Travel notes from Lake Nasser

I haven't had chance to update the blog today. I'll be back with it tomorrow morning. So instead, here are my Lake Nasser travel notes.

Further to my travel notes from Aswan, here are my observations about things you might find useful to know when thinking about planning a holiday cruising Lake Nasser. I've avoided going into detail about the sites because even though they are not covered in the usual travel articles currently floating around, I'm going to throw together a website on the subejct. If you have a more immediate requirement for information, see the reference to Jocelyn Gohary's terrific book in the references. Click the thumbnails if you want to see the larger image.

The travel arrangements were fairly poor, partly due to the chaotic management of check in at Gatwick Airport, the third rate service of GB Airways, and partly due to the fall back situation needed for the closure of Aswan Airport to international flights. We were told that the journey from Luxor Airport to the boat, the Prince Abbas in Aswan on Lake Nasser, would last three hours. In fact it took four and a half hours from Luxor to the boat, including a drop-off at the Old Cataract Hotel (completed in four hours), and via a trip through a building site of incompleted new roads which was frankly hair-raising. If you are thinking of cruising Lake Nasser, do bear in mind the 3 hour check in at a London airport, the 5+ hour flight, any additional delays and the 4+ hour coach trip if Aswan airport is still unavailable. Not to be taken lightly.

The boat we chose was excellent. Having settled in, I woke up the next day to the sound of the engines kicking in, and we were off to New Kalabsha. The Prince Abbas is a copy of a 19th Century ship belonging to its namesake, and is beautifully fitted and very comfortable. We were given a tour of the kitchens, the engine room and the bridge, which was thoroughly fascinating. The kitchens, with a 17-man team, follow processes laid down by a Swiss organization, and are lined from top to toe in polished stainless steel - no-one fell ill, and the food was very good. On the bridge, where our captain in his galabeya piloted the boat cross-legged, the boat's manager explained that to reach the position of captain, a sailor must start out at the lowest level and serve for three years before moving up to the position of a senior sailor and then 3 years as a second captain. To reach the position of First Captain therefore takes nine years. The bridge was fully loaded with GPS and radar, as well as endearing trails of artificial vegetation and flowers. Because the level of the lake is uneven, pilots follow the original Nile Channel. Water is obtained from the Lake, and processed through on on board water processing plant. There was an on-board clinic with a doctor attached, who was easy to identify by the fact that even on the hottest days he wore an anorak!

Tour boat traffic on Lake Nasser is quiet. One of the nice things about Lake Nasser is that there are only currently 6 tour boats, at least two of which are also replicas of earlier boats. This is a wonderful contrast to the situation on the Nile, where there are actually 300 tour boats currently cruising the stretch from Dendera and Luxor to Aswan. My last view of the Nile, from Luxor, was to see 7 tour boats travelling, as though in a convoy, down the Nile towards Esna. You do get the feeling on the Lake, that you have the place more or less to yourself. The situation is set to change, with another 2 boats being constructed at the moment and another 6 planned in the immediate future, ready for an increased interest in the Lake temples, and these all have to be assembled on Lake Nasser itself. The maximum number said to be permitted will be 25.

The maximum capacity permitted on the boats is 65 cabins, which means a maximum of 130 passengers plus crew. On the route from Aswan in the north to Lake Nasser in the south there were only 40 of us on the boat, but at Abu Simbel the boat filled to capacity with people who were doing alarmingly active tours, starting from Cairo for the pyramids, flying to Luxor, crusing from Luxor to Aswan and back to Luxor, flying from Luxor to Abu Simbel and then taking the boat back to Aswan for the return coach trip to Luxor (makes me tired just thinking about it). The barbeques, buffets and served meals all managed perfectly well with both extremes of passenger numbers.

Tourism to the Lake Nasser Monuments is expected to be on the up, hence the new boats. This will be a shame. There are not as many sites along the lake as you might expect, and some of them are really very small. Even with a small number of boats and their tourists the sites can get very crowded, with the tour guides having to sort out who goes where first, to avoid talking over each other and getting over crowded.They do thos amiably and with ski;;, but I can see it becoming difficult to manage efficiently with more groups.

Shopping is very limited. There was a small and expensive shop on the boat, typical of those on Nile cruises, and there was a very pushy market in Abu Simbel where, when venturing out on my own, I found my wrist inescapably grasped so that the vendor could drag me into a shop to look at table cloths, in which I haven't the smallest interest. I didn't feel threatened, but it was irritating and in the end I left without making any of my intended purchases because it was just too much like hard work.

There will be a cashier on most of the boats, who will change travellers cheques and foreign currency into Egyptian currency, but don't expect any small denominations for tipping etc - they didn't have any on the boat on which I was travelling. This is a complete pain because although tipping is given in one big lump at the end of the trip, it is nice to be able to reward small but thoughtful services as one goes along.

The Aswan Dam and rescue archaeology are featured in all the books of the area and need no explaining here. At some sites, the industrial remains of the rescue work still stands. At Wadi Es Sebua a pair of cranes sit in the water, abandoned. I suppose that they are a piece of industrial archaeology in their own right, but they are very ugly. The dam itself is the subject of considerable controversy amongst the Egyptians that we talked to, for a variety of reasons. The principal issue they raised was the loss of the valuable African silt that supported the Pharaonic economy by fertilizing the land during the inundation - whilst the 1902 dam allowed the silt to pass through, the Aswan High Dam does not. This has led to the need for fertilizers in the Nile valley, which is also becoming increasingly salinized due to the impact of the rising water tables. Many of the sites that were in the land of Nubia have been lost beneath the waters of the lake, as have the Nubian's own lands and communities. It is a somewhat eerie feeling to wonder what you are sailing over at any given time. The Nubians were rehoused, on a compulsary basis, and some of the continue to feel alienated from their traditions and lifestyles. It was a large sacrifice to impose on them.

The Nubian monuments are very fine, but you do get accustomed to the idea that you are experiencing something like the Open Air Museum at Luxor. Sites are artificially gathered together in convenient little clusters on lakeside areas or islands. The only one still remaining in situ is on a shallow island, once a tall hilltop, called Qasr Ibrim. The difference between Qasr Ibrim and the other sites is conspicuous - the rescued sites are all tidy and well presented with uncluttered desert sands underfoot, no loose masonry anywhere. Qasr Ibrim is a ruin, all fallen stonework and probably, if one was allowed to step foot on the island, ceramic sherds dating to all the periods of occupation. At the Nubia Museum in Aswan there are photographs of the sites in their original locations.
The sites mostly consist of temples, although the Tomb of Pennut is to be found at Amada. They are all very remote, with no facilities, but this adds to their considerable charm. The sites date to a number of periods. The earliest period represented is probably prehistoric - one or two pieces of the salvaged rock art at Kalabsha are probably Predynastic. There's something of a large jump from here to the New Kingdom, Graeco-Roman and Coptic periods. There were no Old Kingdom or Middle Kingdom sites to see.

The obvious exception is Abu Simbel, which has its own little world built up around it, due to its popularity. When approaching Abu Simbel by boat, be warned that you will probably be treated to the boat's speakers blasting you with Aida or Sheherezade. When you arrive you will find a cafe which also sells biscuits, chocolates etc. There is also the above mentioned bazaar, which might be ok if there are a lot of other tourists to distract the traders. Abu Simbel is also the only site on the lake with a sound and light show - the language in which it is shown, however, depends on the greatest number of a given nationality. The people who went from the Prince Abbas ended up seeing it in Japanese, with an English translation piped through a headset. Ramesses meets the Seven Samurai. There is no visitor centre at any of the sites, including Abu Simbel, which is a shame but not a surprise. Look out for deities rarely or infrequently seen in other areas: Anuket, Satet, Mandulis, Khonsu, and Seth.

The scenery around the Lake is spectacular if you like deserts or have an interest in geology. The textures and colours all change in different lighting, and the sunrises and sunsets are superb. If you don't like the scenery, there are always the sunbeds and the bars, but you'll be missing out.

The wildlife is a mixed bag. We did see fish a couple of times, and a fascinating little scene played out whilst the boat was moored, with a very long snake hunting over the rocks (and eventually catching in the water) something that looked like a salamander. There are birds on the shores, including egrets, herons, crows and a particular type of bird of prey that I still haven't pinned down yet (see the photo and let me know!). Different types of pied wagtails settle on deck as soon as the boat comes to a rest, and there are hundreds of sparrows all over the place. The main water-based birds were sea gulls and cormorants. There are 23,000 crocodiles on Lake Nasser, which are apparently a menace to the fishing. They are being rounded up and placed in their own "farm" to prevent further harm to the fishing industry. The only ones we saw were at Wadi es Sebua, where two baby crocs were presented to us by the site's guardians. Similarly, at one of the sites near Wadi es Sebua, we were invited to admire a viper and a scorpion, both secured in bottles. Dragonflys were at some sites, in shades of red or black.

The economic activity around and on the lake is limited. If you rule out the tour boats, which use the lake and contribute to employment in site management roles, then all that apparently remains is fishing. There is surprisingly little vegetation around the lake edges.

Photography was permitted in the interiors of all of the sites visited, without flash, with the exception of Abu Simbel, where no interior photography is permitted.

References

• Jocelyn Gohary. Guide to the Nubian Monuments on Lake Nasser. AUC 1998. An excellent an invaluable book, which you shouldn't travel without. The first part looks at the history of Nubia, then each site grouping is described - including those temples that are now abroad. The Nubian Museum in Aswan is also described. The most useful section of all consists of plans of the sites, each labeled with a number which referes to the accompanying text which describes the scenes on the walls - invaluable. There is a chronology of ancient Egypt, and a glossary of Egyptian deities. The book only has 144 pages, but it is stuffed full of information.
• Bill Manley. Penguin Atlas of Ancient Egypt. Explains in easy to follow terms, with essential maps, the various incursions of Egypt into Upper and Lower Nubia and Nubia into Egypt. This really makes things a lot easier to understand, because of the visual component of the maps.
• John H. taylor. Egypt and Nubia. British Museum Press 1991. A very good short introduction to Nubia and its relationship with Egypt from prehistoric to Christian times. This includes Upper Nubia (south of Lake Nasser) as well as Lower Nubia.
• Professor G.A. Gaballa. Nubia Museum. No Date. This guide has three main sections. The first section is entitled "The History and Culture of Nubia" which contains a series of chapters compiled by the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, describing the geomorphology, geology, archaeology and modern history of Nubia. The second section contains photographs of the collections, and the final section contains plans of the museum.
• Lucia Gahlin. Ancient Egypt. Hermes House. 2002. This has both good descriptions, and good photographs.
• Fouad Ibrahim and Barbara Ibrahim. Egypt, An Economic Geography. I.B. Tauris. 2003. By far the best introduction I have found so far to modern Egypt. If you want to understand the pros and cons of the Aswan High Dam, look no further.
• Bonnie Sampsell. Travellers Guide to the Geology of Egypt. AUC. 2003. If you want to understand the topography and geomorphology of the surrounding landscape, you can do very little better than this elegant piece of work.

If you are worried about mobile phone use, and a surprising amount of people were, you can use phones at Qasr Ibrim and Abu Simbel - but otherwise there is no mobile phone coverage and if you really need a phone on board you will be able to make use of the on board satellite phone, when it is in range. You can forget Internet access!

For anyone interested in Egyptian desert rock art (unpainted engravings), I photographed up some sundry First Cataract examples which I've put online at:

http://www.rockart.cd2.com/html/1st_cataract.html

You'll need a broadband connection