Hot Air Balloons Over Malqata Janice Kamrin
Going up in a hot-air balloon is a great way to see (and photograph) the landscape and monuments of Luxor, although it is not for the faint of heart. Members of our team have taken balloon rides in the past, and gotten some good aerial images of Malqata and its surroundings.
The balloons go out first thing in the morning, and have usually landed by 7:00 or 7:30. We see them out of our window when we wake up, and often watch them in the distance as we head out to the excavation site.
However, the balloons are to some extent at the mercy of the wind, and every once in a while, a balloon will actually land at Malqata, near or even on the ancient remains. This is of course terrible for the site.
We had two balloons pass right over Malqata today – one made it just past the King’s Palace to land outside the Penn-Yale House, but the second landed on the road between the West Villas and the West Settlement, with the balloon itself collapsing right on top of the ancient remains.
It is a difficult balancing act for the team. On the one hand we want to support an activity that tourists enjoy and brings much-needed income to the local population, but we are committed to protecting a unique and fragile archaeological site for future generations. We want people in the years to come to be able to marvel at Malqata’s survival and learn about its importance from the archaeological remains we are preserving, and to be able to continue to see Malqata from the air.
https://imalqata.wordpress.com/2017/02/22/hot-air-balloons-over-malqata/
-- Sent from my Linux system.
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