The Dam That Damned the Nubians (Day 7, Aswan)

A few days ago Ahmed said Egypt wants to have more dates than anyone else in the wool-ed. And I thought, “Damn. Nailed it.”  Then he said something about the “balm” trees and I knew. Wrong kind of date. 

Today’s lecture and field trip was about the Nile River dam at Aswan. As usual, Ahmed threw out a million dates and I just came away with this summary: 

They kept building higher and higher dams to control the flood zones and eventually most of the Nubian villages were underwater and the most important temples were relocated.

I’ve got no dates. It confuses me when Ahmed says, “In 1974 AD…” like that’s a different 1974 than Watergate and mood rings. 

We saw today: 

• the Nasser Lake;
• the Philae temples;
• the seven columns of the Goddess of Hathor;
• a Nubian island called Heisa where we danced, drank hibiscus tea and used the personal toilets in the homes of Nubian people;
• took a ride on a felucca boat with a man named Chadly;

And then it was time for lunch. 

Say what you will about river cruises, they can cover a week in a day. 

Photos from our morning: