Dahshur

February 12, 2021

By Hector Gonzalez

February 11^th, 2021

Immediately southwest of Cairo lies a vast field of pyramids and other ruins. There are three main entry points, from north to south: Giza, Saqqara, and Dahshur. Conveniently, this is the order in which tourists know of them as well, and the order in which they are accessible. So Giza, home to the Great Pyramids, is a really easy to get to and is something of a tourist trap. Saqqara, which has the Step Pyramid, is about a half hour away and is much more laid-back and and easier to move around inside of. Dahshur, even further south and located behind an anonymous small city that does not appear to expect visitors ever, is practically deserted and has a real Indiana Jones vibe, like if you're exploring something new and undiscovered.

Dahshur is a showcase for the pharaoh Sneferu's remarkable "try and try again" approach to building pyramids. The first one he built collapsed under its own weight, at least partly because it was built too close to the Nile. He built a new pyramid farther away, but it started to buckle halfway through, resulting in a dramatic redesign (this is the Bent Pyramid).

But he didn't give up, and so here we have the Red Pyramid, so-called because it sounds cool (probably). The Red Pyramid is built at the same angle as the top of the Bent Pyramid, so it looks a bit squat, but it is actually the third-tallest of all the pyramids.

It's a long climb to the entrance. (Asa was there, too, but I didn't get his photo. I don't remember why. Don't worry, I have others of him.)

But then you get to go straight down into the heart of the pyramid. Yes, this climb is murder on your thighs.

But once you get down, you can explore the inside. And because there are no tourists, it's pretty much your own personal pyramid. Fun fact: Sneferu wasn't buried here. We don't know where his body is, but it isn't in any of his pyramids. So you can explore them knowing they aren't haunted.

I found the graffiti interesting.

From outside you can see Saqqara in the distance, and if you squint really hard (and have the hi-res version of this photo) you can see the Great Pyramid at Giza, too.

Here are the three main pyramids at Dahshur: the Bent Pyramid, the Red Pyramid, and the weathered nub that remains of the Black Pyramid.

In terms of sheer awesomeness, its hard to beat the Bent Pyramid. It still has its limestone casing, it looks so mysterious, and it completely dominates the land around it.

Small humans for scale.

The climb inside is even more brutal, so much so that they added stairs. But if you make it all the way to the middle, you are rewarded with a claustrophobic burial chamber filled with bats.

Like, tons of bats.

Not much remains of the Black Pyramid, and it isn't open to the public anyway, and it was like a ten minute walk across the desert and it was getting close to lunch time, but I did get close enough to use a zoom lens on it. And I got a cool shot of the Step and Red Pyramids hanging out together.