Egypt: Two communities show Nubians' past, a version of the future

Egypt's Nubians look back at their lives in ancestral lands in southern Egypt as a peaceful era tied intimately to the Nile River.

Since their eviction in the 1960s to make way for the lake behind the Aswan High Dam, they've lived in desolate towns further north, often on the edge of the desert. Many yearn to return to lands along the banks of Lake Nasser.

The village of Heisa, home to around 2 000 people, offers a glimpse into what life was like for Nubians in their homeland before the upheavals of the last century.

Meanwhile, Wadi Karkar, a complex built by the military in the desert west of Lake Nasser, shows the state's fumbling attempts to find a substitute to quiet calls for a return to the old country.