Water Work

Just a few metres from a busy road traveled by tourists visiting the Sakkara Pyramids a canal flows behind houses and apartment buildings to carry irrigation water along the farmlands and eventually out to the desert for reclamation projects. In the canals there live fish of various sizes, frogs and toad pollywogs, birds of all types and a newcomer to the area, crayfish. An enterprising fish farmer thought he was buying fresh water shrimp but when he saw his purchase, he dumped them into the river. Since then, about 15 years ago, they have multiplied like rabbits with a lovely side effect. The crayfish are especially fond of snails and have been devouring the snails that have carried bilharizia with the result that this parasitic organism has decreased 95% in parts of the canal and river system. But the crayfish are tough on the nets that the farmers set out for perch, so one of the men working in a boat is fixing his nets, while the others by the bridge are fishing water hyacinths and the ubiquitous plastic bottles out of the water.

Hiding Place

I was up until 2 am last night reading Twitter for the news of the protests and the late break in at the Israeli embassy. The embassy is just across the road from Orman Gardens and the Giza Zoo, so fires, bullets and tear gas are quite concerning in the area. There were only a couple of people in the embassy when the protesters broke in and they were promptly turned over to the military. Contrary to Israeli statements there were no Egyptian commandos involved...Jeez. A lot of people were injured especially by over exposure to tear gas, not the least of them were soldiers who kept getting tear gas blown back at them when the security forces fires canisters. So this morning, I'd really like to be sitting in this little boat sipping some ice tea and maybe trying to catch a few of the perch that hang out in the canal. Someplace quiet and far, far away of the confusion that is Cairo right now.

Canal Boat

A farmer and his son attend to fishing nets in a quiet canal. There are plenty of Nile perch in the canals. I'm not sure I'd want to eat them with the levels of runoff...but I haven't seen anyone die from them.

Floating In Space

Fishermen on Lake Qarun in Fayoum seem to be suspended between the water and the sky.

Fishin'

This young man took me back to my childhood in a flash. The joys of dangling a hook and line into a body of water, no matter how faint the possibilities of catching a fish, had to be some of the greatest in the world.

Not Much For Sale

A colourful paint job and bright blue uniforms are inviting but the selection at this fish store isn't terribly exciting. When I moved here a lot of food was sold in outlets like this where the prices are cheaper but the available items were rather limited or of dubious quality. Private shops are pushing the outlets out of business.

Bridge Fishing

It was 2 am and I was beat. My daughter had to catch an early flight to Amsterdam and then on to New York, so she had to be at the airport at 1:30 am. On the way back, the people on the Moneeb Bridge, the southernmost bridge across the Nile in Cairo, were still enjoying their picnics, tea, and fishing, so I pulled my jeep over to the right and took a few photos. I'm obviously not the best at night photography. Balancing car lights, advertising lights and the darkness is pretty much a mystery to me, but I liked the way the light caught the fishing lines.