Abu Simbel, Egypt

August 22, 2025August 21, 2025 / Jet Eliot / 58 Comments

This is one of the most remarkable and grand temple sites in all of Egypt. I give you photos and a look at the iconic Abu Simbel from our visit last year.

In southern Egypt, built into sandstone cliffs are two temples: Abu Simbel built by Ramses II and beside it, a smaller temple dedicated to his favorite wife, Queen Nefertari. In the photo above, Abu Simbel is on the left and Queen Nefertari’s Temple is on the right.

Construction of the temple complex occurred in the 13th Century BCE. It started around 1264 B.C. and was completed around 1244 B.C., taking approximately 20 years to build.

Adjacent to Abu Simbel is Lake Nasser, a massive reservoir. In the photo below, you can see Abu Simbel on the right and a bit of the lake on the left.

The complex was originally built right on the Nile River, creating a commanding presence to intimidate enemies of Egypt. But over time problems arose with flooding; we’ll get to that.

Pharaoh Ramses II was the third Pharoah of the 19th Dynasty and ruled ancient Egypt for nearly 66 years (1279-1213 B.C.). He was a brave warrior and powerful ruler, lived a long life to the age of 90 or 91. Egypt reached the height of its military power during his reign. Trade, agriculture, art, and architecture also flourished under him.

Brief History. Much has happened here since Abu Simbel was built over 3,200 years ago. The Nile River has regularly flooded and there were earthquakes, weather. With the passage of time the temples fell into disuse and disrepair, became nearly lost by drifting sand. The temples were forgotten until March 1813 when a Swiss geographer and traveler rediscovered it.

Then in the 1950s the Egyptian government, under the leadership of President Nasser, made big decisions about the building of a new Nile dam. The Aswan Dam would protect local residents and agricultural crops by preventing irregular and unpredictable flooding that sometimes led to famine.

But with that pending construction was the scientific knowledge that the water would flood the two ancient temples built on the Nile. Many possible solutions were considered.

In the 1960s they began one of Egypt’s most successful national projects since the age of the pyramids: the relocation and reconstruction of the Abu Simbel temples. The project was a complex undertaking requiring the dismantling, moving, and reassembly of massive stone blocks.

Every inch of the site was meticulously cut into large blocks, each one weighing an average of 20 tons, and reinstalled to higher ground further back from the river.

It was accomplished by a multinational team of archeologists, engineers and skilled heavy equipment operators with the financial assistance of 50 countries. It is considered one of the greatest archaeological rescue missions in history.

Photo courtesy egyptforward.org

Fast forward to 2024 when we visited.

We walked about a mile from the parking lot to the site in a hot, barren desert-like expanse. Then we turned a corner and there it all stood–this towering, majestic work of ancient art.

Below is the temple of Queen Nefertari. The facade features six colossal statues; each statue is approximately 33 feet (10m) tall.

Unusual in ancient Egyptian art, Ramses and Nefertari are of equal height, demonstrating her divine status alongside the pharaoh.

It is dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Queen Nefertari.

The interior is adorned with intricate carvings and scenes depicting Nefertari’s divine status and Ramses II’s affection for her. There are six square columns, each surmounted by a head of the goddess Hathor.

Queen Nefertari is seen below in two relief scenes, presenting gifts to the Gods.

The temple was completed after her death, and she never saw it in its finished form.

Next door was Abu Simbel–the Great Temple of Ramses the Great, one of Egypt’s most famous and successful rulers. Photo below.

Here at the entrance are four colossal figures, each of them Ramses II. The second figure from the left lost its head in a long-ago earthquake. Visitors enter and exit through the door in the center.

The figures are 66 feet (20m) tall.

When visitors leave the harsh African sun behind and enter the temple, everything changes. We are in a sacred sanctuary.

The 26-foot (8m) high walls are decorated with reliefs and hieroglyphs depicting Ramses II’s reign and religious beliefs.

The ceiling is decorated with the vulture goddess Nekhbet spreading her wings.

We walk through an ancient hypostyle hall (above), typical of ancient Egyptian architecture, measuring 59 feet (18m) long and 55 feet (16.7m) wide. Eight massive pillars support the roof, each depicting the deified Ramses II.

Further into the temple there are many different rooms. Characteristic of many Egyptian temples, the rooms get progressively smaller as you move further from the entrance toward the sanctuary.

This room, in the photo below, features four rock-cut statues and was yet another marvel of engineering.

These are four deities, from left to right: Ptah, Amun-Re, Ramses II as a god, and Re-Horakhti. Remarkably, the temple was masterfully engineered to align with the rays of the sun.

On February 22nd and October 22nd, the sun’s rays penetrate directly into this room, illuminating three of the figures. The fourth deity, Ptah, the god of the underworld, remains in shadow. Most sources concur these dates are the king’s birthday and coronation day, respectively.

The northern wall of the temple portrays many events from the Battle of Kadesh. It was a major military conflict between the Egyptians and the Hittites.

The temple’s reliefs provide a visual narrative of Ramses II’s reign and his military campaigns, solidifying his image as a powerful and victorious pharaoh.

This relief below shows the mighty warrior king in his chariot firing arrows at a fortress.

By the time we left, it was about 90 degrees. We walked the mile back to the parking lot, almost silently, our heads full of scenes and imaginings.

So many centuries of human ingenuity, bravery, conviction, and reverence.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

Abu Simbel doorway and ankh key

Calif. Bat Emergence

August 15, 2025August 14, 2025 / Jet Eliot / 64 Comments

Way back in January on the wintry coast of Point Reyes, an elephant seal docent told us about the Yolo County summer bat emergence. We recently drove there to witness it. What a blast!

This is a wildlife spectacle in the central valley of Northern California. Located outside Sacramento in Yolo County, the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area comes alive at sunset with a nightly exodus of 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats.

Led by a smart and dedicated bat aficionado named Corky Quirk and made possible by a large team of enthusiastic volunteers, the Yolo Basin Foundation bat event occurs in the summer months.

Maternal colonies of bats roost in the expansion joints of the Highway 80 overpass, as seen in this model photographed below. Near the bottom of this cross-section model, you can see the little bats and the slats of the causeway where they roost.

At about 8:15pm the bat emergence began. As colony mammals, they gather together, silently swirling underneath the freeway, and then exit together–head for the skies in huge groups. For a half-hour they continued to emerge. Clouds and clouds of bats.

They emerge nightly to hunt for insects in the surrounding wetlands.

Prior to the emergence event, folks of all ages gathered (for we are also colony mammals) in a small classroom for the Bat Talk. We had driven nearly two hours to get here and hadn’t known what to expect, but knew it was worth a try.

There was an excellent presentation on bat natural history by Corky Quirk with a Power Point slide show, live bat close-ups, bat photos and exhibits. The 45-minute talk gave us interesting facts and myth busters and a fun 5-minute video (link provided at the end).

She had a few permanently injured “ambassador” bats to show us, this one photographed below is a Mexican free-tailed bat. You can see its little tail on the upper right. The bat is facing down, head/ears on the left.

They are called free-tailed bats because the tail extends freely beyond the flying membrane known as the uropatagium.

The Mexican free-tailed bat is 3-4 inches long (8-10 cm) with a 12-14″ (30-36 cm) wingspan. Their long, narrow wings provide fast, efficient flight, helpful for long-distance migration and high-altitude navigation.

Tadarida brasiliensis is one of the most abundant mammals in North America. It is the same bat species some of you may be familiar with that roosts under the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin Texas. In Austin it is the world’s largest urban bat colony estimated at up to 1.5 million bats.

This Yolo Causeway we visited has the largest Mexican free-tailed bat colony in California.

Link: More info on Mexican free-tailed bats by Norcalbats.org

We have these bats to thank for catching pests that can quickly ruin agricultural crops.

After the talk as the sun was beginning to set, we all caravanned in our individual vehicles around the wildlife area ending up at the freeway causeway.

This area is a flood basin for the nearby Sacramento River. In the middle of summer the wetland is mostly dry, though we did see a small pond with gulls, egrets and ibis. Wild California sunflowers (Helianthus californicus) also greeted us.

In winter when Northern California gets rain, the area floods which is why they have this handsome 3-mile long causeway.

Each female bat has one pup a year. Right now, late summer, the new pups are nesting but soon they will start leaving the roost.

We watched as a Swainson’s hawk soared above us looking for opportunities to snatch a bat, photo below.

But these bats are the fastest mammal on earth reaching top ground speeds up to 99 mph (160 km/h). They effortlessly flew out of the hawk’s reach. It might be a different story when the vulnerable pups emerge.

This bat species also flies the highest among bats at altitudes around 10,800 feet (3,300 m).

There were about 60 or 70 of us human bat fans who showed up that night. We had all paid $17.00 per adult for this wonderfully organized event. They sold t-shirts and I bought one, am wearing it as I write and it glows in the dark!

Bats emerge in all kinds of places all over the world. So while it is still summer in our northern hemisphere keep your eyes open for bats in your area.

As the sunlight fades to dusk, look to the open skies for their silhouettes and give a salute for all the injurious moths and mosquitoes they are gobbling up.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

Link: Bats Beneath Us: Science on the Spot about the Yolo Basin bat emergence.

Link: The Bat (What Does the Indiana Bat Say?) by the 3rd Grade Crew at Inspire Academy

Indiana third graders have a lot to say and sing about how to promote bat conservation.

Special guest star at the Bat Talk, the pallid bat, California’s State Bat.

Illinois Prairies

August 8, 2025August 9, 2025 / Jet Eliot / 57 Comments

“Anyone can love the mountains, but it takes a soul to love the prairie.” ~~Willa Cather

I had the pleasure of taking in the Illinois prairie last month while visiting family. With the rich soil of central Illinois, agriculture and prairie thrive here. Let’s look at the prairie, one of my favorite ecosystems.

Climate in prairies is characterized by hot, dry summers and cold winters. These conditions developed 8,300 years ago bringing the tallgrass prairies to this area.

More info: Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources

There are many types of prairies all over the world, but in North America the prairies exist in the middle of the continent. See map below.

Prairie Map courtesy of Univ. of Illinois Champagne-Urbana

Prairies extend about 2,400 miles (3,870 km) from southern Canada southward through the Great Plains to southern Texas and Mexico. They stretch west from western Indiana to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, covering 1.4 million square miles.

I have visited other prairie regions in Wisconsin, South Dakota, Colorado and Texas and hope to visit more. I find them sweet and serene; with birds I don’t often see.

Of the many types of grasslands, Illinois, also known as the “prairie state,” has the tallgrass prairie. Its two most predominant prairie grasses are big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) and Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans). There are also other species of grasses and wildflowers.

The wildflowers in the prairie patches were great last month. Some are not native, like the white Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) seen below; but the (yellow) black-eyed Susan species (Rudbeckia hirta) is native.

In the 1800s, the prairie grasses were taller than humans. Willa Cather wrote books about living on the prairie. Many others wrote about the prairie too, including Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, Lewis & Clark and Charles Dickens to name a few.

The grasses were so tall back then that it reminded folks of the ocean as the grasses shimmered and waved in the wind. They even used a nautical term for a covered wagon: prairie schooner.

In 1820, Illinois had 22 million acres of prairie land (Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources). Soon after, by 1900, settlers came to live and build communities and had transformed the prairies into agriculture.

Today there are miles and miles of corn and soybean fields here but there are also many knee-high prairie patches adjacent to the fields.

Below is a soybean field with the prairie patch in the foreground. The land is so flat you can see forever.

We stopped on a back road to photograph a patch of prairie. Not seen in the photo below was a farmhouse to the right with a mowed lawn. One day I saw a man on a rider mower mowing it.

But in the front lawn area, seen below, the farmer had let the natural grasses take over.

You can see how dense these grasses and forbs (wildflowers) are. The thick foliage slows down rainwater runoff allowing more water to be absorbed into the ground reducing the risk of flooding and replenishing groundwater supplies.

You might be surprised to know that prairie plants have extensive root systems. Most prairie grasses have a root system deeper into the ground than the stems aboveground, as shown in the diagram below.

Root diagram courtesy Research Gate

As the roots decompose, they add carbon to the soil creating a carbon sink, a natural reservoir that absorbs and stores more carbon than it releases. Beneficial for these times of global warming.

In the early 1800s there was an estimated 30-60 million bison roaming the prairies. They were the dominant large herbivore on the Great Plains and grazed this area. They have jaws and teeth specifically adapted for grazing prairie grasses.

There are no bison in the middle of Illinois anymore, but we did see eastern bluebirds and prairie birds like the eastern meadowlark and lark bunting (below).

We also saw plenty of bees and butterflies, our hero pollinators.

One day we found part of the back road was closed so we parked our rental car and explored for a few minutes. We followed several dancing monarchs and sulfur butterflies lighting on the clover.

We hopped out of the car, my two sisters and I, and posed in front of the super tall corn. We grew up among these corn fields and joke that we are children of the corn.

While the state of Illinois is almost entirely agricultural, the promotion of prairie restoration is on the rise.

Even the nearby twin city of Bloomington-Normal has prairie plantings in their downtown, seen in the foreground in these two photos below.

Of course the Illinois prairies will never be what they were in the 1800s.

But it was with great joy that we stopped often on the Illinois back roads and cherished the prairie grasses and wildflowers.

That vast and dramatic Midwestern sky was also entertaining and brought rain within the hour to this fertile land.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.

Land of Lincoln

August 1, 2025August 1, 2025 / Jet Eliot / 50 Comments

While there are many places across America where our 16th president is still celebrated, it is the state of Illinois where Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) really comes alive. It is here, in the prairies of Illinois, where he spent the majority of his life.

While visiting family last week, I visited Springfield and have five Lincoln sights to share.

In Springfield he established himself as a successful lawyer, married Mary Todd and raised a family, and launched his political career. He left Springfield when he was elected president, moved to the White House.

#1–Lincoln’s home.

Lincoln lived in this Springfield house below where he and Mary raised their family.

Today this house is open to the public free of charge. This is remarkable in itself (free!) and is due to his son Robert’s donation of this house to the state on the condition it be open to the public at no cost. It has been part of the national park system since 1971.

Included in this Lincoln Home National Historic Site are also four adjacent blocks preserved from Lincoln’s time as well as a visitor center. The Lincolns lived here from 1844 to 1861.

Every day Lincoln walked a few blocks from his home to his law office and sometimes the nearby state capitol, seen below. Both are open to the public.

Today, under shady deciduous trees, this is a serene and contemplative walk to take as you walk where Lincoln walked.

#2–Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices.

Built in 1841, this law office (below) is where Lincoln and partner William Herndon practiced law from 1844 to 1852. He handled a wide variety of cases, civil and criminal, and was a well-respected lawyer, considered one of the best trial lawyers in the state.

#3–Old State Capitol.

Lincoln pleaded cases at the Illinois Supreme Court in the State Capitol building, seen below. It’s notable for being the location where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous “House Divided” speech addressing the nation’s conflict over slavery during his campaign for a U.S. Senate seat against Stephen Douglas.

Today there is a “new” operational state capitol, built 1868-1888, where the Illinois House of Representatives and Senate conduct business.

#4–The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

The most popular tourist attraction in Springfield is the Lincoln Library and Museum. They are in two different downtown buildings across the street from one another.

The Presidential Library has an impressive collection of Lincoln letters, artifacts, manuscripts, books, and much more. It is open to students, scholars, researchers and tourists by appointment only.

The Museum is a tourist attraction with numerous exhibits and a gift shop. One of the first exhibits a visitor sees are life-size replicas of the Lincoln family. Other exhibits highlight Lincoln in his early years, Lincoln’s presidency and the Civil War, an original handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address, and much more.

The exhibit below depicts First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln in a ballgown, surrounded by mannequins representing politically connected women of the Civil War era.

#5–Lincoln’s Tomb.

Across town about two miles from Lincoln’s home is his tomb, located in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

After his tragic assassination, construction began on the tomb while his body was placed in a receiving vault at Oak Ridge Cemetery.

His tomb is a grand monument and is open to the public. Entrance and parking fees are free.

Below is the burial room and memorial monument of Abraham Lincoln. This is the final resting place of President Lincoln. His wife and three of their children (Edward, William and Thomas) are also buried here. Due to attempted theft and desecration, his coffin was eventually placed in a cage ten feet deep and encased in 4,000 pounds of concrete.

Lastly, my favorite part.

The inside of the Lincoln home. Visitors walk where Lincoln walked, climb the steps he climbed, see the rooms where he lived, the dining room where they entertained guests, the fireplaces that warmed him.

Small groups of 15 people at a time are allowed in, so there is waiting and tickets involved, but once in, you experience a guided walk that lasts about 20 minutes.

For an online virtual tour of Lincoln’s home, go to the link below.

Link: Virtual Tour of the Lincoln Home

For an abbreviated version, we start by walking through his front door.

When you cross the threshold you see the stairway leading upstairs (below). The foyer has a chair and hooks where he presumably hung his hat.

The parlor is on the left and the sitting room is on the right.

Toward the back of the first floor is the kitchen, shown below.

Although this house is modest, it was considerably roomier and more comfortable than the log cabins of his younger years. Abe and Mary moved here in May 1844 when Lincoln was 35 years old. This was the only house he ever owned.

On the upstairs level we stood in Lincoln’s bedroom, photo below, and walked through the doorways that we were assured his 6’4″ frame could clear. Although there are numerous furniture pieces in his home that are original from his time here, this bed is not one of them. Mary did, however, purchase this bed for the White House years.

If you are ever in or near Springfield, Illinois, put aside a day to go back in time to the strife of the days of the Civil War, a fractured time. You’ll get a chance to immerse yourself in the life of this incredible man who dedicated his life to preserving the Union of the United States.

Written by Jet Eliot.

Photos by Athena Alexander.