Riding the Nile

He who rides the sea of the Nile must have sails woven of patience.

William Golding

At Dad's request, Captain Mohamed of the motorboat Hatshepsut took us on a slow tour upstream to 'the bridge' and back. We had beautiful weather and the life along the Nile's banks was fascinating. Such a combination results in a lot of photographs. So as not to overwhelm my kind readers, I have selected five out of more than 200 photos.

Amelia Peabody and Amelia Edwards would both feel quite at home on Nefer Ra (Beautiful Ra), one of the few true old dahabeyyas that still provide visitors with a refined experience of Nile life. Unfortunately, these days many only hoist their sails for photo ops as tug boats tow these lovely cruisers to Aswan and back. Nevertheless, she is a beauty.


Even though multistory apartment buildings are replacing traditional mud-brick homes, women still come to the river's edge to wash their families' clothes in large aluminum tubs.

There was a lot of washing going on today. Clothes and kids. Here, Nile mud was also been bagged for small-scale pottery production.

Many fishermen were at work. Most used nets. On one boat, a young girl threw the net into the river from the stern while one young fellow rowed and another beat the water from the bow to frighten the fish into the net. Familial teamwork, I suspect. Such does life on the Nile depend.

Something Fishy

Chance is always powerful. Let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish.

Ovid

What a surprise to see our little canal teeming with fish this afternoon. I don't know what type of fish they are but they are pretty smart because as soon as a school caught sight of me, standing high above, the group would dive out of sight. A shadow of a crow flying overhead caused the same reaction. I don't know why I haven't seen them before. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right places, or maybe they are just passing through. They had better get to wherever they're going fast because the water level is lowering.

The Unfamiliar Familiar

I took advantage of the cool evening to go for a walk to the river. I have not passed this way in several weeks and the landscape has changed dramatically. It was familiar, but not. I posted a photo of a boy walking through a golden wheat field on March 26. If he passed this way now, he would be shoulder deep in water.


Where once there were wheat fields, fishermen are now netting fish. I was in awe of the transformation - a small taste of what the inundations must have been like before the Aswan dam was built in the 1960s and completed in 1970.


Take a close look at the oars. These ones have more width to the blade than most Egyptian oars. I always shake my head when a felucca captain caught in the doldrums resorts to paddling to shore with what look to me to be big, heavy sticks. How they achieve any propulsion I do not know.


My walk enabled me to check in with the camels. They are in fine form!


My companion for the journey was the neighbour's pet. Her familiarity with the route made it obvious that she passes this way often. Here her attention was focused on a little fox. My propensity to talk to animals meant that I exclaimed aloud, "Oh look! A little fox." And with that, the fox high-tailed it back to its mother and I missed the shot.


I ended the day with an iced cappuccino at my favourite cafe and then caught the sunset from the ferry.