40 Pics From Egypt You Won't See In Tourism Promotionals

We managed to get in contact with one of the subreddit's moderators, Bradhrad, and they were kind enough to have a little chat with us.

"The sub is mainly Egyptians but a fairly high percentage of the members are foreigners, either lurking or living in Egypt," Bradhard told Bored Panda.

The fact that the subreddit is bilingual also helps — it allows both English and Arabic.

In Egypt itself, most people live along the banks of the Nile River, and over two-fifths of the population lives in urban areas. 

Along the Nile, the population density is one of the highest in the world, exceeding 5,000 people per square mile (2,000 per square km) in a number of governorates.

The rapidly growing population is also very young, with roughly one-third of the total under age 15 and about three-fifths under 30.

As you can probably tell from the pictures, the content on the subreddit is pretty varied. "It goes from politics to dark humor to a simple discussion on economics to an everyday question," Bradhrad said.

"Reddit is usually less popular than top social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, and as the subreddit is mainly in English, [so I think] most of the users on the sub are either teenagers or young adults."

What's really interesting is the fact that even though Egypt's history spans thousands of years, we're still learning about it. For example, archeologists have just discovered over 18,000 broken pieces of ceramics called "ostraca" that served as writing materials in ancient Egypt.

The inscriptions on the shreds include lists of names, representations of gods, and receipts for food purchases. Among these were hundreds of lines written in a school by pupils receiving Bart Simpson-like punishments, the team also believes.

If you ever wished to visit this country, now is the time. Lonely Planet even included Egypt in its Top 10 countries to travel to in 2022 list. According to the travel guide book publisher, one of the best ways to see this land is to hop on a boat.

"The old saying that Egypt is the gift of the Nile still rings true: without the river, there would be no fertile land, no food, and a lot less electricity," Lonely Planet wrote. "Although people's lives are increasingly physically detached from the water, the Nile still exerts a uniquely powerful role. Luckily for visitors, the river is also the perfect place from which to see many of the most spectacular ancient monuments, which is one reason why a Nile cruise remains such a popular way to travel.

Egypt's tourism sector, accounting for approximately 12 percent of the country's economy, has been experiencing a slump since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2020, the country's tourism revenues dropped 70% to a record low of $4bn due to the covid crisis, down from $13.03bn in 2019. Only 3.5 million travelers visited Egypt in 2020, compared to 13.1 million in 2019.