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Egypt-info
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| Volume I, Number 3 | August 1st, 2000 |
| | | | | Disability Resources in Egypt Obviously, disabled people are at a disadvantage almost anywhere that they travel, and Egypt is certainly no exception. By the very nature of many destinations in Egypt, the disabled will experience some problems. Tombs, for example, certainly do not lend themselves very well to easy entrance by people in a wheelchair. Yet most of the sights available to see in Egypt are not impossible for the disabled. Mosques are fairly easy to enter. Most have no entrance obstacles, and other Islamic monuments such as the Citadel actually have some ramps. Perhaps some of the hardest places to visit are the ancient churches in Coptic Cairo and the tombs in places like the Valley of the Kings, both of which are often below ground level. In general, probably one of the worst obstacles to the disabled is traveling through sand which one must often do to access many tombs and monuments. Luckily, Egypt has experienced a real boom in new hotels, and most of the new facilities, particularly the western variety, have ramps and other resources for the disabled just as one might find in the western world. Even the older five star hotels mostly have fair disability facilities. Unfortunately though, most disabled people will not likely be able to use many of the budget facilities in Egypt, and in fact, many elevators in older buildings may be too small to really accommodate bulky wheel chairs. Many of the larger tour companies have buses and other facilities designed to take care of disabled travelers. In particular, Misr Travel, the National Travel company, operates their own tour transportation resources such as buses, and has specific accommodations for disabled travelers. Of course, they are not the only ones. The disabled traveler will find unexpected accommodations though all over Egypt. Historically, the rich, but often fragile European royalty and others with great wealth came to Egypt for their health, and not a few of these travelers had some sort of disability. Therefore, one finds perhaps more facilities than one might expect. | | | | | | |
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