveled in quite some style.
03:32He had six steamships decorated with friezes of Antony and Cleopatra,
03:38and behind them, he had a barge carrying 4,000 bottles of claret
03:43and 3,000 bottles of champagne,
03:46plus what every good d'Ahabir needs, a donkey.
03:51Donkeys were used to fetch supplies from the banks.
04:00But it seems today, the Nile has brought the shopping to us.
04:04Oh, hello.
04:05Oh, hi.
04:06Special prize?
04:08I'm sure a special prize.
04:10These very enterprising boys, yeah, that's beautiful,
04:15have hooked on to try and sell me a dress and a tablecloth.
04:19Shall I come down?
04:20Come on this way.
04:21Okay.
04:22Hi.
04:23Oh, my gosh.
04:24English?
04:25English, yes.
04:26Very good.
04:27It's a lovely town.
04:28I would get one.
04:29I've already got one at home.
04:30Nefertiti.
04:31That's Nefertiti.
04:32That's actually quite nice.
04:33I'm going to buy that one.
04:34I'm going to buy it, actually.
04:35I'm sure my husband would love that.
04:36He'd look very nice in it.
04:54Show me the one for my husband again.
05:00Oh, my God.
05:02that is my years of cricket practice with my brother in the garden now I think I've
05:09got to buy it okay oh my god
05:15oh okay and here on the Nile there's even contactless payment I've got to throw
05:24the money back in a plastic bag
05:28but thank you isn't it great but everybody sees as an opportunity and
05:35actually I think it's huge
05:50Luxor is the number one tourist destination on the Nile with spectacular
05:55temples and tombs scattered across either side of the river
06:06there's tons to see here so the crew are going to war up for a couple of days
06:12because I want to see what these spectacular sites can tell us about the Egyptian experience
06:19of life and death
06:25after difficult times in Egypt it's brilliant to see so many tourists flooding back to the
06:32city here on the east bank
06:33but I'm crossing straight to Luxor's famous west bank
06:45it's only a short hop across the river
06:51but for the ancient Egyptians this was a highly symbolic journey
06:56I'm moving from the east bank land of the living to the west bank where the sun sets and where the ancient Egyptians buried their secrets
07:06the land of the dead which of course ironically means that in terms of stories and archaeological discovery
07:13it is very much alive
07:15three miles inland from the river is a place that's very close to my heart the legendary Valley of the Kings
07:28it was the fabulous treasures hidden beneath these barren slopes that first sparked my interest in history
07:42way back when I was five
07:47and one discovery here sits above all others
07:53it was made by two Brits archaeologist Howard Carter and wealthy aristocrat Lord Carnarvon
08:03Carnarvon and Carter had actually worked together for 15 years before they discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun
08:10Carnarvon
08:11Carnarvon was really passionate about what he did in Egypt
08:15I mean he loved being here
08:16he learned some Arabic
08:18the locals called him Lordi
08:20and he wrote that he drank thick black Turkish coffee every morning
08:24but he also poured money into these excavations
08:29at one point he was hiring up to 275 boys to do the work
08:34so the two of them were really really serious about trying to find something
08:40and once they did it was the discovery of the century and captured the imagination of the world
08:47in the heat and dust you really get a sense of what it must have been like digging here a hundred years ago
08:59as Carter and his team searched for a long lost tomb
09:04after five years of hard work on the 26th of November 1922
09:11Carter and Carnarvon scrambled down this very passageway
09:17it's a story that's been told a number of times but it is always worth the retelling
09:36when Carnarvon and Carter were about to break into the chamber
09:40Carter looked through a tiny hole
09:42and the scribes the glint of gold everywhere
09:46what can you see said Carnarvon
09:48and Carter simply said
09:50wonderful things
09:56Tapp's tomb stunned the world
09:58and it's been drawing crowds ever since
10:03I remember I just went to that tomb in Carmine expression
10:06in 1972
10:07there was one at the British Museum
10:08and that's what got me into history
10:10so it's really lovely to see
10:12but the truth is
10:14Tapp's tomb isn't actually that remarkable
10:16it's surprisingly small for a pharaoh
10:19and the decoration looks a bit rushed
10:21even in some places a bit second-rate
10:24we're saying it's so much smaller than obviously the bigger tombs
10:28we've just been in Ramesses and Thurids
10:30yes
10:31and obviously it goes down and down and down and down
10:33then you go into this and it's just compact
10:36compact
10:37yeah
10:38I guess it was because it was a rushed burial
10:41exactly
10:42yeah
10:45it's now believed that Tapp was buried in a tomb
10:48originally prepared for someone else
10:52perhaps Tapp's own tomb wasn't ready
10:54that would make sense because we know he died when he was just a teenager
10:58worth the effort from my head
10:59yeah
11:00definitely
11:01definitely for me
11:03and the boys
11:04boys
11:05yeah
11:06yeah
11:07luckily for those who need a bit more convincing
11:08the Valley of the Kings also boasts the most spectacular tombs in Egypt
11:11and just a few metres away there is an absolute show-stopping
11:15show-stopper
11:16Tutankhamun's tomb is the most famous in the Valley of the Kings
11:18but to my mind his neighbour's tomb is even more intriguing
11:21it shows us the ancient Egyptians at their most brilliant and badly behaved
11:24just a few metres away
11:25just a few metres away there is an absolute show-stopper
11:33Tutankhamun's tomb is the most famous in the Valley of the Kings
11:37but to my mind his neighbour's tomb is even more intriguing
11:43it shows us the ancient Egyptians at their most brilliant and badly behaved
11:51just around the corner from Tut's tomb
11:55because of course this is a whole city of the dead
11:58so there are burials everywhere
12:00there is a real show-stopper tomb
12:03and if you want to get a sense of what a burial is like
12:06when a pharaoh has pulled out all of the stops
12:08then you should come here to KV9
12:10although actually hardly anybody visits it
12:12KV9 stands for Kings Valley number 9
12:26a pretty unassuming name for an absolutely jaw-dropping sight
12:31it's five times the size of Tut's
12:36and instantly more impressive
12:38so this is what a royal tomb really should look like
12:43it stretches over a hundred metres deep into the rock
12:47the walls are covered with images and ideas and stories
12:52that are supposed to guarantee the successful journey of the pharaoh
12:56through the underworld and on into the afterlife
13:00several images show that journey being made
13:03on a flat-bottomed Nile boat
13:10KV9 is, for me, the high point of over a thousand years' worth
13:16of Egyptian tomb building
13:30the three thousand-year-old decoration
13:32looks as though it was painted yesterday
13:40but look a bit closer
13:41and you'll see something that shouldn't be there
13:46graffiti in Latin and Greek
13:51some of it dates back at least two thousand years
13:55people have been coming here for centuries
13:58some just to visit
14:00but others to loot
14:06Tombs like these were protected with curses
14:09may death come on wings to he who enters the tomb of the pharaoh
14:13but there were some who clearly took no heed of that warning here
14:17within just twenty years the tomb was robbed
14:20this massive stone sarcophagus was smashed
14:23and the mummy inside was desecrated with an axe
14:26and all the treasure was stolen
14:28the world's most famous cemetery
14:40is also a crime scene
14:41all the tombs discovered here in the valley so far
14:44have turned out to be robbed
14:50but the truth is this isn't just random looters
14:53quite often it's the men who built the tombs themselves
14:56or it was an officially sanctioned robbery
14:58so it's one pharaoh getting their own back on another
15:00this was a pretty risky business though
15:03in ancient Egypt the death penalty wasn't actually used that much
15:09but you could be killed for robbing a tomb
15:13and the manner of death was pretty horrific
15:16you are either impaled or burnt alive
15:19it wasn't just the rich who were fascinated by both life and death
15:39almost two miles across the hills from the valley of the kings
15:42is a remarkable and very different sight
15:46Deir el-Medina
15:48a village that was home to the workers who built the pharaoh's tombs
15:55it contains extraordinary evidence
15:57that for me brings these ordinary people to life
16:01it's a forty minute walk from the valley of the kings
16:05so I'm now treading in the footsteps of the ancient Egyptians
16:09who made this punishing journey to and from work every few days
16:18and we're now walking up the main street of the village
16:22you can see that the houses are so close together
16:25yeah
16:27Egyptologist Yasmin el-Shazli has spent 15 years studying this unique community
16:32people are normally very interested in the kings
16:34but I think the average Egyptian was much more interesting
16:41yeah, because normally royal art and architecture are full of propaganda
16:47so that's not who they really were
16:49but this is the real thing
16:51and more than just mere builders
16:53Deir el-Medina was home to craftsmen and women
16:56you had a community full of, you know, talent
17:00you have the best artists
17:03the best scribes
17:05the best craftsmen
17:07so it's very special
17:10so it means that we haven't just got a village of people
17:13but of articulate people
17:14of people who are kind of used to expressing themselves
17:16yeah, exactly
17:18and luckily for us
17:20they express themselves on something that survived for three and a half thousand years
17:25and against all the odds
17:28north of the temple over here
17:32was a pit that was probably dug to be a well
17:36but it ended up being a dump
17:38inside the pit
17:40archaeologists found thousands of ostraca
17:42ostraca
17:44ostraca are chips of limestone
17:46that the workmen used to write on
17:49so imagine someone going through your garbage
17:52how much information they would get
17:54unfortunately, yes
17:56about your daily life
17:59we found legal documents
18:01letters to the living and letters to the dead
18:04love songs
18:06even the attendance of the workmen
18:09and the reasons why they were absent from work
18:10and why were they absent?
18:13sometimes they're celebrating a festival
18:15of a certain god
18:17and could it sometimes be not just because they were celebrating
18:20but because they had a hangover after the celebration
18:22that's very possible too
18:24they used to drink a lot of beer
18:26I love the idea
18:28people nursing sore heads here
18:30just tell them I can't come into work today
18:32it was too much last night
18:34very true
18:35I've been given incredibly privileged access to one place in the village
18:41that's only just been opened after years of restoration
18:45it belonged to a man guilty of much more than simply skiving off work
18:57oh, amazing
19:03this is brilliant, this is what I was looking for
19:05so this is the tomb of someone called Paneb
19:09I think that's Paneb
19:11and that's almost certainly his wife behind him
19:15and there's Anubis representing the god of the underworld
19:19Paneb wasn't royalty
19:22so his tomb is much smaller than the ones in the Valley of the Kings
19:25but even though he wasn't famous
19:28we still know an amazing amount about him
19:31thanks to evidence discovered in the village
19:33and the story it tells
19:36is shocking
19:39Paneb stops being an ordinary worker
19:40and elevates himself somehow to become a chief workman
19:47then the plot thickens
19:49one of the labourers accuses Paneb of stealing building material from a royal tomb
19:54to construct his new burial place
19:57not only that, but there are 16 other charges levelled against him
20:02and this is really serious stuff
20:04so he's accused of adultery
20:06of sexual abuse of the women in the village
20:10of falling into kind of drunken rages
20:13so that he's incredibly violent
20:15and even of killing someone to cover up his crimes
20:19now we don't know what happened in the end to Paneb
20:22but for me, what's so brilliant
20:25is that we've still got these intimate details of ordinary Egyptians' lives
20:29their affairs, their intrigues, the bullying, the social climbing
20:33and the scandal
20:36it's been a long day in the desert
20:40it's been a long day in the desert
20:44I'm heading back across the river
20:47to Luxor's east bank
20:51this is one of the hottest and driest cities in the world
20:57where daytime temperatures can hit 50 degrees
21:01so as the sun sets, the locals come out
21:12and Luxor comes alive
21:14the ancient Egyptians used to welcome visitors to celebrate the joy of Kha
21:16to love the spirit of life
21:19and that warm welcome is still definitely on offer
21:34so I was dragged in here by these kids who said there's nothing going to happen
21:44how brilliant to see that dancing
21:46and actually when we think of ancient Egypt
21:48we often think of it as something being rather stiff and stable
21:51but actually they loved their festivals and their music and their dancing
21:55and their beer drinking
21:57beer was the kind of faithful drink
21:59and they had festivals of drunkenness up and down the Nile
22:02so they were the original party people
22:05where are we going now?
22:08it's tempting to burn the candle at both ends
22:13because tomorrow I'm up super early for one of the highlights of my journey
22:17Egypt's most famous temple
22:27with my lovely Dahabir moored up for a few days
22:29I'm exploring the ancient wonders surrounding the city of Luxor
22:34today I'm visiting the city's most famous monument
22:42but after a night on the town
22:44there's one stop I have to make first
22:47Hi, Salaam, can I get a coffee?
22:49Coffee?
22:51Sugar
22:53Mazboot
22:54Thank you, Chakra
22:59I cannot get through a day without an Egyptian coffee
23:03and it's actually very appropriate that I'm drinking it here
23:05because this is one of the first places in recorded history
23:09where we know that coffee was drunk in Cairo actually
23:12some people think it came from North Africa
23:14some people think coffee came from Yemen
23:17but when it was first spotted
23:19goats ate the coffee beans
23:21and they danced around in this wild way
23:23so they noticed it was probably going to be quite a useful stimulant
23:25but as a result there were sections of society
23:29that thought it was the devil's brew
23:32but even if it is the devil's brew, bring it on
23:35Chakraan, thank you
23:38Oh lovely
23:42Perfect, Chakraan
23:44Thank you
23:49Oh I can smell he's got cardamon in, that's really lovely
23:51really lovely
23:54Oh, oh my god I love that
23:57first caffeine hit of the day
23:59that is heaven in a cup
24:04Now I'm ready to face the crowds at Egypt's greatest temple
24:10I'm travelling by Rose Day
24:12but at the time of the ancient Egyptians
24:14I would certainly have been getting from A to B
24:16by travelling down one of the waterways
24:18whoops, doing a little bit of a bump in the road
24:19because people use the Nile
24:22and it's just really cool
24:24because here you've got all kinds of different vehicles on the road
24:26from taxis to tuk-tuks
24:28and it would have been the same on the ancient waterways
24:31so you had little cargo ships and barges
24:34and then these grand royal processional boats
24:42In the far north of modern Luxor
24:44is the vast temple of Karnak
24:45It's 4,000 years old
24:56and still the largest religious complex anywhere in the world
25:01What really strikes me always is just how round with people it would have been in ancient times
25:02so in fact all these tourists are completely appropriate
25:14We know that over 80,000 people worked here
25:18so it would have been a riot of colour and sound and smell
25:21and you've had the noise of drums and cymbals and the smell of incense and burnt meat
25:28and priests with their shaven heads and hairless bodies abstaining from sex
25:33so they were pure and rushing around to keep the gods on side
25:37I'm always blown away by this place
25:44everything about it is so intense
25:47and so much larger than life
25:49When people come here they always talk about its size and scale
25:59and it was massive
26:01so the whole complex stretched about a mile long and half a mile wide
26:05and covered the area of about 168 football pitches
26:07but today I'm here to see something that's a lot smaller but in its own way as impressive
26:20In ancient times Karnak Temple would have been bursting with astronomers, mathematicians and scientists
26:26all buzzing with new ideas and inventions
26:28and one of those inventions was this humble looking bucket
26:35For the priests it was really important to perform their rituals at exactly the right time
26:41and of course during the day you've got the sun and you can use sundials to measure hours
26:46but what do you do at night?
26:48Well the ancient Egyptians came up with this really clever idea
26:52So what this is is a replica of a water clock that was found here at Karnak
26:56and what the priests would do is they'd fill it up with water
27:00as the water dropped down one notch in the clock
27:03that would measure an hour so they could tell the time exactly during the night
27:07The Egyptians followed a 24 hour clock
27:1112 hours of day and 12 hours of night
27:15but the nights grow shorter and longer throughout the year
27:19and this water clock allowed for that
27:21with different measured scales inside for different times of the year
27:26So let's see if it works
27:30I think they've done it slightly more professionally than me
27:41It's definitely dripping
27:48I guess we have to wait an hour to see if it can tell time okay
27:54Simple but brilliant
27:59And from 1500 BC these devices would have appeared in temples up and down the Nile
28:04Back on the Nile
28:08Back on the Nile there's a Lutzor treasure from a very different age
28:15I've just spotted this boat moored up on the bank
28:17SS Sudan
28:19It was built in the 1920s
28:21and in 1933 it hosted a very special visitor
28:24I'm going to see if I can get on board somehow
28:29Hello
28:31Hi
28:33Can I come on?
28:35Yeah but please can you come on the other side?
28:37From the other side?
28:38Great, thank you
28:43Amazing, thank you very much
28:47Thank you so much for letting me come on, Bethany
28:48As I step on board the SS Sudan
28:49I'm following in the footsteps of one of the world's best-selling writers
28:54Agatha Christie
28:58That's very kind, thank you very much
29:02Lovely, I've been on a hot boat
29:04Just show me around because I've seen this from the outside
29:08How great!
29:10Yes, this is the original steam machine
29:12Yes
29:14With which the boat was sailing Agatha Christie, she was on board
29:19Yeah, it's not still powered by steam is it?
29:21It's steam, yes
29:23And do people come on board to travel here because of Agatha Christie?
29:27Sure, because of this is the oldest steamer ship on the Nile
29:31And sure, because of Agatha Christie
29:34Yes
29:36Agatha Christie is on the Nile
29:37Is it because of Agatha Christie?
29:38Yes
29:40Agatha Christie isn't just a giant of the literary world
29:44She was a globe-trotting history buff
29:47Who travelled the Middle East with her archaeologist husband
29:50Excavating ancient sites in Iraq and Syria
29:55In 1933, the couple's adventures brought them to Egypt
29:59And to the SS Sudan
30:02It's the Royal Lounge
30:05Uh-huh
30:07Yes, it's got that kind of luxurious feel, hasn't it?
30:10I just love it because I can so imagine Agatha and her husband
30:15Reading and enjoying a cocktail or four in the evening
30:23Agatha was so inspired by her time on the SS Sudan
30:26That she wrote a book set on a paddle steamer
30:29Sailing down the Nile
30:31The result was one of the best-selling murder mysteries of all time
30:36And what else did she call it?
30:39The Death on the Nile
30:42Hello, Eddie
30:44Me? Yeah, yeah
30:46Okay, will you help her? Yes, it was delicious
30:48Just give it a big tug
30:49Exactly, three times
30:50Three times
30:52Bye
30:56Bye
30:58Thanks
31:00It's full steam ahead for the SS Sudan
31:05But for me, there's a humble water taxi waiting
31:11Because I have one last trip to make to Luxor's West Bank
31:15Perched at the foot of the hills
31:18Looking back across the Nile
31:20Is an awe-inspiring monument
31:27This stunning temple can be busy with tourists
31:31But get here just after dawn
31:34And you can have the place to yourself
31:36This was the crowning glory of one of my all-time heroines
31:44The female pharaoh, Hatshepsut
31:48A remarkable ruler
31:51And brilliantly
31:53A woman ruling in a man's world
31:56So here's lovely Hatshepsut
31:59Now the thing is, of course, at first glance
32:02She looks like any other male pharaoh
32:04She's got her king's skirt
32:06And even her little pharaonic beard
32:08But we know this is definitely Hatshepsut
32:11Because that's her name in the cartouche up there
32:14But isn't it fascinating
32:15That despite all her progress and pioneering ideas and power
32:22This amazingly potent female pharaoh
32:26Had to be represented as a man
32:33In ancient Egypt, men inherited the throne
32:36In fact, there wasn't even a word for queen
32:39So when Hatshepsut found herself in charge
32:44After her husband's early death
32:46She realised the only way to rule Egypt
32:49Was to be better than any king
32:53You get the sense that she wanted to outdo any man
32:57This temple, for example, was unlike anything that Egypt had ever seen before
33:01Its design was very progressive and internationalist
33:04And this whole complex would have looked completely different
33:08It would have been a riot of colour
33:10There were ponds and lines of incense trees
33:14It's almost as if Hatshepsut was trying to seduce her people
33:18With her sophistication
33:23The temple walls tell us more about this intriguing woman
33:26She sent delegations out across the seas
33:29To get incense and ivory and gold
33:33From places other Egyptian rulers hadn't managed to reach
33:39And the point of all of this
33:41Wasn't to prove what the Egyptians traded in
33:43But that Hatshepsut could make it happen
33:50Archaeologist, Dr Zbigniew Shafransky
33:53Has arranged for me to see a part of the temple
33:55That's usually off-limits
33:58And that gives us intimate insight
34:00To this remarkable woman's life
34:02That goes way beyond the official line
34:05Hatshepsut was a volcano of ideas
34:08In political, military and religious fields
34:13She was really brilliant, I may say
34:16So do you think she is one of the reasons
34:18That ancient Egyptian civilisation became so great?
34:21Yes, yes, we know a lot about Cleopatra for example
34:25But in my opinion
34:27Hatshepsut was really more clever
34:29She was one of the greatest persons in the history of the world at the time
34:37But Hatshepsut had a secret
34:39It seems she had a bit of a soft spot for one of her courtiers
34:44He seems to be present everywhere
34:46Yes, yes
34:48So can you show me where he is here?
34:50Ah, look, fish
34:52Yes
34:54This is Senenmut
34:56Not a member of the royal family
34:59And yet beautifully depicted
35:01All over the Queen of Egypt's temple
35:03Because he's just a commoner
35:05And they don't normally get represented in a place as sacred as this
35:08That says something about him
35:10Yes, yes
35:11He was a very gifted person
35:14A very talented person
35:17Senenmut oversaw the temple's construction
35:20And tutored Hatshepsut's daughter
35:23It's long believed that his talents captured the Queen's attention
35:27And perhaps even her heart
35:29Presumably, because the niches were always closed with doors
35:32So that image would have been hidden, wouldn't it?
35:35Yes, yes, the door of the niche was open inside
35:40So nobody knew about his presence inside the holy place
35:46By hiding him behind closed doors
35:49Maybe Hatshepsut was trying to keep her relationship with Senenmut under wraps
35:53But as the most famous woman in Egypt at the time
35:59Can't have been easy keeping a lid on a juicy bit of gossip like this
36:04I've heard there's more evidence of this scandal up in the hills above the temple
36:11It's pretty perilous to access
36:21But archaeologists think this is where the temple builders took their breaks
36:27Sheltering from the sun and catching up on all the latest news
36:30I hope this is worth that scramble up the hill
36:34Ugh! In a skirt
36:37Oh my gosh
36:43This is it! Oh that is amazing!
36:44So this little scribble on the wall here is close on three and a half thousand years old
36:52Now obviously it shows a man having sex with a woman
36:57But there's something really special to notice here
37:00The woman has got this thick royal wig on
37:02So it's probably showing a queen or Hatshepsut herself
37:07So there are two possibilities here
37:09Either this is feeding off a rumour that Senemuts and Hatshepsut were actually lovers
37:15Or it's just a guy having sex with Hatshepsut herself
37:19And this comes from a time where there was a woman who was the most powerful female on earth
37:24Doing amazing things
37:27And the guys sitting here in this little cave wanted to remember her like this
37:32Three and a half thousand years on sometimes it feels like very little has changed
37:44After two busy days and nights in and around Luxor
37:49And some well-earned shore leave for the crew
37:51It's time to set sail and continue my journey
38:06Sadly I've got to leave Luxor but there are lots of discoveries and delights still to come
38:14I'm heading for Egypt's more remote and enthralling south
38:21I'm leaving the hustle and bustle of Luxor to travel deep into Egypt's beautiful south
38:32It's much quieter here but we're not entirely alone
38:36Another Dahabir and flying a Union flag too
38:51If these are Brits they're continuing the grand tradition of sailing down the Nile
38:56That started centuries ago
38:57I love the fact that the crew they all know each other so they have a bit of information exchange so they go forward
39:08And just along the bank there's something else I am determined to pay my respects to
39:19It's not a temple or a tomb but I think it's the unsung hero of ancient Egypt
39:27The humble donkey
39:28There's a lovely guy who was working his fields a moment ago and he's now bringing us his donkey I think
39:37Oh my gosh, we're being offered a cow as well
39:41Can I say thanks Islam, thanks
39:48Thank you very much
39:50Thank you
39:52Hello, morning
39:54Nice to see you
39:56Hi, hello
39:58Oh, you're beautiful
40:01Is it a girl or a boy?
40:03It's a donkey
40:04It's a donkey
40:05Yeah, I know it's a donkey
40:07Oh, he's lovely
40:09Really lovely
40:11Very beautiful donkey
40:13He might look sweet
40:15But he's actually as tough as old boots
40:17Donkeys can pull up to twice their body weight
40:20And even in these temperatures they can go without water for an astonishing three days
40:26Apparently he loves swimming
40:27So we're going to go for a little dip
40:30Oh, in the Nile instead
40:37Hello, lovely one
40:39There, isn't that nice to me?
40:42Yeah
40:44So at the end of every night as you go down the Nile
40:49You see people bringing the donkeys and their horses in to give them a cooling bath
40:53It's just such a lovely sight and totally timeless
40:57They definitely did this in ancient Egypt too
40:59We've got pictures of them
41:03And they deserved a bath
41:06It was donkeys that did huge amounts of hard work
41:10In fields and on building sites
41:13It's a bizarre thought
41:15None of the pyramids, the temples, the tombs I've seen on my journey
41:19Would have existed if it hadn't been for these gentle beasts
41:21So although this might seem slightly odd
41:24It is in fact completely appropriate
41:26That we're treating this random donkey a bit like a pharaoh
41:30And giving him his own personal bath in the waters of the Nile
41:34Because after all, it was the donkey that built the great civilization of ancient Egypt
41:41Thank you, thank you
41:43Oh, very wet shoes
41:46Oh my god, my shoes are too wet
41:48Oh my god
41:51We're now 35 miles upstream of Luxor
41:54We're now 35 miles upstream of Luxor
41:58And the captain's just told us that we've got to slow down because we're approaching the Esna Barrage
42:02This is one of six dams along the Nile in Egypt, used to control the annual floods and in some cases to generate electricity
42:12The ancient Egyptians also built dams and the ancient Egyptians also built dams and blocks so that they could regulate the flow of the Nile too
42:22So it's a kind of 20th century equivalent of a very ancient practice
42:26And it makes our sailors very unhappy because they say they get rather claustrophobic when they go inside
42:40Are we okay?
42:42All the traffic on the Nile here has to go through one lock that's not much wider than our boat
42:56But the dam is the gateway to the south
43:03Behind me lie the familiar sights of ancient Egypt
43:09And ahead lies the lesser known and even more intriguing south
43:15But getting there is proving a tight squeeze
43:19It was slightly more tense than I thought it was going to be because we got a lot closer to the sides
43:40And there was a kind of frenetic rope action
43:43But the boys did amazingly and we are through safely and now we are continuing our journey south
43:53Hello, good luck
43:54Next time
43:56I sail into the beautiful city of Aswan
43:59Now that is how I like my views
44:01I'll join the crowds and the rising sun for some ancient Egyptian magic
44:05And as my Nile journey ends I discover a 3,000 year old message from a pharaoh
44:12Amazing and it's just all appearing right in front of our eyes
44:15Catch all that new next Friday at 9
44:20Attempting to solve the mystery of a legend
44:23We reveal the secrets behind King Arthur's sacred sights
44:26Brand new tomorrow at 7
44:28And tonight cruising onto your screens
44:31It's the Wakefield wonder
44:33Jane MacDonald My Life Story is coming up next