Another branch of the road will carry on directly to Marsa Alam International Airport, and it is anticipated that the driving time to the Red Sea will be reduced to just over 2 hours at the speed limit of 90kph. Of course the resorts at Marsa Alam are mainly further south, but the present journey from them to Luxor takes about 6 hours, going via Edfu and Esna.
Now the sides of the road are used as rubbish dumps. The rubbish is usually set on fire. A large number of Black Kites were hovering, and two were in the middle of the road stripping a carcase. Once we had joined the road towards Luxor airport we came into civilization again. One of the first villages has a market every morning. Tayeb will go there tomorrow to get a sheep for Ramadan. He will fatten it up in his garden until July, but will get a butcher to do the dirty work.
Later I went to Hapy Habou. There are only two pictures today: one of a butterfly (Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus)) in the shrubs and one of the mountains near sunset.