Egypt 2006 the solar eclipse

In 2006, I went to Egypt with 3 friends with the aim of seeing the Solar Eclipse… for the first time in my life. Well not quite, in 1999 we were in North-East France but that eclipse fell in the rain (it would happen to me again).

This eclipse took place, among other things, on the Libyan border near the border town of El Salloum. We had to leave the coastal town of Marsa Matruh in the middle of the night at 3am to arrive at the hill/mountain on time, the soldiers had set a deadline of 8am. On the way, we saw the constellation Orion high in the sky, a sign that we were well southerly. Once arrived, each country had its own large tent, unfortunately the mountain was thick in the fog...no, it starts well again just like in 99. We were discussing walking down the hill because things looked good downstairs but realized that this would certainly not be allowed by the military. Fortunately, it cleared up at 9:30 am and believed in a good outcome again. We put ourselves in position behind the telescopes.  Gradually, we saw the light intensity decrease as the Moon moved further and further in front of the Sun. We saw 3 helicopters appear with President Mubarak in one of them. The light quickly diminished and yes, there came the first Protuberances (flames on the edge of the Sun) and suddenly it became dark and the thin Corona appeared, everyone in ecstasy, even the most sober Dutch were crazy. The horizon had a strange red-yellow color, the planets Venus and Saturn were now also clearly visible, but the corona soon claimed our attention again. The camera rattled on for a while, but halfway I stopped, because I had intended to definitely go

Here an impression: