After the short crossing
from the riverside walk Corniche of the exuberant lively Aswan (the cheapest
way is to take the public ferry across the building of Egypt Air) a changed
world opens: you feel a breeze, time seems to tick more slowly, a peaceful
and relaxed athmosphere radiates towards you. On the banks women wash
clothes in the river Nile, children are bathing and exulting. „Koti"
and „Siou" are on the island Elephantine, two nubian villages
with together about 3.000 inhabitants, parted by gardens with palms, trees
with bananas, guaves and mangos, fields with clover, molochea and corn.
Unimaginable Aswan
is so near. The houses - in the typical Nubian architectural style - are
painted coulorfully, decorated with crocodile skulls or wall paintings
of Mecca pilgrims, where one can discern how he had travelled. In the
alleys amphorae are to be found, with "kubayas" on top of them,
metal mugs, to scoop the cool water out of the jar and to slake ones thirst.
Goats, chicken, sheep, donkeys, dogs are looking for shade between the houses, nevertheless paths are clean, some puddles of water decrease - insha'allah - the dust. In the gardens between the trees bricks are made out of clay, which are stacked up to small walls. At the western bank there are small beaches of sand with view to the mausoleum of Aga Khan and Kitchener Island, feluccas are tethered up. Boys canoe in tiny rowing boats between Elephantine and Botanical Garden and sing French, English or German nursery rhymes for passing European guests, sailing down the river Nil in feluccas.
A guided tour through
these villages and gardens with Mustafa can be warmly recommended. He
loves his island and his felucca, he takes pride in the fascinating changing
moments, which will make you stop every other moment, even if he always
has to wait to let people take fotos or to look around without haste.
Mustafa is keeping a wonderful balance between a lot of explanations and
breaks inbetween, which are quite necessary under the sun of Aswan, answering
patiently all questions and he will teach you "on the way" Nubian
if you find pleasure in learning some words.
South of Koti one can
marvel about the Aswan Museum and the excavation side of Yebu and temples
around. (Yebu - old egyptian word for elephant - was the first settlement
in this area which started about 6.000 years ago and which has been emporium
for ivory. Present-day Aswan had been only the port of Yebu at that time.
Still at the beginning of the Old Empire - 2.650 BC - the area around Aswan
had been savannah with wild living elephants, according to climate researchers.)
Between Koti and Siou there is a house, in which one can visit endemic stuffed animals. Living crocodilebabies, which will be released later into Lake Nasser, show their big muzzles. Shortly after the plantation in Siou there is a evening meeting point, during the night drums are being beaten, Dominoes are played and there is dancing.
Tip:
Take the public ferry to get there. Opposite the Office of Egypt Air (short
before Ferrial Garden (see map below, almost 2 km south of the trainstation) at the Corniche
you will see a small shop selling water and cigarettes. Go there, pass the
shop (which has also stairs), pass one more stairs and go down the next. This
is the public ferry to Elephantine Island, which costs 1 Pound
(which is about 15 Cent).
There is a lof of hassle up on the street, captains try to sell their felucca.
But they will let you go, if they see you only want to cross to the Island.
Say the magic word: "La shukr, mush awes" (if you are a woman: ...awesa)
- "No thank you, I dont want to" - and they will let you go with
a smile because of your fluent arabic. At the Elephantine side Mustafa will
be waiting at the ferry for you.
Please
see also our guestbook:
Thank you for writing to us, and thank you, Fiona, for your great pictures you allowed me to used on this website!
Mustafa was able to take us for a wonderful 4 hour trip on teh Nile which
was just magical. He also took us to visit his family and his home where
we enjoyed amazing views and had tea and bread and at his mothers house.
Petra contacted Mustafa while we were on the boat, to make sure that all was
well and it most certainly was!
Linda Milton, Essex Photos
Linda sent to us
... Then came the highlight of our time in Aswan, a trip on a felucca
with Mustafa. Mustafa's English was superb and at no time did we have any
problems understanding him. The trip was wonderful, all the time Mustafa was
giving us options of things to do and let us tailor the trip to our tastes
with his guidance. Our trip to his home, his mother's home and his village
was very interesting and everyone gave us a very warm welcome. It was a shame
we did not have any longer as we could have had a much longer trip on the
felucca. Also we could have eaten with Mustafa's mother, but we met him on
our last day and our time was limited. The food smelt wonderful, shame we
had no more time to partake of it. ... Sue Medlycott, Swindon, England.
... I had a wonderful time in Aswan but I just wished I had longer there
– we were only there for about a day in total as a lot of time was spent
going to Abu Simbel. Mustafa was there when I got off the ferry and
as a female traveling on my own, and having had some experiences in Egypt
of people trying to take me in the wrong direction or to a shop to sell me
more papyrus, I was a little bit cautious at first. He told me the museum
was closed, and I didn’t believe him, but he was right! He took
me to the crocodile house and I quickly realized I could trust him and he
showed me round the island and took me on a boat trip. I wish I could
have spent more time there but by this time I had already missed lunch on
my boat and I was worried people would think I had got lost so I reluctantly
left.
I will definitely recommend to any one else I know who goes to Egypt to get
in touch with Mustafa. I also have mentioned him to someone I know who
works for a travel company that specializes in small group travel and who
like to make sure they support local people, in case they need any more contacts
to organize things for their groups – as obviously this would be more
regular work. Obviously if I ever get back to Aswan I will definitely
make sure I get in touch with him and maybe stay on the island.
I hope you get back to Egypt soon – it is a fantastic country! Best wishes,
Lyse
Photos of
Lyse sent to us
Thank you Petra for helping us arrange our trip around Aswan, you were
incredibly helpfull.
It was also nice meeting you in Aswan. Waleed arranged everything we'd asked
for in Aswan, and our two days & two nights aboard Captain Mustafa's felucca
were amazingly relaxing. Mustafa keeps a very clean boat, and is also an excellent
cook; the food we ate on his boat was delicious, part of our Top 3 for Egypt
!! Thank you Mustafa, and Menchaoui also. Photos
about Elephantine and his trip by felucca to Daraw which Pierre Olivier Duval
has sent us (thank you so much for them!)
Dear Petra, I wish that I had been able to spend longer with Mustafa on the two days as planned. (...) On Sunday, the feluuca was "becalmed" due to no wind, so we hopped on his friend's motorboat, and whizzed down to the first cataract, with M of course. He was pointing out all sorts of birdlife before we stopped on the island.
It was so tranquil in the heart of the island considering the city was only across the water. All the irrigation channels keeping the land "lush". We could hear the chatter/laughter of children quite a way from the school. People on the island seemed so different from those we had met in Luxor, who were quite "expectant" of gifts. Whether it was because Mustafa was with us I don't know, but I hope not. (...) Mustafa speaks English so well as is, telling us about the number of people living there, the number of schools, hospitals etc. How old is he, as he said he was born on the island and had lived there all his life (...)Fiona (please see pictures)
... Dear Mustafa,
Just thought we would write a very quick note of Thanks to you for giving us such a great day out in both your family's village and the trip on your wonderful falucca. It was a pleasure to meet your mother also and to enjoy her home cooking, all of which was very good.
As Petra identified in setting up Aswan Individual it makes a huge difference to tourists if they can feel comfortable with their tour guide and not feel intimidated during their time on a trip. You accomplish these things and are a very honest man which puts your guests at ease from the first time they meet with you.
We were very fortunate to be your only guests for today and we spotted other tourists looking on with envey when saw the space we had on your very comfortable boat.
We wish you good health and continued success with your house rental and your Falucca tour business!
Kind Regards, Mary & Tony Newton (Feb 22, 2010)
We stayed with Mustafa on Elephantine Island and it was a great escape from the touts and husslers on the mainland always calling for Felucca rides etc. The sunsets were beautiful and the island such an interesting place to explore. Its an 2 minute easy trip over to the island (1 EGP each way on the ferry) so a good option to stay. ... Philippa (New Zealand), writing in tripadvisor
Please see pictures Philippa sent to us
(...) On Saturday Mustafa collected us from the hotel in his motor boat in the early evening and took us along elephantine island to his village. He proudly showed us his very comfortable house with accommodation to let and made us tea. He then took us on a walking tour of his village which was very enjoyable. People were friendly and the houses are brightly painted, with lovely old antique front doors. At his mothers house his sister prepared a very tasty dinner for us served in a room set aside for such entertaining. He then returned us safely back in his boat. He must have x-ray eyes because it was quite dark and no boats on the water were using any lights.
Mustafa is a wonderful host and a really nice guy and we were very comfortable in his company and thank him most sincerely for showing us some aspects of Nubian life.
John M, UK (May 2010)
We loved walking on Elephantine with Mustafa, again no-one disturbed us and we enjoyed visiting his Mum's and his own place. (...) Will make sure we recommend you on Tripadvisor, especially since some of the rest of the people on our boat went to Elephantine on their own and got hassled all the time. So it wasn't the same as doing it alone. (Ray and Sue Jones, June 2010)
Guided tour
each hour
25 EGP
with hospitality
