Egypt - Luxor to Aswan by Dahabiya
For a welcome change of pace, we are spending the next four days on a sailboat going upriver. Dahabiyas have been around at least since the early 19th century when it was the way that wealthy Europeans would travel up and down the Nile. They almost disappeared with the advent of power boats, trains,and planes, but have made a comeback in recent years for trips upriver of Luxor. They are small but comfortable. Ours has just 6 cabins and an open upper deck where we sit and watch, converse, and eat our meals under a canvas covering.
They typically don’t have a motor, just a big sail fore and aft.
But these days they do have a small tug boat that comes along and tows us when the wind fails. Since they are flat bottomed, I don’t think they can tack. So we can only sail when there is a sufficient upriver wind. We will see how much of the time that is. But at least the noise and fumes from the tug are ahead of us at the end of a long tow rope.
There are a lot of big hotel boats that make the trip from Cairo to Aswan carrying 100 to 200 people, this is much more pleasant and wasn’t that expensive. As we sail along we will make stops at large locations and try to beat the hotel boats to the sites we want to see. But because we can tie up along shore almost anywhere we can stop at smaller sites.
We didn’t actually start in Luxor but about an hour south in Esna. There is a lock and dam with a lift bridge in Esna. So they start upriver of that rather than deal with the locking and bridge opening required if starting in Luxor. There is just too much uncertainty in getting through, and I’m sure there is a cost issue too.
We splurged and got the delux cabin with a small deck at the stern. It’s a very nice and comfortable cabin.
The power, which comes from a generator which they shut off at night and for much of they day, so electricity for charging devices and getting to the internet comes and goes. So I’ve been getting these posts done in times of power.
In other times we can watch the countryside slide by between stops.
