Egypt’s papyrus makers keep tradition alive despite tourism slump

Al-Qaramus village, about 80km (50 miles) northeast of Cairo, is Egypt’s largest hub of papyrus production.

In the lush green fields of Egypt’s fertile Delta Valley, farmers and artisans struggle to make a living as they keep alive the Pharaonic tradition of making papyrus. In the 1970s, an art teacher in the village of al-Qaramus taught farmers the millennia-old techniques for transforming the plant into sought-after paper decorated with ornate drawings and text. The village and its surrounds, located about 80km (50 miles) northeast of the capital Cairo, now make up the largest papyrus production hub in the country, experts in the sector say.