Egypt tour and vegan

We are going on our holiday to Egypt (have always wanted to do this and omg we are actually going to be able to *fingers* crossed)

Anyway, watching the cash and trying to find a nice tour operator seems confusing.
They mostly all say donkey rides to Valley of the Kings, horse drawn carriages to somewhere else, and another one a camel ride by the pyrimads

K, i dont want a donkey ride, or some poor horse to have carry my fat arse about, or camel.

So does any one recommend a good way to see egypt, a tour that is good?

Any ideas on if i do have to take these stupid tours that do these animal ridees, should i say no i dont want that i need other transport, yes i think I should say that eh.
I read the Brook sight, it said make sure the animal is well looked after and if not refuse to use it.
But the idea of some poor little donkey carrying my fat bum around makes me sick!
And the idea of seeing tour mates riding them also makes me sick! I would want to smack them. Sorry but can see it now eugh!

Any ideas welcome. We hoping for a tour cause its easier.

thankyou

I've been twice, not recently though.

The first time we went on a tour - part boat, part plane, part train. It was really badly organised and we wasted a lot of time hanging about. I'm sure there are tours that are a lot better though; ours was very cheap :D

The second time we went under our own steam and I actually enjoyed it much better - we just flew to Luxor which is where a lot of the interesting stuff is anyway, and stayed in a hotel. We hired bicycles to go to the Valley of the Kings.

You could do something like going to Cairo for a few days, then getting the train to Luxor.

I'm fairly sure I managed to avoid riding anything both times (although I feel a pony and trap may have been involved at some point on the tour - not sure about that though). In some ways not doing a tour might make that aspect easier and you could also eat where you wanted.

well i booked teh flights to fit in with one of those tours......
and i have emailed them saying we dont want the camel, donkey or horse carriage rides, and we dont want to pay for these either, that it aint cost but we dont want to contribute to industry of using these animals.

Do we get our money back or have to pay extra and alternative transport provided.
I also said we are vegan and will there be enough food, cause we have experinced times before where its a case of starving as the meals are all meat/cheese.( i dont think it will be this as the basic foods over there seem vegan).
No reply yet so maybe they dont want this wad of cash and think i am being too annoying. Stuff it i am not wanting to pay for those animal rides.

I've been to Egypt twice and when I explained my dietary requirements (before the holiday, not when I arrived!) I had fabulous food. Especially on the cruise down the Nile. All the meat eaters wanted my food!

There are loads of bean dishes to choose from - if you're careful, you won't go in want of great food.

As for the donkey rides etc. Ask them to arrange a taxi for you. You will have to pay for this yourself I imagine. You may get a donation towards it, ie, the cost of hiring a donkey.

You'll take a ferry across the Nile and then when the others in the group meet the donkeys, you can get a taxi. Or walk. But it's a fair way, so you'll need to be fit.

As for the camel rides at the Cairo pyramids ... the pyramids are literally on the edges of Cairo. You drive there and then have the oppotunity to take a came ride into the dessert (generally not out of sight of the pyramids). there are shops there too (including a perfume shop... nice but very pricey) , so you could just take a look around them. Or go to the see the boat which has been recreated very close to the pyramids. Or the Sphinx. You won't be short of things to do to while away an hour or so.

But you wont "have" to take any donkey/camel rides. The ultimate decission is down to you.

Well we went there and are now back.

The donkey, camel and carriage rides we didn't do.


I am pretty happy about the tour, but i am really annoyed at the tour guide and her lies/ignorance about the donkeys.
She made a big thing of telling all of us that teh donkeys can carry our weight (this is after i said publicly i wasnt riding them as i am too heavy and wasnt comfortable with it).
She told everyone they can carry up to 120kg (i think this is bs and am now waitingon reply from the donkey santury about this).

the donkey rides were sick and disgusting imo. We had huge people, big built people riding these tiny tiny animals. OMFG it was horrible.
One guy was 6.3 and he was riding a donkey about size of a shetland pony, OMFG how can that not be cruel ?

We got a cab which was OK, instead of camels we walked, which was way more fun as we got some silent time to just contemplate the pyrimads.

We also visited the Brooke and Animal Care Egypt, both were very humbling experinces.
We came across a poor man with a donkey and cart, with a sick dying dog being carried on the cart, and his son alongside it carrying a puppy. It was so sad, they were on their way to Animal Care Egypt when we saw them.

Yeh well the donkey rides pissed me off alot, and the reaction from the rest of the group was really silly imo, they raved on and on how great the donkeys were how much fun it was.
jesus i am sorry but big grown men and women almost as big as the donkeys shouldn't be riding them. it IS cruel.

Anyway teh tour women also bs'd and told another concerned tourist that the donkeys get food and water once they get to the valley of the Kings and had to wait for us to look around before riding them back. (this was untrue there was no water on that hill they stood on, and no food).

She also said they would have mules for the tall and large people, which they did not have at all. She tried saying a brown donkey was a mule, which it was not.
All in all, she made up rubbish to appease peoples concerns i thought. I am trying to be calm about it, but really it has upset me quite a lot.

I am going to complain once i get word back from the Donkey santuary.

I wish i had gone on a more expensive tour which didnt have donkey rides but the ones i saw were like double the price.

Anyways, ACE and the Brooke were great to visit and i wish the tour operators would advertise them, considering they USE the animals, and the only way these animals get vet treatment is through the brooke or ACE, these charities are basically subsiding the stupid tours using donkeys. You'd think the tours would at least mention them to the tourists.

We also had a guy there who wanted to shoot some dogs when parked on an island down the Nile, some guard dogs wouldnt stop barking. Why is there always one in a crowd?
And we went to some nubian house for tea, where they keep a baby crocodile in a container, and rear it in that until its big enough to eat. Factory farmed crocodile, bah some people on the tour thought it was funny to go and poke sticks at the poor thing and seemed to enjoy tormenting it. Same guy who wanted to shoot the dogs.

breakfasts were pretty poor, as it was battery egg and cheese based so i ate jam and bread. The other meals were EXECELLENT though, really good and very nice vegan dishes.
Lunch and dinners were awesome meals. It was a nice trip all in all (minus the donkeys and horses, crocodiles and i wish the dogs had bitten someone lol).
Food was easy to get and cheap and good.
There was easy alternitives to using animals.
ACE and The Brooke are well worth visiting and seem to do amazing work. I really liked ACE, really nice women who runs it.

excuse my spelling please!