Nile Felucca
Pictures

...or a diesel-powered, style-free but easy plastic barge crammed with a couple of hundred overheated snappers. Though, to be fair, there are certainly some fine and beautifully designed Nile cruisers available, at a price.

Photos: Sailing the Nile River near Aswan; a typical Nile cruise boat loaded with tourists; an Aswan felucca park.

Explore! offers 31 varied tours of Egypt - hikes, cruises, sailing, short breaks and family adventures. e.g. until Dec. '08: Brochure | Nile Cruise | Egypt in Depth | Egyptian Adventure [families] | Felucca Sailtrek | Great Sand Sea

Felucca:
Over two million tourists cruise the Nile every year, most of them aboard two hundred squat, hideous and smelly cruise boats and mostly on the Aswan - Luxor route, but with a little courage and a few Egyptian pounds any serious traveller should experience Egypt's traditional sail boats, the felucca, even if it's only for a sunset experience [BYOB - bring your own bottle].

The felucca's primitive design dates from the medieval times and whilst a competent western dinghy sailor might feel capable of piloting one himself, the owner will never rent the boat out for self-drive, only with - at minimum - the 'captain' and a crewman. This is fair enough since owners are totally dependent on boat profits and the Nile does have hidden rocks and tricky currents, especially in the Aswan area.

Felucca's crude and leaky hulls are propelled by a triangular cotton sail, or the Nile current, or in the case of failure of both systems a couple of massive oars can be thrust into action.
The guest seating arrangement is cushions laid on a flat bench so travellers with back problems are not going to enjoy much time on one of these craft. Naturally there are no toilets [a bush on the riverbank is as good as it gets], fridges, electricity or cabins, but there will be an essential sun canopy.
Sleeping involves - if you're lucky - a strip of foam on the deck or the bank of the river, while washing is taken care of by Mother Nile. Eating and drinking facilities are equally basic.
However, if you are reasonably hardy and enjoy camping this kind of calm and restful travel is the perfect way to maximise the Nile experience, stopping off wherever seems interesting or pleasant, getting a fish-eye view of Egypt's bird life, herons, egrets, coots and visiting riverside temples before or after tourist mega-boats arrive.

The most efficient route in a long-distance felucca is downstream with the current, so from Aswan to Edfu is a favourite three day trip, stopping off at villages and temples en route. Kom Ombo's crocodile god temple is the first, and monumental and well-preserved Edfu, province of Horus the falcon god, last.

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