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Published: September 19th 2010
The thought of sailing down the Nile on a felucca has always evoked romantic images of the past for me. Their broad triangular sails have been part of the Nile landscape since the time of the pharaohs. For thousands of years feluccas were the main mode of transportation along the Nile. Their importance waned only after the British pushed the steel rails south into the desert during the nineteenth century. Now they are almost exclusively reserved for the tourist industry. Many of the guidebooks list cruising on a felucca as the ultimate Nile experience. I have heard travelers call their felucca journey the highlight of their trip in Egypt, but I have also heard the voyages described as boring, uncomfortable and painfully long. I love boats, especially sailboats, and everything to do with being out on the water, so there was no question in my mind that I wanted to cruise down the Nile on a felucca. The question was whether or not I was going to be able to.
I had originally wanted to sail from Aswan all the way to Luxor, stopping at the famous temple complexes of Kom Ombo and Edfu along the way. I quickly experienced
Sailing on a Felucca
This is the famous triangular sail of our Felucca.resistance to that idea - The captains all refused to do such a trip. I then settled on the only voyage being offered, a two-night journey from Aswan to Kom Ombo, with a cab ride filling in the rest of the gap to Luxor. It wasn’t ideal, considering that the trip is often done in one day, but it was all that was available in the off-season. On the morning of my scheduled departure day the captain decided to be sick - He had contracted the common, but debilitating ‘not enough passengers’ sickness! The next morning, just after breakfast, I found out from the man in the lobby of my hotel that all was ready on the felucca and we were due to leave immediately.
I ran back up to my room and packed my bag and then I walked a few blocks down to the Nile. There I found Ashrf, the man that I had set the voyage up with, and he quickly escorted me down the corniche towards our felucca. We stopped at a ramp that led down to one of the massive cruise ships that lined the bank. At the bottom of the ramp, our felucca
The Carved Walls of Kom Ombo
This was one of the prettiest carvings I saw in Egypt. was wedged between that ship and another even larger one. It was tied up to a small, wooden pier with a second felucca tied up beside it. The captain, a friendly man named Mohammed, greeted me at the bow and welcomed me on board. He took my backpack and stashed it in a big storage compartment under the floor. The deck of the felucca was level with the gunwales and made the boat feel more like a raft with a sail. There were two other people seated on a colorful, padded mat beneath the awning that blanketed the small boat’s entire floor with shade. I took a seat next to them on the mat and introduced myself. My two companions had been waiting for about an hour by the time I arrived. They had been told that a few more people were coming, which meant we had another person to wait for.
The time drifted by slowly. Captain Mohammed disappeared at one point, replaced by another man named Mohammed. Slowly, a trickle of tourists arrived at the felucca with their bags. Each new arrival peaked our hopes of having an eminent departure, only to be crushed again when one
The Nile Meter
Were there sacred crocodiles in there? Where does that tunnel go? of the Mohammeds would say, “There is one more person to wait for.” We passed our time sharing humorous stories from the road and watching the river-side life unfold before us - It was actually quite a pleasant way to spent the morning. Through the small gap between the two cruise ships we watched a multitude of boats sail up and down the river filled with tourists. There were huge cruise ships and countless day-tripping feluccas, small fishing boats and even few motorized ferries - Aswan’s section of Nile was very busy. At one point a large group of local children ran down to the ramp to the dock and jumped into the Nile. It was the hottest part of the day and their laughter was contagious as they splashed in the refreshing water - It was a humorous scene, but none of us on board the felucca could stop thinking about the health dangers of swimming there, mainly the aggressive parasites that the guidebooks warned us about. Lunchtime came and went with no sign of departure, so a few of my companions decided to go and get some food. Just as they disappeared up the ramp on the Corniche
Sailing on the Nile
This was our view of the Aswan Bridge on the first day. the Mohammeds reappeared with one last tourist and Ashrf, the felucca tout we had all signed up with, carrying a bag of food and some jugs of water. They said it was (finally) time to go. The captain looked at the deck of the boat and said with a concerned look on his face, “We are missing two people.” We explained that they had run to the store to get some lunch and that they would be right back. The captain immediately started up the ramp to look for them, so we had to stall a bit to avoid loosing him again. Just as he reached the top of the ramp our companions returned and we were ready to go.
We threw the lines off the dock and pushed ourselves out past the two cruise ships into the flow of the Nile. Captain Mohammed, with the help of Assistant Captain Mohammed, raised the large triangular sail and directed our bow down river towards the distant Mediterranean. We were finally underway, sailing northward into the unknown along the most ancient of Egyptian highways. Our felucca had a very diverse and international crowd. There were the two Mohammeds and Ashrf representing
A Nile Sunset
This was our first sunset on the Nile. Egypt and Africa, there were two English guys, a couple from Belgium and a German girl representing Europe, a couple from Colombia representing South America, a guy from Canada and myself representing North America and one Korean man representing all of Asia. Only Australia and Antarctica were lacking representation! With thirteen people sharing the felucca’s tiny deck we were definitely overcrowded, but everyone got along well and we had a great time getting acquainted.
Before long the lovely town of Aswan was a memory. Gone were the tireless touts and the constant pleas for our money. Even Ashrf, who had been ruthless on land in Aswan as he tried to fill the boat, was pleasant as he quietly watched the banks of the Nile Valley flow by. The hustle and bustle of Egyptian tourism was gone and in its place there was a profound silence. We could hear the whisper of the gentile breeze blowing in from the desert sands and the soft trickle of the Nile as it flowed around our boat. It seemed that we had sailed right out of the modern world. Thin bands of green palms lined the bank on both sides of the river.
The Banks of the Nile
This is a typical view of the banks of the Nile. Often we could see the desert rising up behind the palms. Behind the trees, giant mountains of sand rose high above the green and reminded us of the mighty dessert that stretched across the whole of North Africa. It was easy to picture the Nile as it had been thousands of years ago. I imagined crocodiles and hippos frolicking along the muddy banks, feluccas drifting quietly past and massive, northbound barges loaded down with giant blocks of red granite from Aswan’s quarries. Occasionally power lines, or a lonely truck, or a passing train would remind us that we were still in the twentieth century, though they were few and far between. Towards evening on our first night the graceful, but oddly out of place Aswan Bridge appeared in front of us. We all stared in awe as we slowly approached the twin fans of the huge suspension bridge and then passed between its two massive support towers. Shortly after the bridge disappeared behind us in a bend in the river we pulled over to a large, sandy island on the west bank of the river and tied up for the night. We watched a fiery sunset over the palms and then we settled in for a wonderful dinner. We spent a
The Unexpected Passenger
My friend Maxx was digging through his bag when this big spider jumped out of his things. It sat on the rope long enough to get some pictures and then he went on a voyage of his own. while after dinner getting to know each other better and then we drifted off to sleep.
I was the first one awake the following morning, so I hurried to shore to steal a quick walk before it was time to go. The stunning river landscape was quiet and misty and all was silent and peaceful. The sun was just peaking up above the palms on the far side of the river when I returned to the felucca. Captain Mohammed was awake and quietly getting ready for breakfast. He smiled at me and indicated that he needed some help getting underway. A few minutes later we drifted out into the placid water and sailed across the river to the east bank. There we tied the felucca up beneath the shade of a large palm grove and ate a delicious breakfast of bread, jam and hard-boiled eggs - All of the other people on the boat were scared of the eggs for some reason, so it was up to me, Ashrf and the two Mohammeds to eat them and I ended up eating several more than I should have. After breakfast we said farewell to four of our friends who were
The Temple of Kom Ombo
Note the lovely pigmentation. meeting a taxi there. After they disappeared into the trees at the top of the bank with Ashrf at the lead we pushed off again and drifted out into the center of the river.
We spent the entire day drifting slowing down the river. With five fewer people on board, we were able to really stretch out and get comfortable. The result was a day of perfect leisure and relaxation filled with nearly constant laughter. The peaceful silence that had been so profound the day before was even more pronounced and the river seemed even more removed from the modern world. The thick, green palm groves were unbroken along the banks of the river. At times the lush groves were so huge and the valley so wide that we couldn’t even see the orange sands of the Sahara rising up behind them. At other times the verdant band of life seemed to be struggling against the mountainous bulk of shifting sand to hold on to its precarious foothold on the Nile’s life-giving banks. Despite the absence of the crocodiles and hippos, the river was part of a vast wilderness that stretched across North Africa. I couldn’t help but think
Sobek
The crocodile headed god that Kom Ombo was dedicated to. of the immensity of the desert we were sailing through. I knew that if I started walking west I would only encounter a few developed roads on my trek to the distant Atlantic Coast, more than three thousand miles away - I knew there were few wildernesses so immense left on Earth!
Occasionally we passed feluccas heading upriver towards Aswan. Many of them were tied together with their huge, triangular sails opposing each other in a graceful butterfly-like pattern - Mohammed said that they lash two boats together to double the sail area for the slow journey up stream against the current. The only reminders of modern Egypt that we passed that day were a few power lines and the massive cruise ships that formed a nearly endless procession heading up and down the river. Sometime after lunch I drifted off into a food induced slumber. At the time I was reading a novel about an Ottoman invasion of Malta that partially took place on the coast of the mighty desert I was sailing in. As a result, my dreams were filled with exotic images of scimitar wielding men in turbans and flowing tunics, of ruthless corsairs sailing the
high seas and of the sandy domains of the Sahara. It was amazing to wake up and gaze out across the same timeless landscape that had filled my dreams with such mystery and excitement! We tied up to another sandy island along the west bank of the river just as the sun was setting. Several donkeys and a pack of rowdy, but friendly dogs met us on the beach and proceeded to serenade us with a cacophony of braying, barking, growling and yelping as they ran around us wagging their tails and fighting with each other. We spent a long time that evening sitting and talking, or looking up at the amazing blanket of stars above us. It had been dark for hours by the time we all drifted off to sleep.
I took another quick sunrise walk along the misty riverbank the following morning and then we got underway one last time. We ate breakfast as we drifted. We all knew that it was our last meal on the felucca, so our conversations revolved around the fun we had had and our desires to continue sailing down the Nile. Four of us on board, Sean, from England, Maxx
Ruined Columns
Kom Ombo was badly ruined, but still beautiful. from Canada, Kate from Germany and myself, hit it off well during the voyage. We were all planning on being in Luxor for several days as well, so we made plans on getting together again there. Just as breakfast was finished and cleaned up Captain Mohammed nosed the felucca towards a large group of feluccas that were tied up to the east bank. We all said our farewells to Mohammed and thanked him for a wonderful voyage and then we walked, one by one, across a flimsy wooden plank to the muddy shore. There a new man led us up the lush bank and escorted us into the back of a canvas covered pickup truck-like vehicle that was parked just out of sight. Much to our displeasure, our bags disappeared into another vehicle and left without us - We were told that we would be reunited with them when we joined the convoy after Kom Ombo, so, since we didn’t have a choice anyway, we forgot about them and turned our attention towards our next adventure in the ruins of Kom Ombo.
The Temple of Kom Ombo was a huge temple complex on the banks of the Nile. It
was built in Ptolemaic times and dated from the 2nd century B.C., though parts of the temple were from the reign of Tuthmosis III in around 1450 B.C. The original temple was dedicated to the crocodile-headed god Sobek. It was the first time I had seen Sobek’s strange image, which was essentially a crocodile-headed human, and it was located all over the site. We spent about an hour exploring the ruins. Though badly ruined compared to the temples around Aswan, the carvings in the Temple of Kom Ombo were amazing and well preserved. Several of the carvings retained flawless pigmentation that gave us an intriguing glimpse into what the temples looked like when they were new. There were the remains of huge columns and roofed halls. Every surface was intricately carved. As we walked around we delighted in finding a hidden carving or feature of the temple. At one point we looked down into a large, circular Nile-meter that someone said had contained the sacred crocodiles in ancient times - The crocodiles were sadly absent, but there was a staircase that emerged out of a mysterious tunnel that ran under the site! It was in a small, stone shrine-like building
A Painted Ceiling
The vulture is a typical motif to be painted on the ceiling of temples. This one was at Kom Ombo. at the edge of the temple complex that I finally found the famous Nile crocodiles. I had seen the mighty Nile crocs in Southern Africa (I even got to pet a giant one in Zambia), but they were sadly missing from the Nile landscape. These crocodiles were the mummified remains of the sacred crocodiles that once called Kom Ombo home. I was running out of time, so I quickly took a few last pictures and then I walked down to the huge cruise ship dock and bought an ice cream and a few snacks for the ride. When I got back to where the truck had been I discovered that our truck had been replaced with a van (and our bags). We stood around the van and talked and fought off a particularly annoying scarab salesmen (everyone in Egypt seemed to be selling ‘authentic’ scarabs) that wouldn’t take no for an answer. Eventually our driver showed up and we piled into the van. We drove to the edge of town where we stopped near the end of a long line of vehicles - It was convoy time again!
About ten minutes later the convoy got underway. Our van was
near the end of the line and as we approached the checkpoint a guard waved us over. We stopped and a very angry looking man with a thick mustache walked up to the window. He was wearing the gleaming white uniform of the tourist police with a black beret sitting slanted on his head. In his hand was a large machine gun. He exchanged a few words in Arabic with our driver and then he climbed up into the passenger seat. I doubted the need for an armed escort and I wondered how sound the logic was to put the machine guns in with the tourists. I imagined that the first vehicles to be attacked if the convoy was to be attacked would be the ones with guns in them - That would have been us, yay! Having the gunner in the van with us did add an air of hilarity to our conversation, which kept us entertained for the entire drive. We quickly left the town of Kom Ombo behind us and then we entered back into the lovely Nile Valley landscape of cultivated date palms. Eventually we crossed over the Nile on a dusty bridge and entered the
Giant Carvings
These figures were a few stories high! west bank town of Edfu. There we had a shock as countless guns materialized out of the large crowd and were turned on us. There were pink machine guns and green rifles and orange pistols and even a few old cowboy revolvers made of blue plastic, each one pointed right at us and fired energetically. There was no escape as our van took hit after hit, yet we managed to keep moving. The gunners’ faces were smiling broadly as they laughed and shouted, yet our guard thought nothing of it and ignored every one of them. The shooters poured into the streets behind us as we passed them and continued their barrage until we were well out of range of their water streams and then they went back to their parents. We had survived a relentless encounter with the little-talked-about and much-feared Happiness-ists!
We were in Edfu to see the Temple of Horus, which was considered to be one of the best-preserved temples in all of Egypt. Like Kom Ombo, the temple was of Ptolemaic origin, dating from the first or second century B.C., though small portions of an older temple could be found on the site. We had
an hour to explore the huge temple. Our driver was clear regarding the importance of being back at the van on time, blaming the rigid convoy schedule for the need of punctuality. I quickly walked off to explore, passing a group of Egyptian teens that were giggling and waiving at me as I went. I entered the temple through the huge pylon, pausing to admire a large statue of Horus that sat next to the ancient doorway. I spent my hour moving from one mysterious room to the next. The temple’s roof was intact, supported by a huge forest of intricately carved columns that disappeared into the darkness above my head. The lighting inside bathed the carved walls in golden light and deep shadows giving a mysterious feel to the interior. Like Kom Ombo, each wall was carved from the floor to the ceiling with grand scenes from life in ancient Egypt, or huge texts written in hieroglyphics - It was an amazing temple. I reached a dead end at a locked iron gate at the end of a narrow ramp that I had hoped would lead me to the upper levels of the temple. There I glanced down at
my watch and was shocked to see that my hour was up and then some - I was late! I quickly retraced my steps back through the maze-like interior of the temple with its huge columned halls, pausing to snap one last picture, and then I exited through its massive pylon. I rushed all the way back to the parking lot where I expected to find an angry guard pacing back and forth in front of the van with his machine gun pointed in my direction. Instead I found a completely deserted van. None of my friends had made it back yet and the driver and guard were missing as well. I could only laugh - I had rushed back for no reason! To make things even funnier, when I looked into the front seat of the unlocked van I saw a large machine gun and a black beret sitting on the seat, free for the taking!
About ten minutes later my friends showed up. The driver and guard were still missing, but we decided to climb into the van to get out of the sun. My friend Sean kept looking up at the gun in the front seat.
We could all see the look of mischief growing on his face. He looked all around us. The guard was nowhere to be seen, so he reached up into the front seat and grabbed the beret - Even he knew better than to touch the gun! We quickly took his picture with the beret on and then he longingly eyed the gun again. Luckily he decided to leave the gun alone, because just as he placed the beret back where it had been left, the guard and driver appeared right in front of us. We were all fighting to suppress a giggle as the stern-faced guard picked up his beret, looked at it with a strange look, and placed it on his head - He knew! There was still one person missing from our van when they showed up and they were quite mad about it. The girl showed up nearly an hour late. The driver yelled at her and the guard looked at her with a menacing glance of disgust and then we piled into the van and continued our journey towards Luxor.
The rest of our journey went smoothly. We talked for a while before the bumpy
A Lion
At Kom Ombo road and monotonous scenery put us all to sleep. We pulled into Luxor in the middle of the afternoon. The sun was beating down on us and we were all exhausted, but we made plans to meet for dinner later that evening. The driver dropped us off at the edge of the tourist district and we quickly found a hotel. We finalized our plans for the evening and then we all went our own ways for much-needed showers and a nap - The air conditioning was heavenly! We met that evening at a lovely second-floor restaurant near our hotel. We sat at a table overlooking a busy market area and had a lively curry dinner, followed by a big piece of apple pie with vanilla ice cream. The laughter was constant as we relived our journey down the Nile and talked of our future travel plans. We took several more pictures including a series set up to look like we were catapulting a wine glass across the room with our forks and spoons - The waiter was looking at us suspiciously, but we didn’t break anything. After dinner we went back to the hotel and played pool until late. We
made plans for dinner the following evening and then we headed off to our rooms to plan our explorations of the famous city of Luxor and its grand temples and tombs…
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saleh
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thankoyu اعلانات صحيفة دليل منتدى حواء سيتي مبوبة