#2161 Abandoning All Sense of Time on a Felucca in Aswan, Egypt

Breathing life into the barren desert of Egypt, the River Nile has a profoundly spiritual significance. Sail from Aswan to Edfu on a traditional Egyptian felucca, and your life merges with that of the river. When the ebb and flow of the elements defines your progress, time ceases to have any meaning. The wind whispers over the sails, and water slaps gently against the hull. The colours are primal, savage in their intensity: the inky blue of the river, the verdant green of the banks, and the deep pink of the granite mountains, which guard the horizon like jagged sentinels. As you slip past simple villages, listening to the joyful splashing of naked children, and meeting the placid gaze of gentle water buffalo, the serenity of thousands of years seeps in to you. The River Nile always was, and always will be, the soul of this ancient land.