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From next Wednesday (February 1) until July 31, the Hong Kong Space Museum will stage the latest Omnimax Show "Mystery of the Nile", a breathtaking new cinematic adventure documenting one of the greatest expeditions in modern times with the first full descent of the world's greatest and deadliest river - the Nile.
Audiences will join the team of explorers to make their way 5,200 km along the Blue Nile and the Nile to the Mediterranean Sea. The journey traversed three countries in some of the world's remotest regions - Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. During the 114-day trip, members of the team faced the most unforgettable challenges such as deadly crocodiles and hippos, the world's most dangerous whitewater rapids, gunfire from bandits, malaria, and temperatures topping 48¡ãC. They also visited some of the isolated ancient cities on their way.
Africa's greatest secret for thousands of years lies in the source of the world's longest river. Unique among the world's river, the Nile is the most important river on earth as it gives life to the first great civilisation.
Eight thousand years ago, farmers diverted water from the Nile to irrigate their crops and made the desert bloom. Without the Nile, there would be no great pyramids, no advanced civilisation with all its innovations in language, art and astronomy. The main source of the Nile is in the rugged highlands of Ethiopia while more than 80% of its water comes from Ethiopia's Blue Nile and its tributaries.
The exploration team first arrived Ethiopia along the Blue Nile where they visited the 1,600-year-old holy city of Lalibela and a church chiselled out of one giant block of stone. It is said that hidden in these stone churches is the Arc of the Covenant which contains the tablet engraved with the Ten Commandments.
Following the river, the team arrived at Sudan. Cloaked in secrecy behind the veil of Islam, Sudan is the most mysterious country on the Nile. The temperature in Sudan can be as extremely high as 115 degrees in the shade and huge windstorms appear suddenly. Though war and violence are widespread in Sudan, its people are friendly and the scenery of this lost kingdom is breathtaking, including the ancient city of Meroe ¡ª one of the Nile's best kept secrets.
Reaching Cairo, the capital of Egypt, was a milestone for the explorers. The city's beautiful scenery appeared almost like a fabulous mirage to the team as they had seen only sand dunes and mud huts for a few months during the trip.
Photographed in the world's largest and most evocative motion picture format, this film will take viewers to experience the dangerous expedition to the Nile and reveal the beauty and wonder of the magnificent Nile region.
The 47-minute Omnimax Show "Mystery of the Nile" will be screened daily at 1.30pm, 5pm and 8.30pm at the museum's Stanley Ho Space Theatre. The Space Museum is closed on Tuesdays (except public holidays).
Tickets are available at the Space Museum Box Office and at all URBTIX outlets for $24 (front stalls) and $32 (stalls). Full-time students, senior citizens and people with disabilities will receive a half-price concession.
The Space Museum is located at 10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. For further information, call 2721 0226 or visit the website at http://hk.space.musuem/.
Ends/Friday, January 27, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:01
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