Trapped in the Red Pyramid of Dashur, Egypt

Dashur, Egypt, Day 2 - December 17, 2009 - Trapped Inside the Red Pyramid
Inside Photos of the Red Pyramid included

The Red Pyramid, the third largest pyramid built
104m high (345 feet), built by Pharaoh Sneferu (2613 BC to 2589 BC)
(yes, the pyramid you see in the background is where we were trapped)

Ok, trapped may be too strong of a word, but its the best way I can describe what happened to us while visiting the Red Pyramid in Dashur, Egypt.

Can you imagine being trapped in a pyramid or being buried alive? I can. While my brother and I were in Dashur, we visited one of the first pyramids ever built in Egypt and while there, we found ourselves at the bottom of the pyramid in complete darkness. We started the descent into the pyramid with lights initially guiding our way, however, the lights turned off as soon as we reached the bottom of the pyramid. If you can imagine yourself being buried alive in a coffin, then you will know what I was feeling while standing there in the darkness. It was already hot inside the pyramid and getting hotter as I sense the anxiety building within me. To make matters worse, there was an unfamiliar smell that was unpleasant (think it was ammonia from the mummification process? who knows) -- but that was easily solved as I breathed through my mouth. The oxygen however, felt scarce and at times Wilson echoed my silent thoughts of -- "its getting more and more difficult to breathe down here".

At this point, Wilson and I only had three choices - 1) wait for them (whoever them should be) to turn the lights back on (um, we had two things going against us -- we're in a desert (so we'd be lucky to find water) and we're in Egypt (where things take forever to fix and people do things at an incredibly s l o w pace), 2) some how find a way back to the entrance (not too hard) or 3) continue on with our one mini flash light and my on camera flash... Of course, being the adventurers that we are .... We continued on (hurray! we're crazies! how else would we have a good story to tell?). We eventually found the main chamber but because of the darkness (duh) we could not see much of what was there, if anything was there.

This is a video of us talking inside the pyramid in complete darkness (obviously you won't see anything, you'll just hear our voices), a few seconds after the lights went out. (click the "play" button below")

Below is our journey inside the pyramid with a pictorial view of what we went through.

Here goes...

Man who let us into the pyramid and who also expected "basheesh" (aka tip) for taking a photo of us and for letting us into the pyramid (even though we already paid the entrance fee). In hindsight (and things are always 20/20 afterwards), perhaps he turned the lights off on us! Somethings are better left unknown...

This is the entrance down into the pyramid.

With big smiles on our faces, Wilson and I descend a few steps to take this photo... not knowing what we were going to expect next ...

After we get to the bottom of the stairs, and as we walk for a few minutes ... the lights went off.. and Wilson and I were, literally, left to our own devices -- his: a mini flashlight ; mine: my on-camera flash...

The photo above is of the entrance, a view from the bottom... with the lights off (compare it to the one above -- stark contrast, right?!). Our shouts of "turn on the lights" were ignored... Wilson and I hesitated and then debated whether we should go back, but we got the courage to move deeper within the pyramid...

Left: Wilson crouching to get through a passageway.
Right: Stairs inside the pyramid. Climb this and you'll get into the heart of the pyramid...

Wilson starts climbing up the stairs (photo left)... and just to give you an idea of what it felt like ... to the right is a photo of us going down the stairs... can you, now, imagine doing this in complete darkness, with only a flash to guide you every few seconds?

We finally make it up the stairs and this is the tiny passage we see (left)... entering into the heart of the pyramid... as we enter, we find it difficult to breathe. Wilson notices a pungent smell (right), and I accidentally whiff it in through my nose ... ACK! my mistake! it was once again that ammonia smell, but much stronger ... this must be the source... the air was sooo stifling that we could not stay there for long, but of course, I stay there long enough to take some photos with my flash...

Left: Wilson and I finally made it to the end of the pyramid (look at my shocked face!). And there was nothing there. Well, nothing we can see... (photo on the right is what my camera saw).

Wilson and I make our way back to the entrance... and as we get closer to the pyramid opening, we hear laughter, children laughing... a group of kids were already descending the stairs hoping to seek the same adventure my brother and I just experienced ... I wonder if they were brave enough to go through the dark passageways, up and down the stairs and into the heart of the pyramid... because of the excitement in their voices, we could not tell them that there was nothing at the end of the road...