The Nile

Felucca on Nile

Probably the most famous river in the world, the lifeline of this entire country and host to the ancient Egyptian civilization, the Nile is a wonder on to its self. Without the Nile Egypt would only be a barren dessert, instead it has lush farm land, mangrove forests, papyrus mashes and banks overflowing with palm trees. In a land where it never rains the sight of this amazing blue ribbon winding its way through the fertile floodplain flanked by the sand dunes is incredible.

View from Boat

As we were now on our Nile River Boat cruising down this river we couldn’t take our eyes of the changing scene as we floated down the river. Past ancient ruins, farmland with oxen, kids swimming, ibis skimming the water and camels grazing in the distance, Laurence could not stop taking those all important shots. A sense of awe and wonderment goes through you as you take it all that is the Nile.

We truly are pampered on this trip, as it low season and ship has only about a third of its capacity on board. So with only thirty guests we are getting the royal treatment from the staff and enjoying our memorable stay on this Nile boat. And of course we found time to catch the World Cup games, and yeah Holland won.

The River Boat going down the Nile

The Temple of Kom Ombo

Our first port of call was the Temple of Kom Ombo, a perfectly symmetrical temple with two entrances dedicated to two gods, left side to the falcon god Haroeris and the right side the crocodile god Sobek. This temple was constructed in 30 BC and is adorned with beautiful columns carved with lotus, lily and papyrus. The many reliefs depicting the struggles of daily life and the life of the gods is a masterful historical record of the past, including a functioning calendar.

Our Tour Guide Mahmoud 

Next we visited the temple of Edfu, exactly halfway between Aswan and Luxor. This is the best preserved temple in all of Egypt as it was covered by sand for nearly 2000 years and therefore it is almost completely intact. This temple of Horus is flanked by two mammoth Pylon structures as you pass into the inner courtyard with its intricately carved pillars. Here in the smaller chambers you are amazed with the colour still reaming on the walls and the detail of the hieroglyphics.

The temple of Edfu

We enjoyed a full day of river boat cruising, so we laid by the pool and watched the amazing landscape before us. The sense of floating down the Nile is a calming and reflective time and truly will be a lifetime memory.

Sunset on Nile