vibe check: nour el nil
While Cairo bears witness to a busy Nile with its bridges, boats, and the eternal background noise of car horns in a big city, if you resist the current and sail south on NOUR EL NIL, you’ll experience the other side of Egypt— the slower, more authentic side of Misr (Arabic word for Egypt).
T H E V I B E S :
who: a couple or group of friends
what: traditional dahabiya cruise
when: spring
where: from Luxor to Aswan
why: to travel slowly
how long: 5 days, 6 nights
what to bring: a thick scarf/shawl for the cooler desert evenings, a pair of binoculars, a juicy novel (many on board were reading Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie)
what to do: find your nook on a pair of cushions on deck, drink lots of tea, wave to fisherman in their boats
what to pay attention to: the silence of the river, the way the wind shapes the ripples in the water, the calls to prayer on shore, how the crew hoists the sails
The arrival is hectic, like most pick up and drop off points in Egypt, but once you and your luggage have made it to the right dahabiya, you’re quickly shown to your cabin and then make your way upstairs to the main deck…barefoot, no shoes allowed. Once you find a cushion and make yourself comfortable, a friendly crew member greets you with a silver tray topped with fresh juice and hot tea served in crystal glasses, and suddenly you realize…. you’ve finally arrived.
These first moments are surreal—you’re hesitant about how to comfortably sit on a floor cushion, something you’re not used to, you hear conversations in Arabic on the lower deck, guests from different walks of life slowly make their way upstairs, you smile and nod while you sip on your exotic fruit juice and then take a moment to feel the sun and wind on your face. It’s these initial fleeting moments that officially mark the new normal until you disembark in Aswan.
While the agenda revolves around impressive archaeological sites and temples in Esna, Edfu and Kom Ombo, the time spent sailing in silence in between each is the perfect way to rest and rewind before the next round of hieroglyphs, ruins, and stories of Egypts great past. Because these dahabiyas are smaller compared to the larger commercial cruises, they’re able to dock right beside the river bank and the crew will slide a plank over the edge to create a makeshift land bridge. These riverside moorings, where you spend your nights and early mornings, are protected from the wind by thick palm tree groves and where you’ll feel the gentle ebb and flow of the tide from dusk until dawn.
Breakfast is served in the sun— bottomless pitchers of coffee and juice are paired with endless trays of homemade crepes, jams, and eggs cooked to order—a frenzy of delectable options every single morning. Once the first stop of the day has been completed, you’re back on deck for lunch—either at the long dining table or at a low coffee table with cushions. Colorful spreads are the norm and cordial conversation between strangers quickly turns into friendly chit chat between new friends. Not once was a dish repeated and not once did the flavors disappoint.
By the third or fourth day, you’ve seen a few sites, you’ve figured out how to lay comfortably on your cushion, you’ve remembered how to say “shokran” instead of thank you, you’ve taken a quick plunge in the river, and you’ve had lovely encounters with locals along the way. Once you’ve docked in bustling Aswan and everyone goes off in their separate directions, that one stretch of the Nile will always remain special. Sailing on a dahabiya is a unique journey that challenges our innate tendency to rush, and instead, serves as a reminder to appreciate a slower pace of travel and to appreciate the overlooked bits in between.
Shokran to Nour el Nil for creating magic out of these special, traditional river boats and shokran to the kind, local souls sharing this ancient paradise with curious visitors passing through.
