One of groups that travelled out to Chile almost 2 weeks ago, accompanied by our expert astronomer, Francisco Diego, also had a very successful visit the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal in the Atacama Desert. Run by the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO), visits to the observatory are normally strictly controlled and so the fascinating visit by our group was a real privilege and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. One of our other groups, accompanied by expert Andy Green, is due to visit the VLT next week.

Exclusive News from the ground

We’ve now received an emotional and moving report from Gabriel Barok, the local organiser of these great tours to Easter Island to view the total solar eclipse.

Explore group on Easter Island

As he safely sees our groups to Easter Island’s airport for the long flight over the Pacific Ocean back to Santiago in Chile, he reflects on some of the most memorable few days of his life.

Gabriel flew out to Easter Island two weeks before the eclipse to ensure that everything was going to be just right for our groups. He spent his days on a reconnoitre of possible eclipse viewing sites and in the days leading up to the eclipse Gabriel, along with our expert astronomer, Francisco Diego, visited the local meteorologist to learn about cloud behaviour on Easter Island. In fact, so dedicated were they to their cause that they often visited the meteorologist as many as 5 times on the same day!

After two days of fierce storms, the sky cleared on the day of the eclipse and Gabriel and Francisco decided to take the group to the quiet seclusion of Rano Kau volcano, a place that their exhaustive research had shown would provide an ideal eclipse viewing location.

Gabriel describes the moment, ‘We divided the groups, Francisco took one group along with the delicate telescopic equipment and I guided 24 trekkers to the top of the volcano to arrive 10 minutes before the darkest border of the moon touched the most clearest sun; thanks to the Explore eclipse sunglasses we could enjoy the most wonderful feast of a never seen dying light and growing deep emotion. At 14.08 came the most spectacular and unexpected performance of nature: a deep dark blue sky with the darkest black hole and a crown of flames surrounding it. Sighs, tears and shouts all along the hill of the famous mythological crater behind us sculpted an eternal moment, for ever.’

After the eclipse our groups returned to Rapa Nui, the island’s capital, where they enjoyed a local curanto feast followed by dancing and music. The spirit of the eclipse, Mother Nature and the music all came together and the group danced into the night.

When is the next total solar eclipse?

For those of you who weren’t able to make the journey to Easter Island, or who made the trip and have a yearning for more, then the next total solar eclipse will be in Australia in November 2012. Keep an eye on our website in the autumn for a chance to book Explore’s trips to Australia to view the next total solar eclipse.

So much has happened since I blogged last, I hardly know where to begin! I could come up with all sorts of  lies reasons for the big gap between blogs, but I won’t.

I ran a half marathon back in March in one hour, 57 minutes and 48 seconds which I was dead chuffed about (I was aiming for under two hours). Since then though I’ve not been to the gym or for a run once. My midriff is starting to reflect that a little now and I need to do something about it. I haven’t forgone training entirely however; the big Trailwalker challenge in the middle of July is fast approaching and the team and I have been working hard to get prepared to do 100km in one very long day. We’re aiming to complete it in about 26 hours or so, but to be honest I will be very pleased to finish, regardless of how long it takes. This training and the looming event have been great opportunities to wear in my brand-spanking new walking boots (well, they’re far from “brand-spanking new” now, as I’ve already walked about 100 miles in them, which, now that I’ve actually written “100 miles” is a shock even to me!). They’re Asolo Power Matic 200 GTX and cost me £165 and they are bloomin’ marvellous! Quite hard soles, great ankle support, comfortable (now, anyway) and, with the help of zinc oxide tape and some decent socks when I first starting wearing them, they haven’t given me a single blister. I am a little upset with their name which sounds much more impressive than the car I own. It’s almost like you need a cinematic voice-over guy to say “Power Matic 200 GTX: Better than Tim’s car.” Although, come to think of it, it’s probably about right considering they were roughly a third of the price I paid for my little motor (and will probably last longer too)!

I discovered that the primary language for Tanzania is Swahili and English. English is great news because I don’t know much Swahili. In fact, the only words I’ve ever been taught are swear words (juvenile, I know) and I have mentioned before about being conscious of not offending locals, so I think I’ll stick to English and wash out my potty mouth with a bar of soap.

I also discovered that my geography is pretty appalling for someone who works in the travel industry. I blame it on the back-office roles I’ve been in, not having to be in direct contact with our product and all that (ah-hem). I believe I previously mentioned that I hadn’t visited the African continent before, but for reasons that I couldn’t begin to explain didn’t realise that Morocco was in Africa (and I’ve been there, coincidentally with Explore, and it was one of the most wonderful places I have ever visited on our beautiful Earth). I thought Morocco was in Europe, right between Egypt and Cairo, which are both in Europe too, right? Less said about this, the better.

My buddy (who I hope is less geographically impaired than I am), Stitch, and his parents have done a wonderful job of sucking me in to a major charitable campaign for our Kili climb. I went for dinner at a friend of their family’s house one evening to meet their disabled son, Benjamin. He goes to a local school for young people with disabilities where they get all sorts of equipment to help them communicate. Benjamin can’t speak, he uses his eyes and sometimes his hands to show a limited number of responses such as “yes” and “no”, but the school he attends have ingenious technology that allows him to select words, phrases, expressions and the like just by using his eyes to select them from a screen. Stitch and I are going to try and raise enough money for him so that he can have one of these clever little devices at home. As you can imagine, this will enable their family to communicate much more effectively with Ben especially during long school holidays. Nothing like piling on a bit of pressure for us to do our best on Kilimanjaro, but if I didn’t plan to put in 110% before I certainly do now. My friends and family, colleagues, suppliers and Facebook friends (let’s face it: Facebook friends don’t necessarily feature in any of the aforementioned categories) are going to be sick to death of me asking for sponsorship from them, especially as we are still pushing for the Oxfam sponsorship for the Trailwalker challenge (cheekily, please click here to sponsor!).

I must try and motivate myself to get back to the gym, it’s just so darned hot in there in the Summer because their idea of air-conditioning is open windows. That sounds like a rubbish excuse. By the next time I blog I will be back there regularly, will do some more running, will eat more healthily, will have quit smoking and drinking and won the lottery. If any two of those things happen, I will be content (and possibly very rich).

That’s it for now – speak to you again soon

Tim

It is now under 2 months until Tim, Lucy, Jo and me walk 100 kilometres across the South Downs.

When I first agreed to take on this challenge I thought: “100 kilometres? Pah, no problem, that’s just walking 1 kilometre over and over again. That’ll be no problem. Anyway, it’s on the South Downs, so it’ll be downhill from Petersfield to the coast.”

I was wrong on every point.

So far the longest walk we have done as a team is about 35 kilometres. The first 10 kilometres really is just like walking 1 kilometre over and over again. After that your body starts to object.

At 20 kilometres your body starts to REALLY object. At 30 kilometres my body was (quite literally) starting to fail. A muscle that I don’t think I have ever used before (on the back of my thigh) intermittently started going into spasm. Other members of the team found hips seizing. Lips were (I’m not exaggerating) a shade of blue due to the cold. And I wont go into the gruesome details of the ruptured blisters on feet.

So, I am now not even contemplating the pain we will have to go through at 50 kilometres, 70 kilometres…

As for the South ‘Downs’? Presumably this is a name given by some marketing board so that it doesn’t deter ramblers from walking there. Really they are the South Ups. You start by walking up a steep incline – and you admire the views across the beautiful countryside. And you think – this is fine, nice level walk to the coast.

No.

Actually you walk off the top of the nice beautiful ridge, into a valley. And then, you walk up the next hill that appears to be vertical. Those hills that have the decency to be only a ‘steep’ gradient go on for miles and miles. Until you become convinced that at some stage someone will come along and tell you that you should have oxygen to walk at this altitude.

The day after training walks, it is difficult to move. Knees ache from the impact of walking downhill. Walking at all is a chore, walking at pace is impossible. I have had blisters on my feet constantly for the past 8 weeks.

I hope I’ve made our training sound like a real sob story. Of course, it isn’t. Because, I’m choosing to do this walk, and after each training session, I get in a car and drive home. I get a glass of water from the tap. I put some Compeed on my blisters. I have a hot bath to soothe my aches. If my thigh muscle doesn’t get better – I’ll drive to the doctor and be seen that day.

When someone in Africa walks miles to get water, they don’t get in a car to go home. They carry that water miles home. If their feet are blistered the wounds go untreated. If they need a doctor? There may not be a doctor for them to see.

This is why we are doing the walk, to raise money for a charity that helps people like this all around the world. They provide services where they are needed. Clean water to refugees in Uganda. Providing shelter and sanitation to those affected by the cyclone in 2008 in Burma. Helping impoverished farmers in Mexico get a fair price for their crop.

Please give whatever you can afford.

Sponsor us

This isn’t about the terrifying/stupid (delete as appropriate) walk we are doing. This is about supporting people around the world who need our help. People who don’t have the luxury to train for walks at the weekend.

Read more about the team’s walk on the Explore website

For the last three weeks, Joanna Lumley’s Nile series has been running on ITV, where she explores the longest river in the world from sea to source. The first two episodes saw Joanna encountering classic Egyptian and Nubian culture and hospitality.  (catch up with them all on the ITV player here)

Explore’s Nile Cruise boat – the M/S Doma moored in Luxor

Many tour operators offer Nile Cruises, but no one does it quite like Explore, with a choice of Nile Cruise boats, and the chance of seeing not only the main highlights but getting some real local experiences too. But where Explore are truly different, is that we don’t just stop at Egypt.

Ethiopia: Lake Tana

Episode 3 saw Joanna journeying from Khartoum in Sudan to the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia. Making her way up the Blue Nile by plane to the beautiful city on Bahar Dar on Lake Tana (one of the many sources of the Nile), then up into the Simien Mountains where she saw the incredible sight of Ethiopian girls training for the Olympics, and also the unique Gelada Baboons which exist only in this area of Africa.

Ethiopia: Simien Mountains

Explore offer 4 different tours visiting the unusual holiday destination of Ethiopia – including Blue Nile & Lalibela exploring Bahar Dar, Lake Tana and the spectacular Simien Mountains, as well as the astonishing rock cut churches at Lalibela. But if the Mountain scenery in the program took your breath away – why not try our Simien Mountain Trek? Dramatic views, Gelada baboons and an ascent of Ethiopia’s highest mountain await you.

]]> http://www.exploreblogs.co.uk/2010/04/27/joanna-lumleys-nile-episodes-1-3/feed/ 0 http://www.exploreblogs.co.uk/2010/04/26/tropic-of-cancer-bangladesh-laos-vietnam/ http://www.exploreblogs.co.uk/2010/04/26/tropic-of-cancer-bangladesh-laos-vietnam/#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:29:36 +0000 admin http://www.exploreblogs.co.uk/?p=956 Last week we were sobusy sorting out the Volcano induced flights crisis that we didn’t manage to do a blog about the Bangladesh to Burma program. If you missed it too, you can catch up with it on BBC iPlayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s5wzp/Tropic_of_Cancer_Bangladesh_to_Burma/

Bangladesh

If you are inspired to spend time in Bangladesh, Explore are one of the few tour operators in the UK market that visit this remarkable country. Visiting Dhaka and the Ganges Delta in Bangladesh, through the tea plantations of Darjeeling and mystical mountain state of Sikkim to the magical Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, our unique journey ‘Inside the Hidden Kingdoms’ gets you off the tourist trail like never before.

Laos & Vietnam
In the final episode of this epic journey, Simon Reeve follows the Tropic of Cancer through the remote northern region of Laos just to the south of the tropic (due to the Chinese authorities not allowing him and his crew a visa). But his disappointment is short lived, as Simon discovers the treasures of a little country ravaged over the years by war. Even this remote jungle covered area is not immune to the effects of globalisation, as he stumbles upon a massive building project funded by the Chinese. A ‘Vegas’ style casino and hotel resort in the middle of the jungle! (Watch this episode on iPlayer if you missed it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s7glt/Tropic_of_Cancer_Laos_to_Hawaii/ )

You can practically follow in Simon’s footsteps from the romantic city of Luang Prabang nestled on the banks of the Mekong, stop off at friendly hillside villages in northern Laos, pass through National parks and a primate sanctuary in Vietnam on the way  to the iconic Ha Long bay in Vietnam on our ‘Bangkok to Hanoi’ tour.

Follow in Simon’s footsteps on a trip across Thailand, Laos & Vietnam

Sounds like four very different holidays doesn’t it? Well it’s not, it’s just one! Explore’s Michelle Bird was lucky enough to experience all of the above and more when she travelled on Kasbah Capers, a week-long trip to Morocco. Here are a few of her trip highlights…

We arrived in Morocco late in the evening and headed straight for our hotel just off the famous Djemma el Fna in Marrakech. We were immediately immersed in the sights, sounds, colours and smells of the busy square, suddenly a world away from the UK shores we’d left just a few hours earlier. We weren’t in Marrakech long so didn’t have a chance to explore, but we would be back to fully experience it before the week was out!

Bustling Marrakech

The next day was an early start as we were off on a day-long drive across some stunning Moroccan scenery. We traversed the Tizi and Tichka Pass – the highest vehicular pass in Morocco – and as we journeyed through the Atlas Mountains we stopped off along the way to meet locals and explore an ancient Kasbah which is still home to Moroccans today.

Tamnougalt Kasbah

The whole group were amazed at how quickly the scenery outside our vehicles changed as we drove; we passed through barren land which suddenly erupted into a lush oasis again and again.

Arriving at our destination of Zagora – the ‘Gateway to the Sahara’ – it was an early night for us, recharging our batteries ready for exploring the town and the surrounding areas the next day.

The following day was a highlight for many in the group as we really got to the heart of the area. It started with a guided walk through a beautiful palmery, where dates were blossoming on the palm trees. We wandered from dusty streets, through oases, into desolate landscapes and finally into a small village where we watched silver jewellery being made before having the opportunity to make purchases. After a picnic lunch picked up from the local market we headed out into the desert for a camel ride across the dunes, before we climbed one of the highest to watch the sunset – a beautiful end to a relaxing but packed day.

Riding camels across the dunes

After our time spent in the desert we were ready to head up to our mountain hideaway, a Berber village called Tagoudiche. We walked the last part of the journey to the village and as we were making our way up, we couldn’t believe that we were actually approaching a village, everything seemed so quiet and uninhabited but, suddenly, as we crested a peak, there it was spread out in front of us.

The Berber people of Tagoudiche were some of the friendliest I have ever encountered, welcoming us into their lives and homes. Our hosts were a married couple who looked after us well. On our second day in the village a few members of the group went trekking to Jebel Lekst, a nearby mountain peak, while the rest of us took a tour of the area surrounding the village, finishing with mint tea and henna tattoos in our hosts’ home.

Mint tea with our host and her family

I can’t mention the couple of days we spent in Tagoudiche without talking about the food! The breakfasts, lunches and dinners our tour leader, Aziz, and our local hosts prepared for us using very basic facilities were by far the tastiest we had on our trip. The meals they rustled up were so delicious and consisted of full three course meals in the evenings with more fresh fruit and salad than you could wish for! The whole group could have happily eaten food prepared by them throughout the entire holiday!

Early morning descent from Tagoudiche village

After a couple of days relaxing in the mountains, it was onto the pretty harbour town of Essaouira, where we stayed in the heart of the city walls. With an afternoon free to explore, some of us chose to have a wander round the streets, where there was plenty of shopping to be done but less of the ‘hard sell’ than you’d expect in Marrakech – it was all very relaxed. We then headed for the harbour where fishing boats were coming in and fish was being bought and sold. We decided to climb up the fort ramparts for a great view over the town and beach and afterwards we picked up a bit of lunch which we took down to the beach to watch the sunset over the harbour.

Sunset over Essaouira harbour

There was a little time for a bit more souvenir shopping before a group meal in a delicious seafood restaurant we’d never have found ourselves – this is where Aziz’s amazing local knowledge came in very handy! As we ate we reflected on how each day of the trip had been totally different from the one before it and what a revelation it had been. None of us expected the sheer diversity we’d experienced in one country (and we hadn’t even fully experienced Marrakech at that point!)

The next day was our last and we headed back to Marrakech to explore the city. A local guide took us on a walking tour, taking in the Mosque, Jewish quarter, Bahia Palace, the souks and finally the square, before we spent a bit of time exploring on our own. Many of the group tested their haggling skills as they bought souvenirs for friends and family, whether anyone got a bargain we’ll never really know but I do know that everyone had a great time trying!

Shopping in the busy Marrakech souks

That evening we had our final group meal in a lovely rooftop restaurant overlooking the city (another one we’d never have found without Aziz) and took the opportunity to thank Aziz for being such an amazing guide and patiently answering all of our questions about Morocco, its landscape, history and people. Aswell as seeing the country for ourselves, it was invaluable having Aziz with us to give that extra detail and history you can only get from someone who has grown up there.

As a first Explore holiday for me, it was a great introduction to both small group travel and Morocco itself – a country I’m determined to see more of!

Read more about Kasbah Capers, or see what else we have available in Morocco

Starting off in the Rann of Kutch, he goes in search of the shy Indian Wild Ass. You can explore much of this region on our Village India tour where you get to discover much of tribal Gujerat.

Gujarat Crafts

Simon then takes time to consider the decline of the tiger situation and also spends time with a beautiful Indian elephant. You could encounter both magnificent creatures in parks nearby to the one Simon visited (Satpura). Our Tiger Trails & Temples Tour visits Ranthambore, Bandhavgargh and Kanha National parks – all classic ‘Kipling’ country.

Tiger spotting

Lastly, Simon spends time in fantastic yet often misunderstood Calcutta (aka Kolkata). You can find out for yourself what it is like on the tours ‘Kolkata to Amritsar’, ‘Bengal to the Malabar Coast’, ‘Sikkim & Singalila Trek’ and ‘Inside Hidden Kingdoms’, journeys which promise to show you much more than the usual tourist highlights of Inda…

Kolkata

Monday 29th March – Hello from ANTIGUA!

As I’m sure you’re all aware we came in last Monday to an absolutely fantastic reception. After so long at sea it was almost quite overwhelming – the last 24hrs at sea have been amazing. We had been gunning for a 60 mile day for well over a month – I know we’ve been writing about it in blogs – and then on the last day we managed a 60 miler. It’s ironic and almost a bit sad it didn’t happen earlier but it was just great that we did get to experience some decent weather behind us on the last day, although it was kind of tinged with a bit of sadness as we were enjoying it so much.

In the last week, coming up to the end, it was one long hard slog putting in the extra hours to get the record and trying to focus on finishing. But the closer to the finish you got the more you wanted to savour what you were doing. With the weather behind us we were regularly making 3 knots with just one of us on the blades – how it should have been for the last month.

Mel and Annie at sea

As the sun came up on the last morning I said to Annie as she came out from the cabin, “You know what?  I could just do this forever”. In many ways we just didn’t want to finish as the weather had turned so perfect.

But coming in and actually going over the line – what an event!

The girls coming into shore

WoodVale were out there on their ‘rib’ and our friends Barry and Lil were out on theirs too. Although we didn’t see them all until half a mile from the finish, they were there and in quite big seas, so it was good to see some familiar faces. Some big foghorns blared out as we made it over the line and then Barry and Lil passed us some Champagne so as we crossed the line we could celebrate which was amazing actually – a moment to log in our memories for ever.

Mel gets a champagne soaking

Then we had to row into the harbour and the Atlantic wasn’t letting us go without a final blast: we had some big waves hitting us side on and we were rowing into a really strong headwind – really strong. We were at maximum power to make any headway – quite hard after 77 days at sea.

When we got into the harbour though all the moored boats had people on them clapping and sounding their horns and a restaurant we went past had everyone lined up clapping us in too. Annie turned to me and asked if this was all for us.  And I just said yes of course it is. After 77 days at sea when all you’ve seen is each other it was quite overwhelming to see so many people and for them to be clapping you like that.

We carried on rowing up to the pontoon and there were even more familiar faces – brilliant to see and amazing that they included many other rowers. They were mostly boys of course who had lost 2 stone in weight and grown beards – we couldn’t recognise half of them which was quite funny.

Annie celebrates with some champagne

For our first steps onto land we had to be careful as the land felt very wobbly – even just standing was quite difficult – even more so after some champagne. We had amazing reunions with family and the other rowers too actually and it was nice to see we had all got in safely: there was a lot of emotion there at the arrival which was fantastic. Half an hour later “Reason Why” came in who we had been battling over the last few hours of the race. “Spirit of Montenaro” had overtaken us and we were absolutely determined that “Reason Why” weren’t going to pass us. It was amazing that we managed to hold them off and beat them in but it was very good to see them so close after us – literally just minutes after we got to the pontoon they were there, so double celebrations – and they are from Bristol too so more special.

Then our first meal was laid on for us which was lovely. They gave us burgers which I wolfed down – proper food at long last.

All in all a very good celebration of what we’ve achieved: Antigua put on a great display, as did the rest of the rowers and as did our friends and family who were here to see us in.

One last thing I’d like to say is a big thank you to everyone who has followed us, supported us and hve been sending messages of good luck and encouragement. Just knowing you were all there meant a lot in the middle of the ocean all alone. We were quite happy out there but it meant a huge amount knowing there were so many following us. To each and every one of you who sent a message, we read them all and appreciated them all – your support meant everything to us and we hope you’ve enjoyed following the blog. Thank you again for helping make our dream come true and being part of our dream. The enormity of what we have achieved is just starting to sink in I think. The fact we missed the record doesn’t matter any more we have rowed an ocean and we’re really happy with that and we really can’t think of any down days. We have to say we almost enjoyed every single moment of it. So thank you all again and goodbye.

Mel & Annie

Last night’s episode saw Simon rejoin the Tropic of Cancer in Egypt and follow it through to Oman. (View it on the BBC iPlayer here).

In Southern Egypt, next to the ancient temple of Abu Simbel, Simon met Nubians struggling to maintain their culture following the damming of the Nile. He also spent time diving in the pristine reefs of the Red Sea before watching as rare baby green giant turtles started their own epic journeys as they headed into the Arabian Sea from the beaches of Oman.

If Simon’s adventure has inspired you to see the real Egypt, we have many tours to this beautifully diverse country. Experiencing the Nubian lifestyle depicted on the show is part of what makes our trips to Egypt so unique, a point made by one of tour leaders in a recent interview about our Nile cruises. Read what he had to say about what makes the tour so special.

We also have several options in Oman, including the option of getting out onto the Arabian Sea on our Arabian Seatrek tour.

We interview our Egyptian tour leader Arafa Omran and the Operations Manager of the boat Saleh Rabei to get to the bottom of what makes a holiday on the Doma so special…

So, Saleh, Arafa, there are many Nile cruise ships on the Nile – why is the Doma special?

Arafa-The best thing about the Doma is it can only take 24 people. This means only the Explore group on board which means privacy – not like the other big noisy cruise boats which take up to 300 people on board. While on Doma, it’s our boat, we control the itinerary which means we can get to some sites before the big cruise ships turn up and be the only group exploring places like Edfu temple.

Saleh -The boat is also locally owned and staff are all from Luxor. This helps to employ local people and gives the customer the real Egyptian life experience.

At Explore our aim is to help people to “get off the beaten track” – how do you manage to do this in such a popular destination as Egypt?

Arafa- With Explore you do the same like what other travel agent do but in a real way not in a touristic way! For example, when we go to the Valley of the Kings, we take a donkey there rather than a coach.

One of my many favourite experiences with Explore is a trip to the Nubian Village.  We use a motor boat to get to the first cataract in the river Nile among the small islands. (Most of them are declared as a national park and birds use them as a station during the migration seasons. You can see more than 400 different kinds of birds in different seasons!)

Then we leave the tourist areas far behind and get off the motor boat to walk around a Nubian Village where we can see the real local life (We are the only tourists there).        Sometimes we are lucky enough to visit to a Wise Man called Haj Mohamed before visiting a real Nubian house. After welcome drinks we take a tour with a local guide who tells us all about the Nubian people.

After this we have a traditional meal and also have the chance to get a henna tattoo from a young female member of the family.

Saleh – And on board the Doma, our chef is local so he cooks all local food which completes the Egyptian experience. One of our meals is Koshary (very popular local dish consisting of macaroni, lentils, rice noodles, onions, hot sauce and garlic). We also do Falafel which is again traditional Egyptian food.

What is life like on board the Doma?

Arafa- This is a typical day sailing from Kom Ombo to Esna Lock
Breakfast while sailing in the morning and by 11:00 am we arrive at Edfu. While sailing people can do many things – some of them just enjoy sitting in the sun to try to get a tan before going back home, some read books and others just enjoy the sailing, and watching the daily life of Egyptians on the banks of the Nile. You can watch the birds, the daily life of the farmer and their daily activity and people fishing in the Nile with the same way the ancient Egyptians used to do 5000 years ago.

We get off the boat to visit Edfu Temple before resuming our journey back on the boat and having our lunch while sailing to Esna Lock. Some people like to cool themselves by jumping in the Doma pool, or just sitting in the bar with a drink listening to music or just playing cards, backgammon or dominoes.

After dinner we might have our Galabia Party with everybody dressed with this long traditional Egyptian garment and some funny make up. All the guests and crew get together for a fun party with games and dancing in the bar.

Saleh – Life on board is very relaxing, and customers can take advantage of our book corner, TV, bar, sun deck and the small pool on board in between the sightseeing. Guests really gel well with each other and the crew and feel at home straight away.

Why is cruising the Nile such a good way to get close to the culture of Egypt?

Arafa – Did you know that 96% of Egypt is desert, while only 3.4% is cultivated land – and this, as well as most Egyptian people is found along the banks of the Nile?
While sailing you will see the real Egypt. Watching the river banks with its cultivated land and the farmer working in it. See the contrast between the Desert and the Nile. Watch people fishing, swimming in the Nile, bathing animals like camels or horses, or just using the Nile to transfer products or people locally.

Thank you to Arafa and Saleh, who both look forward to welcoming you onto the Doma this year. To find out more about the boat, its facilities and the different tours you can do on it, take a look at our M/S Doma page.