All language subtitles for Egypt From Above 2of2 720p EN SUB_Subtitles01.ENG

Narrator: Egypt.

A land where magnificent ancient
monuments live side-by-side

With a dynamic, modern society.

This spectacular
aerial journey...

With unprecedented access to
the nation's incredible sights
will show how archaeologists

Are rediscovering ancient
treasures and how the
engineers building new

Mega-projects are
transforming the nation.

From a billion-dollar
plan to construct the
world's biggest ever museum...

To a brand-new capital city
rising from the desert sands.

Our incredible bird's
eye view reveals how this
nation is embracing its past,

To forge its future.

♪ ♪

Egypt.

Covering almost
400,000 square miles,

It's home to the world's
largest arab population.

97% of egypt is desert.

This forces 95%
of its inhabitants
to live on a narrow,

Fertile strip of
land irrigated by
the mighty river nile.

With egypt's population
predicted to grow 30%
to almost 130 million by

The year 2030...

The country's transport
infrastructure, housing and
energy resources will be

Stretched to breaking point.

The city under the
greatest pressure to evolve
is egypt's capital, cairo.

Home to 10 million people,

This is one of the most
congested cities on earth.

Over 25 million
car journeys are made
every day in the capital

Causing rush hour gridlock
and pushing pollution to
dangerous levels.

Cairo's chaotic footprint
makes wholesale urban renewal
too complex and disruptive.

So planners have devised
a radical solution to
fix the city's problems.

One that breaks free
from the constraints of
egypt's challenging geography.

Their bold plan is to
relieve the pressure on
cairo by building a new

City in the desert,
30 miles to the east.

An aerial view reveals
the vast scale of africa's
largest building site.

Costing an
estimated $300 billion...

Once finished, the as
yet unnamed 'new capital'
will have enough homes

For 6.5 million people.

Transport infrastructure
is at the heart of the
city's design.

Two new metro lines and
hundreds of miles of highways
will ease congestion.

A 25-mile-long subterranean
pipeline will supply the
city with water diverted

From the nile.

The city will cover
270 square miles...

30% larger than
modern-day cairo.

The new capital will serve as
egypt's administrative center,

And the egyptian government
has invested $30 billion

Into the project to
move its 36 ministries here.

Some of that money will
subsidize the relocation of
government workers from cairo.

But critics worry
the new capital's homes
will be unaffordable

For most egyptians.

It's 8:00 am.

The night shift
is heading home.

But engineer ahmed refaat's
day is just beginning.

Ahmed: When I
started working here, it
was just a pile of sand.

Narrator: Ahmed is
helping to build the
city's centerpiece...

Egypt's new
parliament building.

This is where the nation's
596 representatives will sit.

Ahmed is one of
1,000 men on site working
around the clock to keep

Construction on schedule.

Today he and his team
must use eleven cranes to
maneuver thousands of tons

Of materials into place.

To reach the building's
ambitious opening deadline,
each crane driver must

Complete a lift in
just 15 minutes.

Ahmed: I worry that
something will happen that
will put us behind schedule.

Lift up the load to
zone 2 on the 7th floor.

Do it straight
away please, mohamed.

Narrator: The team
needs to erect two tons of
steel scaffolding on top

Of the building's
115-foot high roof.

The scaffolding must be in
place in time for a concrete
pour later this afternoon.

With the delivery made,

Ahmed loses no time
preparing for the next lift,

To keep the
massive build on track.

Ahmed: I think about how
the new capital will look
20 or 30 years from now and

Telling my children about
my part in building the city.

Narrator: This won't
be the first time
egypt's capital has moved.

Before cairo's 1,000-year
incumbency, many cities had
been home to egypt's rulers.

The most powerful of the
country's ancient capitals was
undoubtedly thebes.

The ruins of this
4000-year-old city lie
beneath modern-day luxor,

400 miles to the
south of cairo.

At its heart stands karnak,

The largest temple
complex the ancient
egyptians ever built.

It's only from above
that the scale of this
majestic site becomes clear...

Added to by 30 pharaohs,

It stretches across
an area larger than
140 soccer pitches...

At its center soar the
134 massive sandstone
columns of the hypostyle hall.

For french archaeologist,

Benjamin durand,
working here is a
boyhood dream come true...

Benjamin: I visit karnak
when I was a child and I really
had this first impression

Of being in a place
where you can really
touch ancient history.

And what is amazing is
that of course I had no
idea I would work here.

Narrator: Benjamin wants
to discover what happened
at karnak after the pharaohs

Rule came to an end.

Benjamin: Karnak is the
longest architectural
project in egypt,

It lasts for about 2000 years.

We have here a
concentration of almost
all the history of egypt.

Narrator: Egypt's last
pharaoh, cleopatra, was
deposed by the roman emperor,

Octavian, in 30 bce.

This marked the beginning
of more than 600 years
of roman rule.

When rome converted
to christianity in
the fourth century ce,

The religion of ancient
egypt quickly fell from favor.

Did this shift end karnak's
role as a sacred site?

Were its buildings
abandoned for hundreds or
even thousands of years?

Or were they used for
worship even when the
era of the pharaohs and

Their gods was over?

Narrator: Karnak is one
of the largest ancient
temples in the world.

Archaeologist benjamin
durand wants to find out
how it was used after the

Fall of egypt's pharaohs.

He's digging deposits
from the 4th century ce,

When egypt was
under roman rule.

His team has now made an
extraordinary discovery.

One that supports the
theory that a part of
the temple became a place

Of christian worship.

Benjamin: The most important,
uh, object we found here in,

In this excavation is a
jar stand, dating from the
4th century, so after christ.

It was like in a
movie you know.

We were just brushing
the surface of the floor,
and we first appear the

Christian cross in,
uh, on the, on the floor.

Narrator: Benjamin's
discovery shows that
after pharaohs fell,

Karnak became a center
for another faith and god.

New finds are filling in
previously unknown portions
of karnak's long history and

Hint the temple has many
more secrets to reveal.

Benjamin: In fact very,
very little is known,
uh, of what is beneath

The temple of karnak.

There is still hundreds
of years of work for
archaeologists in karnak

To know precisely,
what was happening here.

Narrator: Many of
karnak's treasures are
displayed here at the

Egyptian museum in cairo.

This is home to the largest
number of ancient egyptian
artifacts on the planet,

More than 120,000.

Unfortunately, this old museum
is today too small to display
the entire collection and

Lacks the technology
to conserve it in
ideal conditions.

So egypt's ministry
of antiquities is
building a huge,

New showcase for these
priceless treasures equipped
with state-of-the-art

Conservation techniques.

One and a half miles from
the famous giza plateau,

A museum like no
other is taking shape.

Only from the air
does the scale of this
5.2 million square foot

Project become clear.

Construction of the
mammoth, $1-billion
enterprise began in 2002.

When it finally opens...

The grand egyptian museum
will house state of the art

Climate-controlled galleries
to display the country's
greatest ancient artifacts.

Engineer shady ahmed's team
face a formidable challenge.

They must erect the giant
triangular grid that will form
the museum's colossal facade.

Shady: The grand egyptian
museum project is one of
the most complex projects

In the world.

Narrator: Looking at
the site from high up
reveals the inspiration behind

The structure's shape...

Shady: We're just over
a mile from the pyramids
so we're trying to do

Something great here,
as great as the pyramids.

Narrator: The museum's design
echoes the form of egypt's
most famous ancient monuments.

From the triangular panes
in each glass façade...

To the building's
triangular footprint.

Shady: The museum is
full of triangles to
remind you of the pyramids.

Wherever you go, you will
see ancient egypt in a new way.

Narrator: The finished
museum will exhibit
treasures from 7,000 years

Of egyptian history.

It's conservation
center is already open.

Experts here are
working to preserve these
unique artifacts for future

Generations to
study and enjoy.

Shady: That is genuinely a
great thing and something the
whole world can appreciate.

Narrator: While workers
race to complete a 21st century
engineering marvel...

Nearby, archaeologists are
investigating one of ancient
egypt's most iconic monuments.

They're close to unlocking
the last secrets of the
mysterious great sphinx

On the giza plateau.

The ancient statue
is 240 feet long and
more than 65 feet tall.

Looking at it from
the air reveals it's not
built from stone blocks...

It's cut out from
the plateau's bedrock.

The ancient egyptians
depicted most of their gods
with the body of a human and

The head of an animal.

The beast defined the
god's characteristics.

Sekhmet had a
lion's head to emphasize
his role as god of war.

For the first time in
ancient egypt, the sphinx
flipped this convention.

The head of a pharaoh was
placed on the body of a lion,

So a living ruler
became a god.

Archaeologist mark lehner
believes the logic behind
this switch was clear

To the ruler who ordered
the sphinx's construction.

Mark: When you put the
human head on the lion body,

It represents human
intelligence in control
of a very powerful force.

Narrator: For centuries
mystery has surrounded
which pharaoh had the

Sphinx carved in his image.

Now, mark believes
he has an answer.

Narrator: The identity of
the pharaoh who built the
sphinx is fiercely debated.

Now, by comparing
the sphinx's face to
statues of egypt's rulers,

Mark lehner believes he
can answer the riddle.

Mark: The sphinx face
does bear a resemblance
in terms of the spacing of

The eyes and the eyebrows

And the nose and the lips,
although the nose is missing,

To statues of khafre.

Narrator: Khafre
ruled egypt four and a
half thousand years ago.

He built the second largest
pyramid of the giza complex,

And mark thinks the
archaeological evidence

Suggests this pharaoh ordered
the sphinx's construction too.

Mark: What does speak very
powerfully that khafre built
the sphinx is the sequence of

Quarrying and construction
that tells you that the sphinx
was one of the last things

That khafre was doing as part
of his great pyramid complex.

Narrator: Today the
sphinx and the giza
pyramids are egypt's

Number one tourist destination.

On the country's stunning
red sea coast, 21st century
engineers are transforming

The landscape to create a
brand-new tourist hotspot.

30 years ago, el gouna
was an empty stretch of
desert coastline.

Now it is the site of one of
the country's most ambitious
building programs...

A luxury resort offering
year-round sunshine is rising
from the desert.

Over the past decades,

The town has attracted
rich egyptians seeking
a riviera lifestyle.

The project involves
completely re-modeling
the coastline by creating

Man made inlets,

Lakes and islands that
will eventually accommodate
25,000 residents.

George elia is the
developer charged with
making this remarkable

Transformation happen.

George: El gouna
currently spreads over
almost 14 square miles,

It's constantly under
construction and development.

Narrator: George's
team is building 108
villas across 3 newly

Constructed
artificial islands...

It's just one of twelve
developments currently being
built at el gouna.

Powerful pumps suck up
thousands of cubic feet
of wet sand from the bottom

Of the new lake.

The pumps deposit this
sand on the shoreline
where excavators use it to

Reshape the landscape.

Some critics believe
el gouna is a huge
financial gamble given

Egypt's recent
political turmoil.

Tourist numbers collapsed
after the 2011 revolution.

They are now
slowly recovering, but
further unrest could see them

Dwindle once again.

The uncertainty piles
the pressure on george
to deliver the villas

On time and on budget.

George: If we don't
deliver or we are late,
it's a big problem.

The company loses
a lot of revenue.

Narrator: For today at least,

Pumping sand from
this lagoon is on schedule
and remodeling this section

Of coast should be
finished before the deadline.

Soon, egyptians will
move into this new quarter
of the ever-expanding town

Of el gouna.

Coastal development projects
face criticism because of
the damage they can

Cause to fragile ecosystems.

The red sea is home to
world renowned sea life.

And groups of
environmentalists and
volunteers are pioneering

Initiatives to protect
its fragile coral reef.

One of the red sea's most
spectacular marine
environments lies off the

Coast of the sinai peninsula.

Seen from above,
the arid mountainous
interior is clearly barren.

But where these slopes
drop into the deep blue sea,

They meet one of
the planet's most
extraordinary ecosystems.

Coral reefs cover less
than 1% of the ocean floor,

But they support
over 25% of marine life.

The red sea's warm,
and especially salty
waters are home to over

300 species of coral
and 1,200 species of fish.

Khaled: Dahab is a
very precious place and
there are things here that

Don't exist anywhere
else in the world.

Narrator: 20 years ago,
local boy khaled hamed
was fascinated by the

Divers he saw
swimming in the water.

Khaled: I learned to
dive after someone lost
their fins in the current.

I jumped in and swam to
retrieve them and so they told
me 'you have to be a diver'.

Narrator: Khaled trained in
dahab as a dive instructor and
since those early days in the

1990s the town's population
has boomed to 15,000.

Now the plastic waste
visitors leave behind
threatens to destroy the

Fragile marine environment
they've come here to see.

So, khaled and his fellow
divers have made it their
mission to save the reef.

Narrator: On egypt's
red sea coast,

Dive instructor
khaled hamed is leading a
campaign to save coral reefs.

60 feet from the shore,
his team finds one of
the greatest threats

Facing this environment.

Plastic.

It wraps around coral polyps,
starving them of oxygen,

So they suffocate and die.

And once the coral has gone,

The entire ecosystem it
supports will collapse.

After just one hour
in the water the divers
have filled their bags and

Head back to shore.

They've pulled three garbage
bags full of plastic away
from just a tiny section

Of dahab's reef.

Khaled hopes the
team's work will eradicate
a little of the estimated

12.7 million tons of plastic
adrift in the world's

Oceans and protect egypt's
reefs for future generations.

Khaled: I am really happy.

It is a good thing
when we remove the
plastic from the sea.

We do this with love.

This is our environment,
we must look after it.

Narrator: Away from the
fragile coastal ecosystems,
researchers are uncovering

The secrets of another,
far more ancient,
marine environment.

Surprisingly, it
is situated more
than 100 miles from

The nearest
coastline in a stretch of
desert named wadi al-hitan.

Seen from above, the area
looks like an alien world.

Giant, smoothed rocks blasted
by storms over hundreds of
millennia rise from the sands.

40 million years ago,

This desert was at
the bottom of the
now vanished tethys sea.

When 20th century explorers
dug here, they uncovered
not ancient temples

But the remains of
giant sea creatures.

Paleontologist mohammed sameh
has been excavating this site
since the year 2000.

Mohamed: This place
is full of secrets and
everyday it reveals another.

The layers are like
an open book that we can
read to learn its history.

Narrator: Mohamed
brushes away dust from
the fossilized skeleton of a

60-foot long prehistoric
animal that swam the
ocean millions of years ago.

Mohamed: It's an indescribable
feeling to study a creature
that's 40 million years old

And has been discovered
after all that time.

Narrator: The hundreds
of skeletons like this,
give the site its name.

In arabic, wadi al-hitan
means valley of the whales.

This is the skeleton
of a basilosaurus,
one of the earliest

Whales to live on earth.

After decades of research
mohamed can put flesh onto the
creature's bones

To reveal it had a
muscular body and large,

Powerful jaws that
allowed it to hunt
like a killer whale.

These fossils form the
most important collection
of whale bones on earth.

They offer a unique
insight into how modern
marine mammals evolved from

Their prehistoric ancestors.

Mohamed: We tell
all our visitors,

'when you come to the
valley of the whales,

Close your eyes and listen
to the sound of the ocean'.

It's a marine
world in the desert.

Narrator: For millennia,
egypt's deserts constrained
the country's urban and

Economic development.

Now, 21st century
technology is turning
these wastelands into prime

Energy-producing real estate.

Just inland from
the red sea coast,

The hot desert air
creates strong
winds that the egyptians

Are harnessing for power.

Here wind speeds regularly
top 70 miles per hour.

It's the perfect place
to build the largest wind
farm in the middle east.

An aerial view reveals the
scale of the epic project.

It covers an area
of 40 square miles.

290 giant turbines,
fitted with 128-foot
long blades

Combine to generate 580
megawatts of electricity.

Enough energy to power
almost half a million homes.

This windy desert is
the ideal environment for
generating renewable energy,

But it also delivers a daily
blast of sand to the turbines.

That's bad news for
emad hamdy, a maintenance
engineer at the site.

Today, he's on an
emergency call out.

The wind farm's control
center has received an alert.

A turbine's wind
meter is broken.

It can't run until
the meter is fixed.

Man: Turbine 55 has
a wind gauge failure.

Clear damage,
send me confirmation
when the job's done.

Narrator: The
meter is at the top of
the 196-foot turbine.

Emad must now scale
this goliath to fix it.

Narrator: Engineer
emad hamdy stands
atop a 196-foot turbine

In egypt's largest wind farm.

He must repair its
broken wind meter.

70 mile per hour gusts make
this one of the best spots
for a wind farm in north africa.

On the few occasions
the wind does drop, the
pressure is on to complete

Repairs as quickly as possible.

After 30 minutes
watching his every step,
emad's work is finished and

He retreats to the safety
of the turbine's interior.

With the wind meter fixed,

The 7-ton, 128 foot long
blades start to spin,

And feed electricity straight
into the egyptian power grid.

Here in egypt the ancient
and modern live side by side.

As the country moves forward,

And lifestyles, jobs
and industries change,

Many communities are
determined to not lose sight
of their culture and history.

Located deep in
the western desert,

Just 30 miles from
the libyan border,

People in siwa have
been the producing
dates for thousands of years.

From above, a
burst of green spreads
across the arid desert.

350 miles from
the river nile,

More than
700,000 date palm
trees blanket the oasis.

This is one of the
most fertile areas of egypt
outside the nile valley.

Mohamed admy picks
dates using a technique
unchanged for generations.

Mohamed: I harvest dates by
spreading a sheet on the
ground around the palm tree.

Then I climb up, tie myself
to the tree and start to pick.

We throw the dates
on the ground,

Then we sort out the good ones

From the ones that
are infested with bugs.

Narrator: After 8 hours
harvesting, it's time for
mohamed to sell his dates.

This is where the ancient
crop meets the 21st century.

Unlike his ancestors,

Mohamed doesn't rely
on an uncertain price
at the local market.

He takes his dates to the
town center factories instead.

Mohamed: When the quality
is good the dates end up
being exported abroad and

Sold for a good price.

Then when the next
season comes around and someone
asks for my dates again,

I can demand a higher price.

Narrator: This system
means mohamed can now
rely on a predictable income.

Mohamed: Before, date
farmers had to wait for their
payments because the merchant

Had to sell the harvest
before he could pay us.

Today, I deliver my
harvest to the factory
and get paid on the spot.

Narrator: The industry
may be changing but the
local traditions remain strong.

As evening falls mohamed joins
his fellow farmers in a
ceremony of song and dance.

They remain as proud of their
history and heritage as ever.

From siwa to magnificent
ancient monuments, the
past constantly colors the

Lives of modern egyptians.

In 1977, archaeologists
deciphered hieroglyphics
that described an epic

Contest in the desert.

An ancient pharaoh put
his soldiers to the test
by challenging them to a

62-mile race around
egypt's first pyramids.

Inspired by the tale,

Modern egyptians
resurrected the
event that starts

Outside the city of faiyum.

It's 4:00am and a group
of athletes are warming up,

Ready to bring the
legacy of the pharaohs
into the 21st century.

47-year-old mahmoud dehis
is an ultra-marathon runner.

He has won this race
a record 10 times.

-Three, two, one, go!

Can he win it again today?

Narrator: The grand
pharaonic race is a
62-mile ultra-marathon

Through egypt's
western desert.

It's an ancient
event reinvented
for the 21st century.

The athletes race
through history: Past
five of the first pyramids

Built by the ancient egyptians.

Mahmoud dehis not only
wants to win today,
he wants to once again

Beat the 8- hour time
of the ancient runners
recorded on hieroglyphics.

Mahmoud: When I think
about our ancestors who
ran the same route,

I start hearing the
rhythm of their footsteps.

Narrator: 18 miles into
the race the runners pass the
4600-year-old meidum pyramid.

This is the ancient
egyptians' second
attempt at such a monument,

Built around 50 years
before the great
pyramid of giza.

From up above, the
miles still left to run
stretch away to the horizon.

The non-stop ultra-marathon,

Through often
sweltering temperatures,

Plays havoc with
both body and mind.

Mahmoud: Very often runners,

Myself included,
feel despair and fatigue.

Narrator: 40 miles into
the race and mahmoud has left
the other competitors behind.

He'll complete its
grueling final stages alone.

The effort to break away from
the pack takes a toll on
mahmoud's legs.

A support medic
massages his aching muscles...

To help mahmoud
push on through the
heat of the midday sun.

Cheering crowds
boost mahmoud's moral.

He thanks them by throwing
candy to excited children.

Now, he's ready to
face the final 6 miles.

A daunting uphill climb past
the stepped pyramid of dioser,
the first ever built in egypt.

Pushing through the pain,

Mahmoud chases down
the finish line with the

Other competitors
still out of sight.

Shattered but
triumphant mahmoud
finishes in first place...

Mahmoud: It feels great,
I feel like everyone is
happy when I win.

It's a really great joy.

Narrator: His time of seven
hours forty-two minutes is

Just 12 minutes
behind his personal best.

Again, the 47-year-old
beats the 8-hour time
recorded by the ancients...

Mahmoud: Everyone
should appreciate
persistence, determination,

And overcoming challenges.

You need this spirit
no matter your age.

Narrator: This hardcore
endurance event proves that
even in the 21st century the

Spirit of the pharaohs
has not been forgotten.

Flying over egypt,
our birds' eye view
reveals a nation moving

Forward while embracing
its unique history.

Engineering mega-projects in
the desert are powering the
country to a bright future.

A state-of-the-art
museum will showcase
priceless ancient treasures

For the whole world to
understand and enjoy.

This is a land where
the achievements of the
past are still inspiring

The egyptians of today.

Captioned by cotter
captioning services.