CAIRO — The 4,600-year-old tunnel leading to the King’s Chamber is smaller than I expected. The air inside the ancient Egytian shaft is stale. I’m finding it hard to breath as I crawl back in time. Just when claustrophobia starts setting in, I see a sliver of light ahead.
Finally, I exit the cramped tunnel and emerge onto a dimly lit stairway made of wooden planks with handrails on each side. I’ve arrived at the Grand Gallery, which leads to the entrance of the royal burial tomb in the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The walls of the narrow Grand Gallery seem to be closing in on me as I climb up to the entrance of the King’s Chamber, where I’m greeted by an empty sarcophagus and a shadowy figure standing ram-rod straight like a soldier at attention. At first, I think it’s a manikin but the figure soon begins to move from the shadows towards me.
It’s an eerie moment in an eerie place.

Above: Giza's camel herders are up early ready to offer tourists a ride for a price.

A man dressed in traditional Arab garb soon reveals himself. His long, aquiline face features deep creases — scars from spending too much time under Egypt’s relentless sun.
He gestures for me to come closer. His words of welcome — ahlan bik — echo off the bare walls of the high-ceiling chamber, which are surprisingly void of hieroglyphics.
The elderly guide invites me to approach the sarcophagus and tells me the Great Pyramid was built to entomb Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu “around 2500BC” — 2567BC to be exact.
When I ask what happened to Khufu’s mummified remains, the old man with the leathery face shrugs his slender shoulders and tells me the body just disappeared.
“When the tomb was opened thousands of years after his death, Khufu’s body was not there,” he says. “The sarcophagus was empty and to this day we have no answers to what happened to his mummy.”

Above: The Sphinx and Great Pyramid bask in the sunlight, left, while tourists crawl over the ancient wonders.

Sitting on the edge of the sarcophagus now, the old man informs me that Khufu’s pyramid is the largest of those located on this plateau just outside Cairo and it held the title of the world’s tallest man-made structure for more than 3,800 years.
I ask him how the giant blocks — two million in total — needed to build this wonder of the ancient world were transported to this remote desert location?
“Oh,” he smiles, “they were brought here on giant barges on the great Nile River, which flowed just a few metres from this pyramid in ancient times.”
The Nile actually flowed close the Great Pyramid up until 100 years ago but was gradually diverted to accommodate Cairo’s continuous suburban sprawl.
“The (limestone and granite) blocks were brought here from Tura and Aswan,” the old man informs me,“ and some of them weighed as much as 80 tons.
"It took 20 years to build the Great Pyramid,” he says proudly.
When it’s time to bid the old man goodbye, he scoops up some loose dirt from the bottom of the empty tomb and places it in my hand.
“Take the pharaoh with you — he will bring you good luck,” he says before turning and disappearing into the darkness of the chamber.
As I emerge back into the sunlight, I’m inspired to visit the pyramids that flank Khufu’s massive tomb — Khafre and Menkaure — also named after ancient kings.
Both are overshadowed, however, by Khufu, which stands 146m high. By comparison, Khafre rises 136m above the desert floor and Menkaure is just 61m in height.
The sprawling Giza Plateau is dotted with many monuments from Egypt’s ancient past, including the Great Sphinx, which sits basking in the sun just a few metres from the Great Pyramid.
The giant limestone statue of the reclining Sphinx — a mythical creature with the head of a man and the body of a lion — apparently was a tribute to pharaoh Khafre and was discovered buried under the sands of Giza by an Italian archaeology team in 1817. The human face on the Sphinx is reportedly that of Pharaoh Khafre.
The Sphinx has become one of Egypt’s most sought after tourist attractions and, along with the pyramids, draws over 14 million visitors to Giza each year.
Just more proof that the sands of time truly pass through Giza.