By Val Carpenter

The March 19 solar eclipse was starkly visible in a cloudless sky over Egypt.

Sallum - On a high desert plateau overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, just a few miles from the Libyan border, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak joined an estimated 6,000 tourists and scientists and 2,500 local residents to watch the total solar eclipse March 29.

Just before noon, the moon began its transit across the face of the sun in a cloudless sky. As the eclipse neared totality at 12:38 p.m., the wind picked up and it grew cold and dark. The planets Venus and Mercury were clearly visible in the night sky, while a beautiful orange-yellow sunset ringed the horizon. For 3 minutes and 58 seconds, we stared with unshielded eyes at the deep black circle that hid the sun, revealing only its flaring corona, until the brilliance of the sun returned.

We had traveled to Egypt with a group of amateur and professional astronomers - “eclipse chasers” - to witness this rare astronomical event. While the total solar eclipse was the centerpiece of our two-week tour, we also visited many other sites in this fascinating country of 66.5 million Arabic-speaking Muslims, whose recorded history goes back more than 5,000 years.

There is much to see beyond the famous pyramids at Giza, near Cairo, which are even more massive in real life than photographs convey. The latest incarnation of the fabled library at Alexandria is striking, and along the north coast, the Mediterranean shimmers in impossible shades of turquoise. Other highlights include the temples of Luxor and Karnak in Luxor (ancient Thebes), the tombs of the Valley of the Kings and the temples of Abu Simbel, which were cut out of the mountain where they were carved and relocated several hundred feet higher before the Aswan Dam was built and created Lake Nasser.

A cruise of the Nile River on a luxurious riverboat was relaxing after the arduous trip to the northwest corner of the country for the eclipse. Days went by as we watched the white egrets and feluccas (sailboats) on the placid river, passing oxen, donkeys and local inhabitants on the shores. Egypt is defined by the Nile. Its valley is lush with palm trees and crops, while the landscape abruptly changes to desert sand where the flood plain ends.

Tourism is Egypt’s top source of revenue and since 1997 the government has taken protecting visitors seriously. Our group was always accompanied by a security guard, and there are armed tourism police everywhere. At no time did we feel unsafe or even any hostility from local residents.

While the next total solar eclipse in Egypt isn’t until 2027, we highly recommend that you visit now.

Carpenter is a Los Altos City Councilmember.