Accommodation

1 of 78 TeachingEnglishAcademy.com M7 Section 2.7 (Book1) Living In That Country NORTH AFRICA: EGYPT 2 of 78 TeachingEnglishAcademy.com Contents Things to Know Before Visiting Egypt ....................................................... 12 Recommended Readings ......................................................................... 14 Visa and Immigration ................................................................................ 17 Cost of Living……………………………………………………………………21 Health and Sickness................................................................................. 28 Learning the Language ............................................................................ 29 Culture, Taboos, Society and Differences ................................................. 29 Avoiding Scams and Traps ....................................................................... 34 Positives and Negatives of Living in Egypt ............................................... 35 Accommodation ....................................................................................... 36 Getting to Know The Locals ..................................................................... 43 Useful Apps for Language Learning ......................................................... 44 Things To Do and Places to Visit .............................................................. 51 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Egypt ..................................................... 51 Food and Dishes ...................................................................................... 55 Health and Sickness................................................................................. 57 Directories and Useful Phone Numbers .................................................... 61 3 of 78 TeachingEnglishAcademy.com Anthem: The Arab Republic of Egypt Hymn. COUNTRY OVERVIEW Monetary Unit: The Egyptian pound (e£) is a paper currency of 100 piasters or 1,000 General Information about Egypt milliemes. There are coins of 1, 5, 10, and 20 piasters and notes of 25 and 50 piasters and 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 1000 pounds. e£1 = us$0.17301 (or us$1 = e£5.78) as of 2005. Weight and Measures: The metric system is the official standard, but various local units also are used: 1 feddan, consisting of 333.3 kassabah, equals 0.42 hectare (1.038 acres). Holidays: New Year's Day, 1 January; Egypt's official name is the Arab Republic Evacuation Day, 18 June; Revolution Day, of Egypt. The country is situated in the 23 July; Armed Forces Day, 6 October; north-east part of Africa, although the Sinai Popular Resistance Day, 24 October; Peninsula forms a land bridge with south- Victory Day, 23 December. Movable west Asia, and so Egypt is also called a holidays include Sham an-Nassim (Breath Middle-East country. Therefore, it's of Spring), of ancient origin, as well as transcontinental country, which helps it in such Muslim religious holidays as 'Id al- being a major power in Africa, the Middle- Fitr, 'Id al'Adha', and the 1st of Muharram East, the Mediterranean, and the Muslim (Muslim New Year). world. Location, Size and Extent: Capital: Cairo (Al-Qahira) Situated at the northeastern corner of Flag: The flag is a tricolor of three Africa, the Arab Republic of Egypt has an horizontal stripes—red, white, and black— area of 1,001,450 sq km (386,662 sq mi), with the national emblem in the center extending 1,572 km (997 mi) se–nw and white stripe. 1,196 km (743 mi) ne–sw. However, the cultivated and settled area (Nile Valley, Delta, and oases) constitutes only about 3.5% of Egypt's land area; the Libyan and Western deserts occupy about 75% of the total. Comparatively, the area occupied by Egypt is slightly more than three times the size of the state of New Mexico. Beyond the Suez Canal in the east, the Sinai Peninsula overlaps into Asia; the Sinai was occupied by Israeli forces from 1967 to 1982. Egypt is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, on the e by Israel and the Red Sea, on the s by Sudan, and on the w by Libya. The 4 of 78 TeachingEnglishAcademy.com total land boundary length is 2,665 km Climate (1,656 mi) and its total coastline is 2,450 km (1,522 mi). Egypt's capital city, Most of Egypt is a dry subtropical area, but Cairo, is located in the northeastern part of the southern part of Upper Egypt is the country. tropical. Northern winds temper the Topography climate along the Mediterranean, but the interior areas are very hot. The The altitude of Egypt ranges from 133 m temperature sinks quickly after sunset (436 ft) below sea level in the Libyan because of the high radiation rate under Desert to 2,629 m (8,625 ft) above in the cloudless skies. Annual rainfall averages Sinai Peninsula. The Nile Delta is a broad, 2.5 cm (1 in) south of Cairo and 20 cm (8 alluvial land, sloping to the sea for some in) on the Mediterranean coast, but sudden 160 km (100 mi), with a 250-km (155-mi) storms sometimes cause devastating flash maritime front between Alexandria (Al- floods. Hot, dry sandstorms, known as Iskandariyah) and Port Said. South of khamsins, come off the Western Desert in Cairo, most of the country (known as Upper the spring. In Cairo, average temperatures Egypt) is a tableland rising to some 460 m range from 14°c (57°f) in January to 28°c (1,500 ft). The narrow valley of the Nile is (82°f) in July. Relative humidity varies enclosed by cliffs as high as 550 m (1,800 from 68% in February to over 70% in ft) as the river flows about 900 km (560 August and 77% in December. mi) from Aswan to Cairo. A series of cascades and rapids at Aswan, known as Flora and Fauna the First Cataract (the other cataracts are in the Sudan), forms a barrier to movement Plants are those common in dry subtropical upstream. and tropical lands, such as papyrus. Egypt has no forests but does have date palm and The bulk of the country is covered by citrus groves; eucalyptus and cypress have the Sahara, which north of Aswan is usually been introduced. Sheep, goats, and called the Libyan Desert. East of the Nile, donkeys are found throughout the country, the Arabian Desert extends to the Red Sea. and camels are found in all the deserts. The Western Desert consists of low-lying Egypt has some 300 types of birds, with sand dunes and many depressions. about half of them being breeding species Kharijah, Siwah, Farafirah, Bahariyah, and within the country. Wild animals are few, other large oases dot the landscape; except for the hyena, jackal, lynx, lowland, the Qattara Depression, is an mongoose, and wild boar, the last-named inhospitable region of highly saline lakes inhabiting the Nile Delta. The ibex may be and soils covering about 23,000 sq km found in the Sinai, and gazelles in the (8,900 sq mi). The outstanding topographic deserts. The Nile is adequately stocked feature is the Nile River, on which human with fish, but crocodiles have been reduced existence depends, for its annual floods to a few along the shores of Lake Nasser. provide the water necessary for Reptiles include the horned viper and the agriculture. Before the completion of the hooded snake. In 2002, there were about Aswan High Dam in 1970, the floods, 98 species of mammals,123 species of lasting generally from August to December, birds, and over 2,000 species of higher caused the river level to rise about 5 m (16 plants. ft). Now, however, floodwaters can be stored, making it possible to provide year- Environmental round irrigation and to reclaim about 1 million feddans (about 1.04 million acres) Egypt's environmental problems stem from of land. Damming the Nile resulted in the its aridity, extremely uneven population creation of Lake Nasser, a reservoir 292 km distribution, shortage of arable land, and (181 mi) long and 9–18 km (6–11 mi) pollution. Soil fertility has declined because wide. of over-cultivation and agricultural land has been lost to urbanization and desert winds. 5 of 78 TeachingEnglishAcademy.com In addition, the nation's beaches, coral reefs, and wildlife habitats are threatened 6% of Egypt's total area and density varies by oil pollution. Heavy uses of pesticides, from 84,150 per sq km (32,500 per sq mi) inadequate sewage disposal, and in Cairo to 60 per sq km (23 per sq mi) in uncontrolled industrial effluents have the Suez governate. Some 99% of all created major water pollution problems. Egyptians live in the Nile Valley. The expanded irrigation of desert areas The UN estimated that 43% of the after completion of the Aswan High Dam in population lived in urban areas in 2005, 1970 has increased soil salinity and aided and that urban areas were growing at an the spread of waterborne diseases. annual rate of 2.39%. The capital city, With recent improvements, about 97% of Cairo (Al-Qahira), had a population of the rural population and 100% of the urban 10,834,000 in that year. Alexandria's population have access to improved water metropolitan population was 12,036,000. sources. The National Committee for Other large cities include Giza (Al-Jizah), Environment, within the office of the prime 2,597,000; Shubra El-Khemia, 1,556,000; minister, is the principal agency with Port Said, 548,900; and Suez, 497,000. environmental responsibilities. Migration Centuries of human habitation in the Nile Valley have decimated Egypt's wildlife in In the early 1960s, most of the Greek that region. The hunting of any bird has population emigrated as the result of the been prohibited by law. As of 2003, about government's nationalization measures; 9.7% of the total land area was protected. nearly all Jews, who formed less than 0.3% The Wadi Al-Hitan (White Valley) became a of the population in 1966, left the country natural UNESCO World Heritage Site in after the 1967 war with Israel. With the 2005. According to a 2006 report issued by completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1970, the International Union for Conservation of up to 100,000 Nubian tribesmen were Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the moved from flooded parts of the upper Nile number of threatened species included 6 and resettled in the plain downstream. types of mammals, 17 species of birds, 6 During the 1970s there was significant types of reptiles, 14 species of fish, and 2 internal migration from rural to urban species of plants.

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