I have to admit, it was somewhat hard to enjoy our visit to Esna because I was ready to get the show on the road and see where we’d be staying for the next five days (and who we’d be staying with!) Imagine our surprise when we found out that we pretty much had the boat to ourselves– it was the four of us, plus another couple that were perhaps a few years older than Severin and I. They ended up being great travel companions, well-traveled and full of interesting stories themselves, which was quite a relief since we would be eating all of our meals together for the next week.
The deck of the boat was fantastic. The owners of Nour el Nil have a fantastic sense of style and the entire deck was covered with nice thick cushions for reading, lounging, or napping. For every lunch and dinner, the crew would come up and move a heavy wooden table and chairs to the center of the deck. They’d put out a nice tablecloth, provide plenty of fresh water and delicious condiments, and wait on us hand and foot. None of us were comfortable ringing the bell; even if we were, we’d never have had to because the crew took such care of us. Dinners were three courses, always with a soup and a nice dessert.
I was a bit nervous about the boat because I tend to get panic attacks when I feel “trapped”– when we booked, I figured at the very least the nice open-air deck would prevent me from feeling too claustrophobic. I know myself pretty well because as soon as we got on board I could feel my heart race at the thought of being on this boat and tying up god knows where alongside the Nile. My brain can be pretty irrational sometimes, but fortunately Severin knows me pretty well too and knows to be supportive and give me space and let me figure my shit out.
One lemonade and a cast-off later, and my nerves had given way to excitement! Our boat was named Malouka, and we would travel alongside Nour el Nil’s other boat the Meroe for the length of our journey. So any photos you see of the dahabiya underway, it’s the Meroe, which looks very similar but is a bit bigger than our boat. The tugs brought us out and I’d say we ended up being towed for a good 70 percent of the cruise. However, they ended up being very unobtrusive (not noisy, not diesel-y) and they kept us on schedule.
Goodbye, Esna!
