Serenity

Trip Start Mar 07, 2006

Trip End Jun 07, 2006

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Flag of Egypt Kom Ombo, Egypt
Friday, April 7, 2006

Well after me finally recovering from my little bout of dodgy tummy we have booked a felucca for the next two days to sail down the Nile, northwards towards Luxor. The felucca is the traditional sailboat on the Nile and is only found in Egypt, it has a very shallow draft a very wide beam with a large sail attached to mast and boom. A very simple design but effective in catching every breath of wind available to it which is essential on the river where wind is never guaranteed.

So we met our Captains, Ali and Bedouway and set off, wind in our faces on Rose 2 our felucca. We opted to hire an entire felucca just for the two of us but most boats will carry between 8 and 15 people depending on how big they are of course. So for the next two days we have nothing to do but relax, decide whether to sleep in the sun or in the shade, read a book or gaze at the sleepy green water flowing by endlessly. Ali and Bedouway were both very friendly blokes, in their late thirties to early forties and both were single. They are Nubian, who have inhabited this area of Egypt since Pharonic times. When Lake Nassar was built, many thousands of Nubians were displaced from their villages and were relocated by the Egyptian government to Aswan and surrounding villages all the way up to Edfu, a couple of days sailing up the Nile. Like the Siwi people they have their own spoken language as well as speaking Arabic and are predominantly Muslim. Ali in particular spoke English quite well and was really keen to chat with us about all sorts of stuff from farming and fishing in Australia to what it was like for us living in different places in the world.

Ali and Bedowee

He was a very intelligent guy and knowing that he will probably never leave Egypt, he uses the tourists that come on his boat as his education.

So idyllically sailing during the days, having food cooked for us and then sleeping on the deck of the boat by night was pretty hard to handle as you can imagine. We both had a go at sailing the felucca on the second day and we managed not to hit any river boats so that was definitely a good thing.

It was very hot with not much wind on the second day so we did the unthinkable and went for a dip in the Nile, mouth closed needless to say. Pulling up to sandy beaches at night the Captains, we were travelling with another felucca also, would light a small fire on the beach and get out their Nubian drums and play for a little while and sing, some traditional songs and some not so traditional ie She'll be Coming Down The Nile (round the mountain tune)which was fun.

I think the best part of the two days we spent on Rose 2 was the silence, no traffic with the never ending horns. But all good things come to an end and after a quick breakfast of sweet tea, boiled eggs and biscuits on the third morning we arrived at the town of Kom Ombo to depart our felucca, jump on a minibus and head back to Luxor with a couple of temple visits thrown in for good measure.

The first was at Kom Ombo itself and was dedicated to the crocodile headed God Sobek. They used to keep live crocodiles here in the temple pool and there are mummified crocodiles on display here also. The second was the Temple of Horus at Edfu, without a doubt the biggest and most imposing temple we have visited so far. Once again, a lot of the reliefs covering the walls have been defaced in early Christian times.

On the road, arrived back in Luxor early afternoon and sorted out our bus tickets for the next day to finally take us across to the coast and the glorious Red Sea at Dahab.