NYT: See the pyramids

See the Pyramids. Without the Plethora of Peddlers.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO - Visiting the famed Giza Pyramids in Egypt has long been irritating for tourists who have to fend off peddlers relentlessly offering camel rides and trinkets. But the hustlers were gone Monday as Egypt began the first stage of an elaborate, $26 million project to modernize the area and make it friendlier to tourists. The changes also improve security with a 12-mile chain-link fence featuring cameras, alarms and motion detectors. “It was a zoo,” said Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s chief archaeologist, recalling the past free-for-all. “Now we are protecting both the tourists and the ancient monuments.”
The three Giza Pyramids have been unusually open for a 5,000-year-old Wonder of the World. The desert plateau on which they stand was once isolated. But as the capital has expanded, slums have been built right to the edge of the site, separated in places by only a low stone wall.
Tourists are barraged by peddlers selling statues and T-shirts. Visitors are sometimes followed by men on camels selling rides or photos, and rarely taking no for an answer. Young men even try to force their way into taxis carrying foreigners toward the pyramids, looking to steer them to nearby horse stables for a ride around the site.
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There are other security concerns. Bombings in Sinai resorts in the past four years have kept officials wary.
The new technology is intended to curb all sorts of security problems. The long fence around the plateau is 13 feet high at some points, and it is dotted with infrared sensors and motion detectors. “Intruders can’t jump over this,” said Kamal Wahid, the site’s general director.
Tourists will now enter through a new brick building, with half a dozen gates equipped with metal detectors and X-ray machines. Almost 200 closed-circuit cameras monitor people’s movements on the plateau.
“It looks clean and beautiful,” said Michael Schmidt, 43, a real estate agent from New York City. “They did a good job.”
Mr. Wahid said the phasing out of the hawkers would not be sudden or “unkind.” But as Mr. Hawass showed off the changes on Monday, trinket sellers were nowhere to be seen. Three camel riders in traditional robes stood at the edge of the plateau, waiting for tourists to come to them.
As a reporter walked up, one said, “Go away, the police told us not to talk to you.”
A second camel rider, who would not give his name for fear he could lose his permit, said: “I’ve been working here for 25 years. Now I don’t know if I will be here tomorrow. I have five children, a wife. What will happen to us?”
It was not clear whether the trinket dealers were pushed out just for the day or longer.
Once the project is complete, golf carts will drive tourists around the site, similar to systems in Luxor and other sites.
Exactly how much a future visitor will be able to roam around freely is unclear, but on Monday, Ramish Bissoon, a teacher from Trinidad, said he was not restricted. “I feel very comfortable and secure,” he said. “There are a lot of policemen around.”
Mr. Hawass said none of the innovations would diminish a visit. “We are giving back the magic of the pyramids,” he said.