|
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. |
