Cruising the Nile: A Memorable Experience

The Nile

The mighty Nile flows through eleven countries in Africa and is the primary source of water for Egypt playing a major part in its economy. Most cities in Egypt lie along the banks of this river for obvious reasons. Most of the ancient Egyptian cultural and historical sites also lie along the banks of the Nile and it was a major source of transportation from time immemorial.

While visiting many of the temples and archaeological sites in Egypt, we find a canal leading to the Nile from the temple and this was used for the sacred journeys that the Gods undertook during their festivals. The barque or sacred boat is an essential part of these festivals and is preserved at the temple sanctuary there highlighting the importance that the Nile played during that period.

The location of many of the tourist spots along the Nile makes a cruise on the Nile an interesting way of exploring these sites. It was precisely for this that we undertook a three day cruise on the Nile during our Egypt trip. Boarding the cruise from Aswan, we cruised up to Luxor halting at various locations on the way to visit the temples there. A summary of that cruise forms the subject of this episode. Come along and join me on an incredible cruise on this mighty river…

Our Cruise

We boarded the cruise at Aswan. There were three decks on the ship and we had comfortable cabins with large windows making the cruise a wonderful experience. The ship had all modern recreational facilities including a swimming pool , a bar, a restaurant and a shop. Some pictures from the ship…

Boarding the cruise at Aswan

On boarding, we reached a lobby where our guide allotted our rooms and we proceeded to our rooms.

The lobby with a bar

From the main lobby, there was a narrow passage with rooms on either side and a stairway leading to the upper rooms.

The stairway and the passage with rooms on either side

My room mate and me in our room with a creation by the room boy!!

There was a huge dining area and every meal was a buffet with a variety of Egyptian and continental dishes. The upper deck also had a gift shop.

The dining area

The upper most deck was open with a swimming pool and nice relaxing chairs for the guests to enjoy the views.

As we sailed on the Nile, the landscape on either side was predominantly desert like with few green areas with vegetation. At places we passed small towns and cities.

The views from our window as we sailed along.

When we docked at Kom Ombo we could see the temple from the ship…

Kom Ombo temple from the ship

The locks…

We had one very interesting and unique experience during the cruise. We crossed the Esna locks. Here the ship enters an enclosed space where the water level is maintained by using mechanical devices and then when the locks are opened, the ship safely sails to the other side . This becomes necessary when water levels are different and the ship has to be safely brought to the corresponding water level.

Acrobatic business!!!

As we approached the locks, locals in small boats came alongside and started selling their wares. The cool thing about it was they would throw the materials in a plastic cover on to the ship and we could put the money back in the cover and throw it back to them. Some acrobatic business deals!!!!

Approaching the locks and a small boat comes along selling local goods

There were lot of other ships and they were all in a queue formation and awaiting their turn to cross the locks.

Two other ships crossing the locks

We could see the lock mechanism opening and letting the ship sail through.

Our ship, clears the locks

This whole process took around half an hour and all of us were on the top deck enjoying this unique experience.

In the evenings after our sightseeing trips and dinner, belly dance and other cultural shows were organized for our entertainment. The staff on the cruise encouraged us to dance to local music which was fun… take a look.

Dancing to Egyptian music

Our final destination on the cruise was Luxor and after the local sight seeing trips we left the ship to the airport for our flight back to Cairo but not before a picture to save our memories of this unique experience…

Our group bids farewell to Radamis II, our ship that was our home for three days.

Hope you all enjoyed this cruise. Next week we meet at a different destination. Till then, do subscribe, like and comment.