Cruise Lake Nasser, Egypt, on MS Kasr Ibrim

...new trip for Egypt, a cruise on Lake Nasser (above the Aswan High Dam) towards the Egyptian/Sudanese border. This is a very different prospect indeed. There are only 6 ships working this 250km-long lake and in fact I only saw one other ship in the four days we were on the trip. This is a complete contrast to the lower part of the trip, where there might be 50 or more large Nile cruisers in sight at one time – each one with maybe several hundred passengers ...
...about £1200 per person with two sharing, which included return schedule flights from the UK. This part of the trip – 4 nights on the Kasr Ibrim, full board – represented about £500 for the two of us, so you can call it £250pp but allow for single supplements.

Kasr Ibrim is made to look like a paddle steamer, but the paddles are false and this is just a screw-driven ship but nothing wrong with that. Fast enough and comfortable, the ... more

Have you done the Nile trip thing? Two to seven days, typically, visiting temples, maybe the Valley the Kings and/or Queens, the odd granite mine and one or more carpet, perfume and alabaster shops plus the inevitable ‘papyrus’ * factory. Millions of people have – indeed, it seemed like about a million of them were there last time I went. There are now really too many boats on the same trip and it is not much fun trying to hear your guide over the babble.

As part of a 14 night trip with Hayes and Jarvis, I did the ‘Nile trip thing’ again last autumn, but also took a relatively new trip for Egypt, a cruise on Lake Nasser (above the Aswan High Dam) towards the Egyptian/Sudanese border. This is a very different prospect indeed. There are only 6 ships working this 250km-long lake and in fact I only saw one other ship in the four days we were on the trip. This is a complete contrast to the lower part of the trip, where there might be 50 or more large Nile cruisers in sight at one time – each one with maybe several hundred passengers on board.

The whole trip was about £1200 per person with two sharing, which included return schedule flights from the UK. This part of the trip – 4 nights on the Kasr Ibrim, full board – represented about £500 for the two of us, so you can call it £250pp but allow for single supplements.

Kasr Ibrim is made to look like a paddle steamer, but the paddles are false and this is just a screw-driven ship but nothing wrong with that. Fast enough and comfortable, the ship actually looks like a slightly camp, slightly OTT version of a 1930’s Art Deco hotel. Smooth, rounded corners (like the Queen Mary) in highly varnished wood, lots of deco touches but made more of a statement by the inclusion of animal prints and like: All good fun. Lots of Deco-retro light fittings. See my photos, below. Cabins have little balconies with white canvas furniture and jolly nautical doors with port holes: You get the picture.

The food was more than plentiful, buffet-style meals (Egyptian influenced, but with some European/International dishes every day) with a choice of at least half-a-dozen main courses including vegetarian choices, with soups, salads and a table groaning with desserts.

The main dining area is on the lower deck (you actually sit just below water level, which is spooky to see the water rushing past at waist height). The next deck up is the entry way and reception area plus cabins. On the next deck up is the main lounge where these was a bar, plus board games and card tables (smoking permitted) and more cabins. One deck up again and there was a small shop one deck up (books, souvenirs), more cabins and an open-air dining area for alfresco meals (we eat there one night, whilst tied up alongside Abu Simbel Temples). Finally, up again, a sun deck, small pool and another bar that opened when needed.

Excursions, other than Abu Simbel, were made from the ship using small boats which came to the ships side (there was an adequate walkway on each side) and this was quite easy as long as you were fairly able bodied. It would not have been too easy for a person with a disability which restricted movement significantly, with a push chair, wheel chair and so forth.

Perhaps the best thing about this trip was the fact that when you visited the Temples that were there to be seen, there were few or no other tourists around (again, with the exception of Abu Simbel – more about that later). The historic temples and buildings around Lake Nasser have pretty much all been moved higher up the valley walls (to get them away from the rising waters of the lake) but they have been put back sympathetically and as near their original location as possible. Most of them were built for or by the great Pharaoh Ramses II (the ‘let my people go’ Pharaoh from the Old Testament) and his image appears a lot, although there are others. Abu Simbel apart, these are not the most spectacular temples and many of them are quite small, but they are worth a visit if this is of interest to you and it is astonishing to do, as we did, and be one of only 8 tourists at a particular site, with a guide who could whisper and still be heard. In fact, for two and a half of the four days on the trip, there were only 8 tourists on our whole boat, so we had pretty much everything to ourselves. And you know what? There are no carpet shops, perfume shops, alabaster factories or ****** papyrus factories either.

Highlight of the trip is the astonishing temples at Abu Simbel. There are two, both built by Ramses II – one immodestly dedicated to himself and one to his principal wife Nefertari . Both are spectacular and both are of the type common in this area, cut out of rock (hollowed out, effectively, rather than being built of blocks). You can read a lot about them elsewhere but for me they are the most spectacular old buildings in Egypt, better by far than the Pyramids and well worth a trip. If you sail up the Nile as far as Aswan, you may get an opportunity to take a day trip to Abu Simbel (cost about £100 per person for the round trip flight and entry) and this is worth it in my opinion, but how much better (for £250 per person) to have a leisurely and relaxing trip across the lake, sightseeing along the way, then do as we did – have an alfresco dinner on the top deck of the ship with the sights of the temples, lit up at night, kept in view.

One last advantage, too: Because we were basically tied up alongside the hill the temples sit upon we were able to visit early in the morning – I mean really early, we were there when the sun came up: In fact, we were there before the monument opened to the public and we were the first people in. It was great to be there for the sunrise but it was also great to be there with only a dozen or so others – by 8am there were probably 200 people there and by 10am that will have been 1,000 plus.
On balance? Yes, I recommend the Kasr Ibrim to you. Go soon, whilst it is still not too crowded up there.

(By the way, Wikipedia says “Qasr Ibrim is an archeological site in Lower Nubia. It was originally a major city perched on a cliff above the Nile, but the flooding of Lake Nasser after the construction of the Aswan High Dam transformed it into an island and flooded its outskirts. Qasr Ibrim is the only major archaeological site in Lower Nubia to have survived the Nile floods. Both prior to and after the Nile floods, it has remained a major site for archaeological investigations” so clearly that is where the name of the ship comes from.
 

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