Saw a very sad site whilst in the Valley of the queens, my guide book had stated that by far the best tomb in the whole of Egypt, tomb of nefatari, was closed and had been for the last 4 years. Imagine my supprise when I saw 10's of people being led under the rope and into the tomb, no masks, no foot protection as was in the days when it was officially open.

Also the site was limited to 300 visitors a day during its previous open session. whilst I stood there watching over the space of 30 minutes I must of seen over 150 people entering the tomb.

When I enquired about this i was told that they were special guests of one of the ministers (they looked like tourists to me). I asked a guard how I was able to get on the guest list and was basically told that for $100 it could be arranged!!

now i calculate a pesimistic $50,000 per day disapearing out of the official governments coffers and untold damage being done to the tomb due to no protection being worn by the entrants.

Unfortunatly the bakshees opens alot of doors, we decided we didnt want to be part of the damage and moved on.

That's horrible! Reading stuff like this makes me sick to my stomach. Since it isn't being controlled, the tourism in the tomb is going to likely damage it greatly in a relatively short span of time. While I realize there is a huge potential for tourism, they need to regulate it better, and more "officially."

So basically if you have the money you can go in and see the tomb. Sounds like someone is making some money on this deal. Not to worried about the damage that could be done with so much traffic in and out of the tomb just as long as you have the money. That is sad.

That's really horrible... It's so sad that a lot of damage could and probably will be done and the one's responsible won't be held accountable.

It is really sad that people have so little respect for places like this. Sure, it would be wonderful to enter the tomb and see it for yourself, but if everyone does that, it won´t be anything but a hole when our children are grown. They really need to take more responsability for the preservation of the past.

That is horrible! They shouldn't be able to do that. I think places like that should be honored not sold for profit.

It reminds me a lot of some of the caves we have around here. They are so delicate and simply touching the walls with your hands can further erosion and destroy a lot of what is forming in them. People will throw trash on the ground, it just amazes me they really think they are that despensable. Some people even go as far as to break off a stalagmite or stalagtite and that makes me really angry.

obviously from my name i would LOVE to see inside Nefertari's tomb, but cant afford it anyway. I did see a video some time ago of the inside and just sat with my mouth open, absolutely fantastic.

I was lucky enough to see this tomb a few years back, it was only open for a brief time, and it coincided with my visit. It closed again soon afterwards, but it was magnificent!
You can apply for special permission to see inside, but it is a lot more money than $100! I would imagine those you saw going in had paid large amounts of baksheesh.