Traveling the Nile on a felucca

Placid, slow, incomparable, unforgettable!

Beginning the felucca journey in Aswan

By the time I got to Aswan, I had spent six days in Cairo, followed by an overnight train ride to Aswan. Though the journey between the two is from north to south, I was heading from Lower Egypt to the Upper Egypt.

Anyone educated in the USA who has learned to read a map would call the northern part “upper” and the southern part “lower.” Think of terminology that we use, such as Upstate New York and The Lower 48.

It is just the opposite for Egyptians, as “Upper” refers to topographically higher ground, which is also the region from which the Nile flows, which is from the south to the north. Thus “Upper Egypt” is below “Lower Egypt” on maps.

With only a few hours to go until my felucca ride, I decided to take a local ferry to Elephantine Island, in the middle of the Nile, to see the Nubian village there. The island was different from Aswan, which is all prettied up for the tourist trade. Over there, houses are not all well-maintained, there is garbage in the streets, and even though tourists do go there, it is not kept clean for their benefit.

From Elephantine Island, I could see the botanical garden on yet another island. But I didn’t have time to go over there. In pleasant weather like this, it would be a nice visit.

Upon my return to Aswan, I headed to the felucca dock, where I boarded on schedule, at noon, only to find that I was the only passenger there. The crew was unclear as to how many other people would be going with us, as well as when anyone else would arrive.

Since no other passengers had yet arrived, I checked with the crew to see if it was all right to head out for a little lunch and a walk. Knowing that I was going to be confined to the boat for the next two days, I thought I may as well move around when I could.

When I returned at 1:00, the others had arrived and we were ready to set sail. The group was significantly smaller than the capacity of the boat, which afforded us plenty of space for spreading out. There were: Ken from England, Jamie from Australia, and Christie from Canada. Ken and Christie had a guide, Abdul, traveling with them. They were with a larger group, but the rest of the people had decided to “upgrade” to one of the cruiseliners that plies the Nile. There are lots of these huge boats here!

In addition to these passengers, there was a crew of three. Christie, Ken, Jamie, Abdul, and I had a huge amount of space for spreading out. The surface area on which we sat was roughly fourteen feet by twenty feet, and we had fairly thick and comfortable foam underneath us.

There were several disadvantages to the whole set-up, but they were vastly outweighed by one solitary advantage. To explain:

*There was no privacy — everything we did was right out there in the open.

*There was only floor seating. I prefer to sit in chairs, with my feet dangling below me.

*There was no bathroom nor showers onboard.

*We had limited range of movement, as the canvas above our heads was so low that it didn’t allow us to stand up straight for walking around.

*There was to be a narrow range of food available, with only a two-burner stove on board (as compared to the cruise liners with their buffets).

*There was little protection from the elements, be they heat, cold, or wind.

But the sole advantage was the overwhelming sense of tranquility and relaxation that I began to experience the moment we set sail. We were moving very slowly, as the wind was our only means of propulsion. I found that I greatly enjoyed being just a few feet above the level of the water and going at this slow pace.

As the large cruisers sped past us, making us bobble around the water in the waves that they created, I was ecstatic to be exactly where I was!

In the afternoon, after sailing for a few hours, we tied up to a point along the shore. Just about everyone fled to private areas where we could improvise our personal bathrooms. The hottest it got all day was 77F/25C.

On board, Jamie and I were the only nonsmokers, which made it a bit challenging for me.

Dinner was simple but delicious. The air started to cool a bit when the sun set. The crew wrapped the felucca with a tarp, which gave us a bit of privacy, but, more importantly, kept the cold breeze out, as the temperature started to decrease. During the night it got down to 53F/11.6C. I must say, though, that I was comfy in the sleeping bag that the crew provided.

Our first morning

First thing in the morning, after we had had our coffee and breakfast, Jamie got picked up to be taken off to whatever continuation tour he had. The rest of us, then, had even more room to spread out.

We drifted all morning, watching the farmers working on their shoreline farms, waving to folks on the other feluccas. There was nothing to do, but sit around and enjoy the idyllic setting. For a city guy like me, I surprised myself by enjoying this setting as much as I did.

Around lunchtime, we tied up to the west bank. Shortly after that, another felucca tied up next to us. There were ten people on board: nine from New Zealand and one from Australia. Both feluccas stayed there through the rest of the day and into the night.

In the evening, the two crews provided a bonfire and some entertainment in the form of the playing of percussion instruments and singing. The camaraderie was special, as people enjoyed beers, singing, and wiggling to the music.

The next morning: from the felucca to Luxor

The crew warned us that they would set sail again at 4:00. Their preparations to depart woke me. I couldn’t feel any motion, but sure enough, when I lifted the canvas that was wrapping the felucca, I could see that we were, indeed, moving.

By 7:00 we had stopped and ate our breakfast. Several taxis arrived to take us to our first sight of the day. Another felucca had tied up next to ours. Somehow, behind the scenes, the various tours and individuals were re-grouped so that we could move on.

Christie and Ken were off to re-join the folks that they had left in the first place. I was put together with Isabelle from France, José from Switzerland, and two guys, both named Maciej, from Poland.

Everyone was feeling a bit grubby, as we had all been without the benefit of bathrooms for a few days. The only reason I looked like I hadn’t shaved or showered in two days and appeared as if I had been sleeping in my clothes was that I hadn’t shaved or showered in two days, and had been sleeping in my clothes.

Despite that, everyone was in good spirits, happy to be heading to see some spectacular sites. It was a good thing we were all in these organized groups, as we were in yet another convoy area, with access limited to set times when the convoys roll.

First up was the temple at Kom Ombo. In actuality, this site houses two temples: one dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god, and the other to Haroeris, the falcon-headed sky god. They say that during the ancient times, crocodiles (which were considered to be sacred) swam in the Nile. The site is beautiful, as the buildings sit majestically along the Nile. There are lots of stone carvings on walls and pillars.

After a scant hour at Kom Ombo, the convoy redeployed and we rode down the road for an hour or so to Edfu, where we saw the Temple of Horus, which has been described as the best preserved and most complete temple of ancient Egypt. This temple took about two hundred years to be built, and I am not surprised, considering all the carved stone that we saw there.

From this point, we had another two hours before we got to Luxor. My itinerary, as prepared by Sam in Cairo, said that we would be checking into our hotels by 14:00, and he was within just a few minutes of it!

The driver of our minibus took us to our respective hotels. Within a few minutes, as if by magic, my host guide for the Luxor portion of my stay appeared at the hotel. Mimo, the guide, gave me my itinerary for the next few days, and off I went to take a much-needed shower.

I was free for the rest of the day, so I wandered around town and caught up on e-mail.