In the times of the pharaohs the lands in southern Ta Mery (“the beautiful land”) modern Egypt were known as Ta Shemau (“the land of reeds”). This green, highly fertile strip, stretching along the Nile, nurtured a seminal civilization that withstood the vagaries history not for centuries but millennia.

This is a book of images of what struck the author's eye during a brief visit to Upper Egypt in the winter of 2006. While not a guide book per se, it may be of some use to those who wish to visit, whether actually or virtually.