A first-time guide to cruising the Nile

20.11.2024 - 22:27 / lonelyplanet.com

Nov 20, 2024 • 7 min read

There are few accessible and affordable places in the world where you can observe landscapes and lifestyles that have remained virtually unchanged for 4000 years. The Nile Valley in Egypt is one of these and the best way to experience it is by cruising along the river itself with occasional pauses to see what the pharaohs left behind them.

The choice is dizzying: from six-deck, 100+ cabin behemoths with belly dance shows and bingo nights to tiny feluccas where you doze on deck in your own sleeping bag, via luxury steamers once used by royalty. For me, a happy compromise is a dahabiyya, the motor-less, twin-masted sailing boat that pharaohs themselves would have been familiar with. These double-deck boats have between four to 10 cabins on the bottom deck, allowing passengers an eye-level view of the many fishers on the river, and a top deck where passengers lounge, eat together at one long table and may even find a hot tub to relax in.

I tested the Egyptian-owned and run 10-cabin Karnak, one of a fleet of nine eco-friendly dahabiyyas, for a week-long cruise from Luxor to Aswan and back. Wally Aziz, founder and owner of Lazuli Voyages, told me his smaller boats are often booked as a whole by a family or group of friends and then the cruise can be arranged exactly as they want. He’s hosted famous movie stars and politicians who enjoyed complete privacy on their voyage.

These flat-bottomed boats with a 20-cm (8-inch) draught have a massive advantage over the huge cruise ships as they can dock anywhere, far from the ports the big ships need to use. If the planned anchorage is occupied, the dahabiyya will sail on until it finds a quiet place to stop overnight and perhaps set up a riverside barbecue for passengers. The next morning, breakfast might be set up on the riverbank, complete with rugs, deck chairs and parasols. As we enjoyed our fabulous meal, we were watched over by a dozy-looking buffalo!

Dahabiyyas use the prevailing wind to sail upstream (ie south) but need to be towed if traveling north with the current. The small diesel-powered tug chugs about 40m (130ft) ahead of the dahabiyya so passengers are not often disturbed by the engine noise.

The comfortable cabins (each with en suite shower-room, toilet and life-vests) are on the bottom deck. Passengers eat together under a shady canopy at a long table on the lounge deck, enjoying the Egyptian/Mediterranean cuisine cooked in the tiny on-board kitchen. Lunchtime on the Karnak is always vegetarian whereas at dinner meat or fish, including prawns caught by local fishers, is served.

One of the highlights of many dahabiyya cruises is a day-long visit to the village of Bisaw, 135km/84 miles up-river from Luxor. Here we fished with the