N is for Nile

After our East African safari a few years, we flew up to Egypt for a week. We had chosen July to visit Kenya as it is winter in the southern hemisphere. The weather was balmy and beautiful without getting excessively hot.

Had we been thinking straight, we would have realized that going to Egypt at that same time - the height of summer in the Northern Hemisphere - was a dreadful idea for someone like myself who dislikes the heat. With temperatures hitting well over  40 degrees Celsius, and higher again in places like the Valley of the Kings, I was barely functional.

            In spite of the discomfort, Egypt captivated me. How could it not?

Flying from Nairobi to Cairo, we arranged a sleeper train to take us  to Aswan. After a quick flight to Abu Simbel, we boarded our small boat for the cruise to Luxor. 

Of the 82 million people who call Egypt home, the vast majority of them live along the banks of the River Nile, where the country's only arable land is to be found.

 This verdant strip covers 40,000 square kilometres, rising south of the Equator and flowing through northeastern Africa to drain into the Mediterranean Sea.

The family goats 

are nimble at 

making their 

way along the 

walls.

Many boats sail the river daily, shepherding goods and tourists from place to place.

The traditional wooden felucca is to be seen all along the length of the Nile.

As we slowly cruised the river, life on the banks went on as usual: craftsmen plied their trade, cattle went to market, women washed clothing at the river, and children played noisily along the water's edge, their joyful laughter the soundtrack for a voyage I will not soon forget. 

Entrance to the Valley of the Kings

I am linking today's post to the wonderful ABC Wednesday même.

Drop by to see more takes on the letter 'N'...

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Egyptian Reflections

The Nile River has been the source of life for Egyptians since ancient times. Until the Aswan Dam was built in the nineteen-sixties, only four per cent of Egypt was cultivated. More of the land has since been reclaimed, but now that same dam holds back the rich silt that fed the land for centuries, and farmers must use fertilizers they can ill afford to buy

A great many of the country’s inhabitants live and work on the narrow strip of fertile land on either side of this river that flows four thousand miles from its source in East Africa to empty into the Mediterranean Sea.

For these people, life is hard, with few modern amenities, or machines to assist in cultivation. To see how tightly the vast desert presses up against the river, is to understand the fragile nature of their simple lives, carved out from the riverbanks, one small plot at a time.

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Traveling From Aswan to Cairo on the Nile becomes a trip back in time. Life seems little changed from years past. Graceful feluccas glide beside simple fishing boats; children frolic at water’s edge as children always will, and the family animals are at home drinking deeply of these life-giving waters.

It is easy, here, to imagine oneself at another point in time….

Egypt is renowned worldwide for its many ancient monuments, but what impressed me most about the country was the tenacity and ingenuity of its hardy inhabitants who have made their home in this stark and often inhospitable land. I offer them my praise and my admiration…

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I'm linking this post to the wonderful Weekend Reflections meme, hosted admirably by James at Newton Daily Photo. To see reflections from around the world, just click on the link below...

http://newtowndailyphoto.blogspot.com/
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