Leilei

I am customizing a tour of Luxor and wonder if anyone has walked the Donkey Trail in the Valley of the Kings? Also, has anyone ever used ToursbyLocals- either in Egypt or elsewhere? We will be in Egypt this December.
Thanks,
Leilei

Axel2DP

You know, I had pre-requested to do the Donkey Trail for my Egypt trip when I was in Luxor during March; However, for some reason, when I got to Luxor, the guide there made it sounded like it would be such a big deal/hassle to arrange. I didn't know if he had never heard of it or didn't know how to go about arranging it, or just didn't feel like walking with me on the trail, etc. The tour rep didn't bother to step in to say anything about it either. I found it kind of odd but finally I just said don't bother with it. I have to say that that was the one glitch in an otherwise very good trip arranged with LE.

Axel2DP

One thing to note: You cannot walk through the entrance to the VOTK with a camera of any type. It seems like the trail starts inside the VOTK, so I'm not sure if you'll be able to take pictures while hiking the trail.

If you're able to hike the trail in December, I'd love to read about it .

DJCat

Don't know if this is the same trail, but here is a report from Trip Advisor about a walk through the Theban hills, ending overlooking the Valley of the Kings.

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-...er_Valley.html

Leilei

Thanks Axel2DP,
I am getting the same response from the guide I am probably going to use. He said it took a long time( I think it is only a mile) and asked if I wanted to ride a donkey! I thought it sounded interesting and a bit different.

Axel2DP

Leilei,

I rode the donkey on the donkey trail this morning. I'm not sure what riding experiences you had, but I had none, and the ride was so uncomfortable for me, especially as the donkey climbed up into the hills. I swore I was hanging on for dear life sometimes, LOL, but I had trouble trying to stay relax on it. There was a short climb upward where I had to get off and walked and ouch, my thigh areas near the groins really felt it. I was so happy to be off that I told the donkey driver I wanted to walk from now on. So we walked along the top of the hills. I encountered two couples that walked up from Hatshepsut to go to VOTK. I would have much preferred doing that then riding the donky. The views were awesome though.

So I'd recommend that you visit Hatshepsut early in the morning and then walk from there up the hill to the VOTK. That way you'll have poession of your camera to take pictures. If you walk from VOTK to Hatshepsut, then you have to leave your camera behind before you enter VOTK.