i
Hot-air balloon at sunrise
$320 per person · Luxor only
An hour above the Theban necropolis at first light. The Valley of the Kings, the Ramesseum, Hatshepsut, all spread below. Returns by 8am for breakfast aboard.
The Experience
A life,
A life,
slowly kept.
The art of the slow itinerary. Mornings that begin with coffee on the deck. Evenings that end under stars. Days arranged around what the river decides.
An experience here is not what you do. It is what you allow.
The other dahabiyas keep schedules. They time their temple visits to the hour, their meals to the bell, their excursions to the brochure. We time ours to the wind, the light, and the appetite of a small company.
What follows is not a programme. It is a description of what tends to happen when a small company of guests, twelve crew, and one river travel together for three nights or more. The order varies. The spirit does not.
The Table
Cooked from what the morning brought.
Our chef does not write a menu in advance. It is written after she has been to the market — at Esna, at Kom Ombo, at whichever village we have anchored beside that morning. River fish that swam at dawn. Tomatoes from the floodplain. Bread still warm from the village oven.
Lunch is served on the sun deck, with the wind in the sails. Dinner is at tables by the windows — the captain often joins, sometimes the chef herself, with hand-painted ceramics from Tunis Village and the light going the colour of the late afternoon.
The Land
Temples, before the crowds find them.
Every excursion is led by an Egyptologist. Most are private. Many are at hours when the larger boats cannot be there — Karnak early on the journeys that include it, Edfu at last light, Philae illuminated against the night.
Where a private opening can be arranged, we arrange it. Where it cannot, we go early or late, with the slant light, in small groups. Where a village or a tomb has not been on anyone's itinerary in a hundred years, we take you there too.
After-hours visits at Edfu & Philae
Private guided tours, all temples
El-Kab painted tombs
Gebel el-Silsila quarry shrines
Karnak early, on the journeys that include it
Felucca visits to Nubian villages
Camel ride at the West Bank, optional
Valley of the Kings, the main tombs
The Body
Quiet rituals, kept gently.
There is a yoga teacher aboard for every journey of seven nights or more. Mornings on the sun deck, before the sun gets high. Massages by appointment in your cabin or on the foredeck — Egyptian almond oil, by a therapist from Aswan.
On warm afternoons the plunge pool on the sun deck is yours. A swim, a book, an afternoon kept by no one.
Yoga at sunrise
Massage in cabin or on foredeck
Hammam-style bathing oils, in cabin
The plunge pool on the sun deck
Reading in the panoramic lounge
Daybeds on the sun deck
The Hour
When the lanterns are lit.
Sunset is the hour everyone waits for. Egyptian gin or a Nile-water Negroni, served on the sun deck while the river turns indigo. The captain will tell you the names of the birds that pass.
Dinner by lantern light, cushions below. After dinner, an oud player some nights — usually a friend of the captain who comes aboard at Aswan or Esna. Stargazing on the sun deck, without a single light to interfere.
Sunset cocktails on the sun deck
Captain's table dinner, lanterns
Oud player, select evenings
Stargazing on the upper deck
Mint tea on deck after dinner
Storytelling by the captain
Bespoke
Experiences arranged on request.
Bookable in advance through the concierge. Some require a minimum of seven days' notice; some require thirty.
ii
Private temple opening
From $4,500 · per group, advance booking
A temple opened for you alone, by special arrangement with the Ministry of Antiquities. Edfu or Philae after hours. Subject to availability.
iii
Cooking class with our chef
$180 per person · aboard
An afternoon in the galley learning the dishes of Upper Egypt — molokhia, mahshi, basbousa. You leave with a hand-written set of recipes in the chef's hand.
iv
Oud and qanun, after dinner
$650 · per evening, all guests
Two musicians from Cairo brought aboard for the evening. Classical Egyptian music after dinner, on the sun deck or by the bar. Lasts as late as you ask it to.
v
Photography workshop
$420 per person · full day
A day with an Egyptian travel photographer — temple light, river light, portrait of a village. Bring your camera, leave with the technique.
vi
Candlelit dinner ashore
From $1,200 · per group
A private dinner laid out on a sandbank in the river, or in the courtyard of a closed temple. By special arrangement only. Champagne, lanterns, an evening you will not write home about — you will write home from.
Begin in the slow way.
Tell our concierge what you want from the river. We will arrange the rest.