We made two boat tours in Aswan, one in a felucca, the other in a
motor boat. The felucca took us to Kitchener's Island, where there is a
beautiful botanical garden,
installed there in 1928 by Lord Kitchener, consul general and commander
of the Egyptian army.
Kitchener's Island
The botanical garden reminds us of Florida
Bougainvilleas in the botanical garden
A singing boat-boy
Leaving the island, one is sure to be accosted by a small boat barely
big enough to hold a young boy, who will sing a melody from your home
country. We were regaled with "Gentille al-lou-et-te", sung with much
gusto.
Another day, we took a tour in a motor boat which took us to the Elephantine Island,
where we made a fascinating walk and visited the Nubian village which
has been settled there. We then navigated among the numerous small
islands in the region, before stopping at a beach and taking a plunge
in the mythical river!
Exactly in the middle of the picture, one can see the beach on the
left (west) bank of the Nile where we took a dip. The
beach here is even wider than those in Florida, since it's the
beginning of the desert!
"Les baigneurs"
We also stopped on a small island to look at some ostriches!
