Egypt at Last: Awesome Aswan

On Lake Nasser in Southern Egypt

Flying to Aswan

The city of Aswan sits a little over 500 miles south of Cairo, so after we finished with the sights in the capitol city, we flew to our next destination. Getting through the Security at the airport was an experience in itself! Like many airports, all baggage must be scanned before even entering the airport. But then there are two more security checkpoints, including two very thorough pat-downs, before boarding the plane. Luckily, Memphis Tours helped us through it, and of course, another wonderful Memphis Tour guide (George) was waiting to pick us up at the airport in Aswan. Egypt is very complicated, and one place we would never consider visiting on our own!

Nile Air

We flew on a new airline to Aswan - Nile Airlines, who fly mostly Boeing 737’s and Air Bus 320’s. Of course we were a little nervous about the possibility of having a Boeing MAX-8 on one of our travel legs, since the MAX-8 is currently under scrutiny for possible software failures. But it wasn't a problem. No MAX-8's were used. Quite the opposite; Nile Air gave us a delightfully smooth flight, and the view of the desert and the Nile River below us were spectacular as we tracked the path of the Nile all the way to Aswan.

Old Cataract Hotel

Old Cataract Hotel

The Old Cataract Hotel is a throwback to the age of the grand hotels with many famous past visitors including Winston Churchill, Agatha Christie (who wrote Death on the Nile here), Omar Sharif, and many heads of state.

Moorish architecture in the Old Cataract Hotel lobby

The place oozes old-fashioned charm with high ceilings, Moorish architecture, and exotic chandeliers. Unfortunately, the service did not live up to the hype (we had a steady stream of problems, and Frank was NOT impressed). However, Anne could forgive them almost anything once she got a look at the view.

View from the Old Cataract Hotel

The Old Cataract sits right on the Nile in a narrow stretch across from Elephantine Island. The well-manicured grounds of the hotel offer lots of color and plenty of palm trees while the backdrop of Elephantine Island provides a stark contrast of sand, rock, and ancient ruins. In between, the graceful feluccas (Egyptian sailboats) float past on the river just as they have for thousands of years. This is the Nile of our dreams!

Aswan High Dam monument built by the Russians

Lake Nasser, Kalabasha Temple, and the Unfinished Obelisk

One of the most famous sights in Aswan is the High Dam. Constructed for Egypt by the Russians, this dam replaced a lower dam built by the Brits. The High Dam controls the flow of the Nile and created Lake Nasser, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world, providing over 2,000 square miles of fresh water for drinking and agriculture.

One big footnote of importance here. Without the Nile, Egypt would cease to exist. No water, no life. Most of Egypt is uninhabitable desert because there is no water there except for the Nile. In fact, only 4% of Egypt’s land is occupied, all of it along the Nile. A population of about 130 million people (that's about 1/3 the population of the USA) lives on only a tiny portion of Egypt’s total real estate.

Cruising on Lake Nasser

We took a short boat ride on Lake Nasser, and after frenetic Cairo, the lake was a welcome breath of fresh air. The water looked so clean and inviting, but we quickly learned that looks can be deceiving. Lake Nasser is home to over 300,000 vicious man-eating crocodiles, all protected by the Egyptian government. Unfortunately, when the lake was created, the crocs had nowhere to go, so they just procreated like crazy. They are a real danger to fisherman because the crocs attack the small fishing boats, knock the fishermen into the water, and devour them. Some claim these critters are the most vicious animal on earth!

Chapel of Qartasa on Kalabasha Island

Our boat ride brought us to the island of Kalabasha. Designed in a Greco-Roman style (built after the Greeks and later the Romans occupied Egypt), Kalabasha Temple and many of the other structures on the island reminded us of ancient Greece. To complicate things even further, the temple is dedicated to a Nubian god. The Nubians are a fascinating African group who have lived in southern Egypt for 3,000 years. Many Nubians had to be relocated when the creation of Lake Nasser flooded their villages. Kalabasha Temple itself was relocated stone by stone to its current location.

The Unfinished Obelisk

We also visited a quarry to see the Unfinished Obelisk. We walked across mounds of gorgeous pink granite to see the obelisk that would have been the largest ever created. If it hadn't developed a crack. Our excellent guide George explained the excavation process and showed us an ancient chisel made from a stone called diorite which is hard enough to cut granite. However, it seems impossible that such a primitive people could have extracted and carved these massive structures with such precision. No one really knows how they did it.

At the magnificent Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel

One sight that topped our wish list was located 168 miles south of Aswan, across the desert, and almost down to the border with Sudan: the famous temple complex of Abu Simbel. When Lake Nasser was created back in the 1960’s, this monument was physically moved to its present location to avoid being covered forever by the waters of the new lake. An excellent documentary at the site described and showed film of the massive relocation effort. And the international team who worked together to save the monument, an effort which was no trivial task since the entire structure had to be cut into smaller manageable blocks and moved piece by piece to the new location. Very inspiring to see what can be done when countries work together for the preservation of precious art.

Temple dedicated to Nefertari (sits alongside of Abu Simbel)

Abu Simbel is perhaps Egypt's most beautiful ancient sight. Pharaoh Ramses II had no small ego, and the main temple clearly glorifies himself while a second, smaller temple is dedicated to his favorite wife Nefertari. We spent several hours wandering the temple complex. The magnificent carvings inside Abu Simbel were almost as impressive as its well-known exterior. We met a 94-year-old woman who was ecstatic to be there. She had first visited the temple when she was ten years old and always wanted to come back. She said it took her 84 years, but she did it!

Frank in front of our felucca

Camels and Crocs

Having watched the feluccas sailing past our hotel, we finally had the chance to get out and experience the Nile ourselves. Our very young boatman did an impressive job of taking us around Elephantine Island and skillfully managing to avoid all the rocks and rapids!

Anne aka the Queen of the Desert
riding lovely Lulu

We docked and disembarked for a camel ride to St. Simon, the ruins of a desert monastery once occupied by 500 monks. Riding a camel is not easy, and the steep incline did not help matters. Anne rode a lovely, docile camel named Lulu, who made Anne feel like Queen of the Desert.

Frank with his nasty camel Mr. Maby

Frank's camel was a nasty animal that bit Ted's camel in the ass. When Ted’s camel bounded because of the assault, thankfully, he managed to hold on and not tumble off! Riding into the Sahara Desert was exciting, but the return ride down the steep descent was somewhat terrifying, and we think this may be our last camel ride.

Colorful Nubian home

Tour guide George had a special treat in store for us: a visit to a Nubian home. Anne had expressed a special interest in the Nubians, and this stop was beyond anything she could have imagined. The Nubian home was incredibly colorful with painted staircases and murals covering the walls.

Refreshing cold hibiscus tea

The lady of the house greeted us (as translated by our tour guide George) and served us glasses of cold hibiscus tea (our favorite drink in Egypt). And proudly showed us the family crocodiles. We are not kidding! Crocs are considered sacred animals by the Nubians, and two large ones were visible inside a cement box with a metal grid on the top. The lady did warn us not to put our fingers near the grate.

Anne holding the baby croc

The Nubian lady asked if we wanted to see her baby croc, and of course, to be polite, we all said yes. She grabbed the little 3-foot long croc out of another cement box and wrapped an elastic band around its snout. Then, she let us hold it.

Frank with Baby Croc from the Nile

We could never have imagined holding a crocodile in our arms, but the underbelly of the baby croc was nice and soft. Kind of a sweet baby croc (as long as that elastic band held his mouth shut). All went well until the little croc started squirming, and then we knew it was time to hand it back!

Carvings inside Philae Temple

Philae Temple and Galabeya

We took another boat ride to Philae Temple, beautifully situated on its own island. This is the last Egyptian temple ever built and the last time hieroglyphs were ever carved inside a building. And, Philae Temple was also moved stone by stone just like Kalabasha Temples and Abu Simbel. However, Philae had the added difficulty of already being under water when they decided to save it. Engineers built a box around the temple and pumped out the water, so they could retrieve it. The feats of engineering to preserve and relocate all these temples are truly phenomenal!

Ted and Frank with their new Arabian headgear

Before beginning our Nile cruise, we shopped for some galabeyas, traditional Egyptian garments. Every Nile cruise includes a galabeya party, and we wanted to look like the locals, and look our best. Anne and Amy chose pretty, loose-fitting dresses while Frank and Ted got fitted out in serious-looking caftans with Nehru-style collars. The guys went all out and added matching head scarves too. Frank says the get-up will make a great gardening outfit, as protection from the sun, But Anne thinks he'll just end up frightening our neighbors - lol.

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