Edfu by felucca

Our night with the local Nubian family had been lovely, with feasting and revelry. Unfortunately, our time in Egypt was short, and we had plenty more things to see. Today we would be sailing down the nile and visiting another temple. The day would end up including both my most relaxing, and my most terrifying, experiences of the trip.

A trip down the Nile River is an obligatory part of any visit to Egypt. Owing to the narrow margins of life on either bank, travelling on the water provides a great view into the world of the locals. There are a wide spectrum of options for a journey down the river, from the humble felucca, all the way to the modern cruise liners holding hundreds of people. Our budget tour was very much at the felucca end of the spectrum, and I ended up being eternally grateful for that.

We'd be on the felucca overnight, so Ghandi took us to the shops for supplies. Egypt is a Muslim country, and alcohol is difficult to come by, but that was perfectly fine. We stocked up with fresh local treats including almonds, dates and apricots. We weren't sure what was ahead of us, but we definitely wouldn't be hungry while we did it. It turned out to be a whole lot of blissful nothing!

A felucca is a traditional wooden sailing boat, about 10m long, with a single sail. They have become quite popular with tourists, and have been modified for comfort. Ours had a large mattress covering the entire deck, with a canopy to shelter us from the sun. They are wonderfully peaceful, and we soon grew accustomed to the occasional "clink" noise, made the rigging, every time we changed tack with the wind. Our boat captain had an old tape player, and ran Bob Marley on repeat, quietly serenading us as we drifted along, watching the world go by. As the sun sank over the adjacent dunes, I started calculating how long I could just sail around on a felucca before my money ran out. It was a tempting thought.

It would be reckless to stay on the river after dark, so our captain pulled ashore beside what we assumed might be his family's felucca, and we tied up for the night. We were fed another wonderful meal while the locals set a fire on the river bank. We would have happily sat around watching the "bush TV", but Ghandi invited us to join him and watch the Football World Cup qualifiers on a real TV. We thought that might be interesting, so we tagged along.

A little while later, in total darkness, a small truck arrived, and bundled us into the tray. This is where the day turned a bit terrifying. I had learned about the psychotic Egyptian drivers back in Cairo, but at least there they were contained to a crawl because of the constant gridlock. Now, on the open rural roads, the drivers were unleashed. This particular driver had devised a curious way to conserve fuel...by turning his lights off! With a very real risk of collision with goats, donkeys, or other random livestock, he only chose to light the way ahead each time a vehicle came in the other direction. At least they wouldn't hit us...unless one of them was also using his logic. We held on for dear life, and thankfully Allah must have willed for us to reach our destination unscathed.

The football match itself was actually being played at a stadium back in Aswan, the town we'd just left. It was a friendly between Egypt and Tanzania, qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, and taught us two things: the Egyptian football team is much better than Tanzania's (the final score was 5-1), and the Egyptian fans love their football! We had another great night, miraculously made it back to the boat in one piece, and went to sleep on the deck.

The following morning was sadly the end of our felucca trip, and it was time to go exporting again. This time we would be seeing the Temple at Edfu. Originally constructed around the same time as Philae (circa 200BCE), Edfu still sits in its original position, owing to its location downstream of the Aswan Dam. It is apparently one of the best preserved temples from Ancient Egypt, and this is because it was actually reclaimed by the shifting sands over the centuries. In 1798 a French expedition identified the tips of the 36m-tall stone monument protruding from the desert, and began excavating. Imagine their surprise when they needed to dig down the equivalent of a 12-storey building to reach the bottom!

Edfu was amazing, and its inscriptions include important information about the local language, myths, and even its own construction. Nowadays, that would fit onto a memory card the size of a thumbnail, but this was definitely a much cooler way to tell a story! After hours wandering around in awe, we were informed that our destinations the next day would be even more impressive. That was hard to imagine...what could possibly be more impressive than what we'd seen so far?Okumaya devam et