The Felucca Trip - Aswan to Kom Ombo

  Kom Ombo, Egypt
Saturday, August 12, 2006

Boarded our felucca at a somewhat civilised time on Thursday, after an extremely brief (but our first!) trip on the truck. The group split into two, with the smaller groups on separate boats. We spent the first day sailing peacefully along the Rivier Nile - listening to music, shadebathing (our boat thankfully had a cover to keep us out of the sun), playing games and chatting. Amazingly relaxing considering the hustle and bustle we've experienced so far. We stopped a couple of times en route to cool down in the river and catch up with the other group. The crew, as well as being experts at tacking down the river, provided us with delicious meals. Again, rice and tomato sauce were key ingredients! Shortly before nightfall, we stopped by a desert dune and watched a spectacular sunset. The slight haze on the horizon was the closest we've seen to a cloud so far on this trip. We ate dinner as darkness fell and shortly afterwards the party began. The felucca crews provided entertainment in the form of drumming and singing. We danced along in the sand. The next day passed in similar fashion. We woke up on the felucca to an incredibly yummy breakfast - omelettes cooked in breads with fig jam and cheese triangles. Indescribably better than I've described it!!! After breakfast we continued our 30km journey (from Aswan to Kom Ombo). Again, the day was very relaxing with more games (I spy and backgammon popular today), good food and a couple of beers. At lunchtime we stopped for a game of beach cricket. Matt and I put in variable performances:

Me - rubbish wicketkeeping (in my defence ropes from the boat were far too easy to trip over & right in my way) but bowled a maiden over to Giles, getting his wicket on the last ball. (Smug indeed)

Matt - Bowling good (2 wickets in 2 balls) but bowled out for a duck by me when batting.

In the evening we moored up early, having been floating rather than sailing for most of the afternoon as we neared our destination. A few of the guys started to kick a ball around and the locals had put together a squad of about 20 people within a couple of minutes (no idea where from - only possibilities seem to be hiding behind low bushes or buffalo). Matt managed to make friends with some local children who were excited to take photos of each other with the digital camera. After dinner it was party time again, although several people were more subdued than they had been the night before. Immodium apparently doesn't let you carry on regardless through a whole day's drinking and the subsequent hangover! Nonetheless, more beers were ordered via the world's best value home delivery system (one of our felucca crew got off the boat to find a crate of beer 20km away and transported along the river right to our feluccas for just 280LE (about £25!)). Still came to about a pound a pint. A few people partook in some serious drinking game action while the majority of us climbed into our sleeping bags on deck.