Friday, 20 April 2018

Karnak Disabled Access - Update

Accessibility Path

Mohamed A Fahmy has been keeping his Facebook friends up to date with the changes at Karnak. It looked like work had finished so we decided to do a site visit to check out the improvements. Sharon Davidson came as my personal photographer lol. She is a very good photographer with a good camera. Mohamed also met up with us with his camera.

Outside the temple there are still the same problems getting from the car park to the visitor centre. A few signs shown the best route for wheelchairs would have helped.

Inside the temple there were huge improvements, ramps and smooth flooring in the main tourist route. But the more remote places had no changes so my previous report on Karnak is still accurate. http://luxor-news.blogspot.com.eg/2016/10/hidden-luxor-east-bank-disabled-report.html But as we were going round Mohamed heard that the Minister was coming on a visit. Dr. Khaled Anany the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities was one of the first people I approached with my ideas about improving access.

I was lucky enough to give him all our feedback from the morning visit and he told us that this was the first stage and more improvements were coming. The access is being extended and will cover more of the temple. It was a lucky coincidence to meet him and to be able to chat. I also got interviewed about the campaign I started in 2016


Access from the car park
Ramp hidden in the shop
Look out for the ramp leading to the entrance
New Ramp

Gentle Slope


New Accessible Path
Loose surface causes wheels to bog down
Some ramps are still too steep
Ramp to Festival Hall of Tuthmosis

The Minister observes the ramp in use
Being interviewed about the campaign

4 comments:

Unknown said...

It looks fantastic good news for the disabled and I cannot wait to get back to Luxor for the winter and try Karnak out in my wheelchair. Thank you so much for your wonderful efforts AJane. Regards Anne (Blake-Watkins)

Jane Akshar said...

Thanks Anne, it is a fantastic start

Unknown said...

Amazing amazing news! Well done for your hard work convincing the government that something needs to be done so that the sites are accessible for all. Hopefully this will bring more visitors to Egypt as it would be safe for disabled people to access these sites. Well done, Jane and the Egyptian Government!!! May it continue and most of all kept maintained!!!!

Jane Akshar said...

I am very very pleased, only 2 years