FELUCKIN’ FELUCCAS

Feluckin’ feluccas…or romantics beware!
The idyllic romantic Nile adventure, as described in Gecko’s travel notes:

Sailing down the Nile is a magic experience, lying on thick mattresses, watching the dark waters glide past. We stop off at Komombo to visit the classic Greco-Roman Temple of Sobek, overlooking the river and the rest of our time is spent relaxing and enjoying timeless scenes of local life as we travel slowly down the Nile. Nights are spent sleeping on board and our crew provides simple, healthy meals.

Life on board the Felucca
Feluccas are simple sailing boats, no more and no less. They have no engines and no toilets. There is a single deck on which you can stretch out during the day under a shade awning. It is an extremely relaxing way of travelling down the Nile, however many people find the pace very slow, especially when contrasted with a busy life back home. We strongly recommend you take books, magazines, card games, walkmans and any other items which might help to while away your time on board. Meals are simple. They are prepared by your Nubian crew and include chicken, rice, local breads and vegetables. Each evening your crew pulls into the shore. They generally find a flat, sandy area for the night. Toilet facilities are very basic. Note that, during the winter months (Oct-Mar), it be very cold on the river at night so you should bring thermals and a fleece.

The reality proved very different.

As far as we can figure it out, in February, the prevailing winds are northerly. Certainly the feluccas could make no headway against the fresh northerly winds. So we went no further than the bank opposite Aswan. When they tried to sail, the rudder broke, but the crew did not replace the vessel with something watertight so our “voyage” could proceed.

Briefly under sail
We came to the conclusion that if the winds are northerly, the feluccas should sail from north to south, i.e. from Luxor to Aswan, not the other way around. Our guide told us that the Tourism Police in Aswan would not allow feluccas to start from Luxor, although it is clear that the large diesel-powered cruise boats must do this all the time. We spent an afternoon, a day, and two nights on the feluccas, in fairly abysmal circumstances given we were effectively marooned on a fairly inhospitable shore. And toilet facilities were not “basic” as in the Gecko trip notes, they were non-existent on a very public bank opposite the town. We are used to living rough, but this was exposed, continuous passersby, no privacy. Very unhygenic for the locals as well, who did not appear pleased,

Stranded opposite Aswan City
We left the feluccas a day early, somewhat disgruntled, and returned to the Cleopatra Hotel in Aswan for an extra night. Later, in the Luxor Museum the guide commentary explained to us that when the winds were southerly, the ancient Egyptians sailed north, and when it was northerly, they rowed north with the current, or sail south with wind. It seems that the weather conditions we experienced have been around for a long time!

The Nubian crew on the feluccas made little effort to put themselves out, or to be communicative. No comparison with the Bedouins! To be honest, they seemed sour and unfriendly.

Was it a matter of “just give us your money and go”? We had to pay for every drink on the feluccas, and tea was only offered at breakfast. The food was usually OK, but only barely so and one breakfast felt like we were in prison, a thin gruel and bread, but at least there was a boiled egg, which as usual we had with no utensils. We noticed the Nubians feasting by themselves afterwards, not sharing with us, unlike the Bedouins! There was one occasion where one small plate of meat with about 12 small pieces of meat on it was offered to feed 15 people!

To cap it off, by the end of the non-cruise, several of the group were badly indisposed in the nether regions, partly because of the poor hygiene, and partly because of a late night session with the local rotgut, which our guide joined in.

What we did enjoy was watching life on the Nile go past, and the bird life. The Nile is very clean and clear below the dams, and we did have a lot of time to observe the locals irrigating and tending their fields and animals. Amazing how much food is grown along the Nile, for 80 million people.

Before the rudder broke
A felucca cruise is an experience to be survived, preferably missed, just maybe enjoyed.