Photo : Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Aswan · Nile
A felucca in Aswan
One sail, no engine: the wind decides how your hour on the river goes.
A felucca has one sail and no engine, which changes everything: in dead air you drift, in a good breeze you go up the river in silence. The prevailing wind comes down from the north while the current runs north: so you sail south and come back carried by the water, as people have always sailed here. The usual loop runs along Elephantine and Kitchener's Island with its botanical garden, the dunes of the west bank opposite. The crews are largely Nubian, from the island or the villages nearby.
The extra bit
Board an hour and a half before sunset, when the breeze picks up and the granite turns pink. Agree the fare for the boat and not per head, fixing the duration and the drop-off point.
Know before you go
Cash, and nothing on board: no toilet, no shade but the sail. If the wind drops, the promised hour becomes two, or a motorboat comes to tow you in: ask what happens in that case before you pay. With small children, check there are life jackets, they are not a given.
