Stand Up Paddle Tour on the Nile from Aswan to Luxor – a travel report
Stand Up Paddle Tour on the Nile from Aswan to Luxor - a travel report
»A stand-up paddle tour on the Nile«
Countless myths surround the Nile. Even as a child, I read Rüdiger Nehberg's Adventure on the Blue Nile and For a long time , the project of paddling the Nile with a SUP lay in the drawer.
Our spirit of discovery was hoping for an idyllic paddle across Egypt's historic and beautiful river, albeit not quite as extreme as Rüdiger Nehberg's. We eliminated the crocodile factor by starting north of the High Dam in Aswan. To ensure an easy start, we were accompanied for the first five days by a felucca, a traditional sailing boat.
The feluccas had difficulty attempting the long journey from Luxor, as too many permits were required, the return journey was too long, and the wind was decreasing towards the north. Our paddling direction was dictated by the current, from south to north, which unfortunately runs counter to the most common northerly wind direction. So, the conclusion was: Paddle with the current but against the wind. We didn't know how many kilometers would be feasible per day, as this always depends heavily on the current and wind strength.
We were equipped with a GTS Sportstourer 13.0 , the GTS Cruiser 11.6 and two light GTS Narrow paddles .
"The captain was already preparing dinner on the felucca."
The timing was perfect, but still coincidental, because the best time to take a SUP holiday on the river is the winter months. The water is lower then than in summer. As soon as it warms up, the water in the world's longest river rises by about 3 to 4 meters, and the numerous islands in the Nile disappear. There is also a much stronger current, but also a stronger headwind. Aswan is worth spending a few days stand-up paddling. Elephantine Island with its two Nubian villages, the large sand dune with the tombs of the nobles, the monasteries in the sand dunes, the botanical garden on one of the islands in the Nile, and the Philae Temple – all of this can be explored independently of boats by SUP.
The surroundings amazed us – we felt like we were traveling back in time: traditional feluccas sailed by, camels stood on the sand dunes. Only the loud Arabic music from the motorboats, the so-called dahabiyas, where the parties take place, brought us back to reality. The Old Cataract Hotel stands directly on the banks of the Nile and can be admired from the water by SUP.
»The novel Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie was set here
written & filmed «
Fishermen repeatedly stopped us to ask us where we were from and where we were going. They couldn't believe we were on a SUP. We landed on a small island in the Nile at sunset – it was already dark at 5:30 p.m. Osama, the cook, and Mahmoud, our captain, prepared dinner on the felucca. Since January nights can be quite cold, even in Egypt, we built a fire on the island and our Nubian boat crew drummed and sang to warm themselves. Those who sleep on the boat wake up with the sunrise. But in winter the nights and early mornings are very chilly – so our boat crew only crawled out from under their blankets when the sun had already had enough power to warm them up.
That means a relaxed vacation time of 9 a.m. included breakfast. During the construction of the controversial Aswan High Dam, more than 100,000 Nubians were forcibly relocated to newly built villages 45 km north of Aswan. The relocation was successful. The Nubians have maintained their cultural identity, but enjoy a better standard of living than their grandparents' generation and access to better education.
»Like many small oases, the Nubian villages nestle on the banks of the Nile«
It's always the same pattern that we noticed on our SUP vacation: Irrigation canals, into which water is pumped from the Nile, create a 1-2 km wide green garden of palm groves and vegetable fields. The village is then located directly behind them, so as not to waste fertile soil bordering the great sand sea of the Sahara.
Our destination on the second day of the stand up paddle tour was Kom Ombo, 47 km north of Aswan.
With a light headwind and all our short stops, we paddled at about 5-6 km per hour. We were often invited for tea by fishermen who had gas stoves on their boats, so we moored our SUPs alongside fishing boats in the middle of the Nile for a cup of tea. Shortly before Kom Ombo, we began to see camels more frequently on the banks of the Nile. We stopped in Daraw because on weekends, there is one of Egypt's largest camel markets. The camels come from Sudan and are trucked to Cairo, where they are slaughtered for camel meat. At sunset, we reached the Kom Ombo Temple, which is located directly on the banks of the Nile.
We caused quite a stir when we docked our SUPs right between the Nile cruise ships. Since our felucca had to tack against the light headwind and was moving slower than us, we had time to meet people along the way or discover forgotten, hidden temples right on the banks. For example, 60km north of Aswan, we found a temple at Gebel el-Silsila, hidden in the reeds. It's significantly less frequented by mass tourism than Kom Ombo, as only the feluccas stop there.
»We reached the temple of Kom Ombo at sunset «
Nile cruise ships only stop for a photo from the ship. The cliffs of the Eastern and Western Deserts are so close together here that the Nile Valley becomes particularly narrow, making for a relaxing day on a SUP , as the strong current means you hardly have to paddle. Sandstone has been mined here since ancient times. Numerous Upper Egyptian temples were built from the sandstone from these quarries. The stones were shipped to Karnak, Luxor, Kom Ombo, Esna, Edfu, and many other places in Upper Egypt. In open-cast mining, cuts up to 20 meters high were sometimes made into the rock to obtain the coveted building material.
We hid our boards in the reeds and set off.
With a bit of luck, the temple guards will often unlock tombs or locked temple doors. The days on the Nile were similar, with donkeys and cows, and sometimes camels, grazing on the banks. Banana and sugar cane plantations and date palm groves alternated, with the sand dunes of the desert beyond. Every hour, we heard the horn of the train connecting Cairo and Aswan, arguably the fastest means of transport along the Nile after airplanes. In Esna, we said goodbye to our boat crew: our bed and luggage transport, which had been following us, was now leaving, and we paddled on solo without boat support. Our minimal luggage consisted of two sleeping bags, three T-shirts, a toothbrush, money, cell phones, and cameras. North of Esna, there were significantly fewer feluccas; dahabiyas, the Nile houseboats, still passed us occasionally, but otherwise, the river became much quieter here.
The cruise ships only passed us in columns of 6 or 7 ships in the morning or evening, as they usually dock at the temples in the morning and sail from place to place at night.
»GTS boards are an excellent bed replacement when camping on a SUP holiday«
We made good progress at 25-30 km per day, buying bread, feta cheese, and tomatoes in small shops along the shore and learning that there's always time for a cup of tea. The children were proud every time they tried out our SUPs or we took them for a short paddle on our boards. We slept in banana plantations or undisturbed on the islands in the Nile, sitting in sleeping bags on our boards. The GTS boards are an excellent substitute for beds when camping. The souks in the cities are a good place to stock up on provisions. For those interested in history, there are countless temples and tombs off the beaten track to explore, besides Edfu and Esna, such as El Kab or the Al Kola pyramid. So we spent the non-paddling day with almost 30 knots of wind as amateur archaeologists. It's incredible how well preserved these 3,000-3,500-year-old witnesses to history are.
It's astonishing how colorful and detailed the drawings are, depicting life on the Nile at that time. Our last day toward Luxor—a 30-km paddle—was rewarded with a good current and a tailwind, and we arrived at the Luxor Bridge by midday, three hours earlier than expected. From there, we were accompanied for the first time by a tourist police boat. This made the extent of the lack of tourism since the revolution and now after the coronavirus pandemic clear. Approximately 50 cruise ships were stranded on the banks of the Nile at the city entrance to Luxor.
Our tourist police boat escorted us directly to the hotel, where we were able to check in by SUP, as many of the hotels are built directly on the banks. After nine days on the Nile (one of which was not paddleable) and 200 kilometers of paddling between Aswan and Luxor, we watched the sun set over the west bank one last time. With many interesting stories, little adventures, and a thousand new impressions, we finally ended our tour with a farewell paddle to the west bank to visit the Valley of the Kings and the Colossi of Memnon, as well as the Temple of Hatshepsut, by bike.
Text & Pictures: Kathrin Borgwardt