Dahabiyya Nile Cruise

On Tuesday I wrote about dahabiyyas and what a wonderful way it would be to cruise The Nile on such a vessel.

Well on Sunday there was a short article in the Observer Magazine’s series called “Incredible Journeys” where a series of journalists and celebrities describe their own incredibale journey.

One of which was a piece by Lyn Hughes where she describes her own Nile Cruise by dahabiyya and how marvellous she found the experience.

Here’s the piece in case you missed it. With credit to Lyn Hughes.

This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday March 09 2008 on p65 of the Comment & features section.

The small chapel was dark as the door shut behind us. ‘I have a surprise for you,’ said Amro, our guide. ‘Come through here.’ The hairs rose on the back of my neck as a shaft of sunlight appeared, illuminating the lion-shaped head of a black granite statue. It could only be Sekhmet, a goddess known for meting out punishment to enemies of the pharaohs.

In the silence of the Temple of Ptah, it was hard to believe we were only a hundred yards away from the thousands of tourists swarming like ants around Karnak Temple. But you would only find this little temple, missing from most guidebooks, with luck or guidance. Here, we felt the same sense of discovery that Victorian travellers to the Nile would have done.

Back on board our boat, it wasn’t long before a breeze developed and the captain gave the orders for the sails to be raised. I was on a stunningly beautiful recreation of a dahabiyya, the Arabian sailing boats that 19th-century aristocrats used to charter. Brand new replicas are being built, faithful to the original style, but with air-conditioning and en suite bathrooms.

Away from the melee of Luxor, we could have been sailing through any century. Fishermen were out in small wooden boats, casting large circular nets. In the reeds we caught glimpses of bitterns, gallinules and occasional kingfisher. Young boys raced along on donkeys, with a sense of urgency, stick in air.

At Edfu we moored as the sun went down, and headed for the Temple of Horus. The second largest temple in Egypt is wonderfully preserved, having spent centuries buried under sand. The floodlights were on, illuminating the famous reliefs of Ptolemy XII. Inside the halls, our imaginations ran riot as we could almost feel the presence of the temple priests.