By Dr Joann Fletcher

Whilst the concept of a career choice for women is a relatively modern phenomenon, the situation in ancient Egypt was rather different. For some three thousand years the women who lived on the banks of the Nile enjoyed a form of equality which has rarely been equalled.

Some believe the Great Pyramid was built by the survivors of a lost civilisation, others that it was the work of visiting extra-terrestrials. Kevin Jackson traces the strange cultural history of the awe-inspiring structure.

 By Kevin Jackson

By Dr Joann Fletcher

Beyond the hype

Although the recent discovery of a 2500-year-old Persian mummy has proved to be a fake, the word 'mummy' is generally believed to derive from a Persian word, mummiya, meaning 'bitumen', used to describe the blackened state of ancient Egyptian bodies. The term is now generally applied to all human remains which retain their soft tissue, either by natural means or artificial preservation.

The Nile River has always been the backbone of Egypt. The mighty river flows for some 4,000 miles from the mountains of Equatorial Africa (Blue Nile) and Lake Victoria (White Nile) before it empties into the Mediterranean Sea.

Egypt lies at the North Eastern tip of Africa, bordering Sudan to the south, Libya to the west and Israel to the east. The northern coast borders the Mediterranean sea and the eastern coast borders the Red sea. Egypt has only two real seasons....

When in Egypt, you had better negotiate like an Egyptian. Be sure to leave your cowboy hat at home since the rules are very different in the Middle East.

Nuweiba is a remarkably beautiful Egyptian beach resort situated on the eastern coast of Sinai Peninsula between Dahab and Taba. It stretches for 7 km along the Red Sea coastline with the backdrop of steep, stunning mountains.

As part of my business, I get a lot of people looking to book up a diving holiday so they can learn to dive in the sunshine (usually Egypt). I've personally been diving in Egypt for years and consider it to be one of the best places in the world and as a PADI Divemaster, it's a subject I'm always happy to talk about.

This photographic ebook is aimed at the average holidaymaker who will be, or is thinking of taking a trip to Egypt and would like to know the best way of assuring they bring home some good photographs, from what may be a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ holiday. With this in mind, we have tried to keep the technical side of photography down to a bare minimum so that the vast majority of this ebook information will be of use to the majority of readers.

Egypt was known for its majestic pyramid structures, high....