Secrets of the Nile (From Living Northeast)

Secrets of the Nile

12:00pm Monday 9th March 2009 in

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ALEX FINER follows in the wake of Hercule Poirot on a cruise along the Nile for a honeymoon destination with a difference.

THE EgyptAir cabin crew, dressed in salmon-pink uniforms, are finishing their trolley service. Outside, below a cloudless sky, the desert floor, harbouring 150 species of snake, stretches all the way to the silhouette of sandstone hills on the horizon. Then I spot a streak of colour: it is the long blue vein of the Nile inside a narrowgreen strip of irrigated land. We are flying to Aswan to visit the temples of Egypt from the comfort of the most luxurious and select of cruise boats, the Oberoi Zahra.

Met on the ground by a driver and guide, we cross the older of the two dams, protected by armed soldiers, leave behind the pylons that stalk the suburbs and enter the city, where we pass the famous Old Cataract Hotel, currently under renovation.

Agatha Christie is one of many famous former guests. She took up residence while writing her cruise ship murdermystery, Death On The Nile, in 1936, and the hotel features as a location in the movie of the book.

Greeted on board Zahra with a cool jasminescented flannel and a glass of pink champagne, we adjourn to lunch outdoors on the photogenic top deck. Parasols protect us from the strong November sun as we inspect fellow passengers at other tables and on smart sun loungers by the pool towards the stern. Many seem to be auditioning for an Agatha Christie sequel.

Hercule Poirot is not among them.

But our characters appear to include a haughty duchess, a garrulous English brain surgeon, an ailing American financier with his gold-digging wife, young Swiss newly-weds, a classics professor and a French chatelaine with a fixed smile from too much surgery.

It is the boat, however, that deserves top billing. One floor below is a small modern gym, conference room and a lavish spa staffed by eight Thai masseuses. The cabins, a level lower, are well-appointed boutique hotel suites with floor-to-ceiling picture windows in both the bedroom and beside the walk-in shower in the bathroom.

One day, as I soap myself, I clearly startle a fisherman in his rowing boat who has been beating the water with an oar to attract Nile perch into his nets.

The ground floor houses the marble reception, a bar, lounge, cinema and games area with chess sets and Wifi-connected computers. Beneath that, with an eye-level view of the riverbanks, is the elegant restaurant in which we dine each night on up to four courses of delicate Asian/Mediterranean cuisine prepared by the Indian chef and his brigade.

In the days ahead, we cruise to Luxor past some of the best-preserved and most inspiring temples of the ancient world. But first we sample the Aswan street scene.

On the narrow wooden terrace at Cleopa tra’s Coffee House, we watch Aswan’s young men stroll arm in arm. Attracted by the sound of singing and clapping and the beat of a drum, we find exuberant well-wishers bidding farewell outside the train station to a familymember bound for Mecca.

Then it’s time to drive out of town, past oleander and imported lemon-scented gum trees, to a technological wonder of the modern world.

Fortunately, you don't have to be master of Egyptian history and mythology to enjoy the ancient temples. Ahmed, one of Zahra’s knowledgeable Egyptologists, accompanies our party of four to Philae, KomOmbo, Edfu and Karnak, illuminating facets of complex civilisations stretching back 5,000 years.

He tells of Isis, Osiris, the crocodile god, Sobek, the falcon god, Horus, and other deities to whom the temples are dedicated.

As we cruise between sites, we gaze upon banana orchards, sugar cane, donkey carts framed by date palms, grazing cattle at the water’s edge and feluccas (traditional wooden sailing boats) with their distinctive sails.

Reaching Luxor, beyond the Esna lock, we tour Karnak, a conglomeration of ruined temples, chapels and pylons that pre-dates the other temples by more than 2,000 years. Despite the crowds, the main 60-acre precinct of Amun has awe-inspiring sphinxes, obelisks and shrines and still yieldsmajor new archaeological discoveries each year.

Agatha Christie, it seems, has been following us down river. For she, it turns out, also enjoyed Luxor – from the opulent surroundings of the Old Winter Palace hotel.

TRAVEL FACTS

Alex Finer was a guest of Cox & Kings, which offers an 11-night luxury Nile cruise itinerary that combines a sevennight cruise onboard the Oberoi Zahra (full board) with three nights B&B in a Pyramid-view room at the Oberoi Mena House in Cairo.

Package from £2,895 per person includes flights, accommodation, all transfers, and excursions in groups of up to six to a guide. Lowest prices apply to April-September departures in 2009. Regional supplements for Manchester and Glasgow are both £125.

Cox & Kings reservations: 020-7873-5000 coxandkings.co.uk