The Nile river, one of the longest river in the world and touching around 10 countries of Africa, is one the best attractions in Egypt.
PhotoFeed Around The World Contest - Africa: My Entry for Round 6
BLUE NILE CRUISE 👇👇
There is so much history related to this river Nile. It plays the major role in irrigation and civilization of Egypt.
One historian stated that Egypt was the gift of Nile. There are several reason behind this thought. Egyptian cotton which is so popular all over the world is grown within the Nile Delta.
Soil around the river Nile is extremely rich and fertile. Papyrus which is another souvenir of Egypt is also grown along the banks of the river. It was used for paper making in ancient Egypt. In this modern era, it is one of the leading source of income through tourism in Egypt.
Cairo offers some excellent and dynamic cruise, Felucca and boat trips on river Nile. In my stay in Cairo, I have taken several boat trips in river Nile.
I am sharing here some of my trips with friends which we enjoyed a lot.
MY FIRST NILE BOAT TRIP: AUG 2008
It was a gift from my friends on my birthday. It was already an exciting birthday which I have already shared in one of my post Birthday Blog 2008
My friends invited me to have a boat trip very next day as a present from all of them. Nile was at walking distance from my place. So, around 18:00 we all met at the bridge and boarded on the boat which was already booked by them.
It was a fantastic gift for me. It has nice space for around 15-20 people but we were only five, dancing around the boat. Arabic music was on and loud, boat was glowing with colorful lights.
Boat took a 30 min ride along the Nile and returned to the starting point. It was my first time so I was a little scared but it started and ended well, slow and smooth.
One could see nice big cruises along the Nile, very well designed and decorated. View of buildings from Nile were amazing, cant imagine that this was all desert once. Now, it is so well developed and glowing.
SECOND TRIP : OCT 2008
This was not planned. Actually, we (4) were out for shopping. It was a nice weather so instead of taxi or metro, we choose to walk through the river Nile all the way to shopping center.
On the way, suddenly one of us stopped at the boat station and start chatting with one of the captain. Guess what, he bargained a nice boat for 50 EGP. Amazing skills LOL All of a sudden, plan changed and we took a boat ride of half an hour.
All four of us were so energetic and enthusiastic. I got comfortable with Nile and even, I touched the waterline. It was such a nice experience to lay down and touch Nile from boat. We got so tired at boat that we did not go for shopping that day and returned home with nice memories from boat ;)
THIRD TRIP WITH FRIENDS : 2009
Now it was my time, I was the mastermind of plans and gather friends for outings. It was the birthday of one of my friend so I decided to gather all and head for boat trip.
It all worked well and they agreed, we gathered at his place and then went to the Nile. There are so many boat stations between two bridges on Nile so I bargained with one of them and booked in 100 EGP for 1 hour trip.
Nile Taxi, I gave this name to the boats. You have to take a good look at the boat before booking if its clean and seats are not torn or you may be in a trouble with Helmsman at the end of the trip.
So, it is better to have a brief chit chat with captain and fix fare before taking off. Well, not all are same however, it is better to be careful. We had a great captain who played songs from our USB, drove smoothly and dances on the edge of the boat.
We did great funny and crazy things, dancing around and singing loud, taking pictures. It was so much fun. Now, I was more comfortable with Nile :)
NEW YEAR BOAT TRIP : 2011
We had a new member in our group so on his demand we planned a boat trip on first day of 2011. It was again at night, we all met at bridge and hired a boat.
It took 150 EGP for half an hour trip. Due to new year eve, charges increased automatically. This time, we asked not to play music, just drive slow and smooth. It was so relaxing.
We always had a great fun on boats and never faced any issue from captains or boats. Every time, we were lucky to have well decorated boats along with friendly captains.
Me and my friends always recommend such trips to families and new members in the community. Must to do thing if you are in Cairo even for one day.