Luka Dakskobler

Stories: THE MIDDLE EAST

Drying Out 

The Middle East is not just arid as it is. It is drying out even further. Beside climate changes, poor water management is to blame. Broken pipes, irrational irrigation, polution of rivers, distribution of water among neighbouring countries etc. But there is still enough water to keep up appearances for tourists. Out of totaly arid land, the desert, spring tens of huge tourist resorts along the Red Sea in Hurghada. They are being built one by one, the entire coastline one big construction site of empty mansion-like large hotel complexes. Once finished, they boast with a tennis court, grassy surfaces, and large pools. Even the road leading toward the hotels is divided by a green patch of grass that is irrigated daily in hot sun and high evaporation. Tourism is the number one bredwinner for countries like Egypt or Jordan, where 90% of land is infertile desert. 

Secularism 

Egypt and Jordan are two of the most secular countries in the Middle East. They look to the West in more than just social way; Jordan keeps close ties to Western countries politically as well. The orthodox muslim ways of living, socializing and public appearance have been changed by strong Western influence and contrasted to the remains of the rules and regulations of their religion. The two spheres blended into a strange mix of secular and the orthodox existing hand in hand just before the so-called Arab spring. Now, things are different. 

  • For years a security convoy was an obligatory form of travel through the Egyptian desert from the Red Sea to Luxor, because with contrast between the East and the West come disputes and disagreements. To warn about issues and disagreements terrorists have been attacking tourists in these parts of Egypt.
  • A worker passes a tennis court in a hotel complex in Hurgada, Egypt, on April 27, 2008. Hotel resorts in Hurghada, where tourism is the primary economy, are very green. Bushes, grass ... All of it needs extensive irrigation, because of heavy evaporation.
  • A man cleans the road that leads to one of major tourist sites in Egypt on April 28, 2008. The rise in capitalism as one of the consequences of Western influence is making the gap between the rich and the poor bigger.
  • Nubian women drink water from a government funded machine in the Nubian village in Aswan, Egypt, on May 1, 2008.
  • Tourists bathe in a pool on one of many cruiseships on the Nile on April 30, 2008. Ironically, the Nile is more or less too polluted to bathe in it safely.
  • Desert advances toward the city of Aswan, Egypt, a city on the edge of the largest water source in the region. May 1, 2008.
  • The young surf the internet and drink Coca Cola in a caffe in Cairo, Egypt.
  • Cairo, Egypt, May 3, 2008.
  • Cairo, Egypt, May 3, 2008.
  • Students laugh in the street in Cairo, Egypt, May 3, 2008.
  • A couple crosses the street in Cairo, Egypt, May 3, 2008.
  • Women look at a shop window in Cairo, Egypt, May 3, 2008.
  • Jordanian women pass an apparel store in Aqaba, Jordan, on April 29, 2009. Covering of the manequins' faces is an expression of radical Islam.
  • An empty hotel pool stands out of the desert mountains surrounding Petra, Jordan, on May 1, 2009.
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