Di & Andrew Brownrigg's Nile
After months of planning, a party of friends from Haslemere departed in the depths of the British Winter on a venture into the fascinating world of Ancient Gods and Pharaohs, a world of Egyptian, Greek and Roman influence that lasted over 3000 years.
Our first stop was Cairo with its bumper to bumper traffic but also the home of the Pyramids of Giza, the only surviving example of the Seven Wonders of the World which we could glimpse from our hotel balconies. Our time in the city was well spent visiting the vast Pyramids of Cheops, Chefren & Mycerinus, the Sun Boat Museum and of course the wonderful Cairo Museum with the treasures and statues of Tutankhamen, and many mummies and relics dating from 3000 BC.
An early start the next day saw us flying down to Abu Simbel and our journey into Egyptian Antiquity was really under way, with our first confrontation with Ramses II and his wife Nefertari, names that were to crop up regularly over the next 10 days of our fascinating history lesson that covered over 3000 years from the 1st Dynasty in 3000 BC through to the Roman conquest that led us into the realms of Trajan and Hadrian in the first and second centuries AD. This journey through Nubia carried us by boat from the lower end of Lake Nasser, not far from the Sudan border, across this massive lake that was created when the 2 great dams at Aswan were built.
After 3 days of sailing we reached the High Dam at Aswan and the next part of our journey north. A short drive through the granite mines and bustling riverside city took us to the jetty where we joined a taxi boat for the ride to our dahabiyya, our floating home for the next 7 nights.
The first view of our 6 cabin vessel, which looked like a cross between a felucca and a small motor boat, was a very pleasurable surprise, and our first on board experience was a delightful welcome to what proved to be something really quite special, and well beyond our expectation: a truly atmospheric craft with beautifully designed en suite cabins. We could go on and on eulogising on its delights: suffice to say our varied group thoroughly enjoyed the ample deck space, variety of food and constant flow of wine.
On our way north we visited Kom Ombo, a fascinating insight into man’s knowledge of surgery so many centuries ago, Edfu, Egypt’s second largest temple after Karnak, built in honour of Horus, the falcon headed god, before eventually reaching Luxor with its enormous temples on the east bank and the famous and beautifully painted burial tombs on the west bank – as well as the valley of the kings and queens there is the lesser known one, the valley of the artisans where two small but truly beautiful tombs can be visited.
During the journey we had private moorings in Aswan and Luxor and in between the two towns spent nights moored alongside fertile islands in the middle of the mighty river giving us the opportunity to wander amongst the banana plantations, cultivated fields and farmsteads away from the hustle and bustle of the cities and sites.
Nothing can really prepare you for the wonders of a visit to the temples of the Nile and there can be no better way than visiting it in the company of an exceptional guide and Egyptologist on one of these exceptionally beautiful dahabiyyas.
For more information please call Andrew or Di Brownrigg at Haslemere Travel who organised this trip.
