Travel to Aswan as Part of a Nile Cruise

Aswan is Egypt's most southern city (about 680k south of Cairo) and has long been the country's gateway to Africa. It has a population around 200,000 and is the end of the southern railway line. This prosperous market city was the crossroads of the ancient caravan routes at the upper end of the Nile, and in ancient times it was a garrison town very important to Egyptian security.

The main town was located on Elephantine Island in the middle of Nile, and here the Nile is at its most beautiful as it flows through desert and around islands covered in palm trees and tropical plants. There is another island called Kitchener's or Botanical Island which has tombs and attractive gardens.

Because of the pivotal role the area has played in Egypt's development the area is rich in historical sites, including some of Egypt's most important monuments.

For the thriller novel fans the Old Cataract Hotel is an interesting place to see, as this is supposed to be one of the settings used by Agatha Christie in her murder suspense novel "Death on the Nile". It is also worth going to the west bank of the Nile to visit the Agha Kahn Mausoleum, the very visible domed building on the ridge high above the river.

South of Aswan is the Old Dam which was built around 100 years ago and enlarged more recently. In the dam is an island where the beautiful temple complex of Philae is located.

Further to the south is the huge Aswan High Dam which was constructed in the 1960’s and thus formed Lake Nasser, the waters of which extend some 500k south along the old course of the Nile.

These lands south of Aswan along to the Nile to Khartoum is what was the ancient kingdom of Kush; now called Nubia. The Nubians still have distinct traditions, architecture and languages; even though many migrated either to Aswan and Kom Ombo or south to Sudan after Lake Nasser swamped much of their traditional homeland.

In fact many of the historic sites such as Philae and Abu Simbel were re-located before the waters rose, and this project is continuing. For instance, when the original Philae Island was flooded the temples were reconstructed on neighboring Agilka Island, and this is well worth seeing. The Nubian Museum near Aswan also is home to some of the rescued artifacts.

But the classic approach to seeing this part of Egypt is to travel on the river either by felucca or on a luxurious Nile cruise ship - this is covered in more detail on the pages for feluccas and cruise ships.