by Andrew Muigai
While on your Egypt vacation, there are several interesting activities you can undertake. Among these are luxury Nile cruises, or cruises in the the Red sea and Lake Nasser. River Nile has, since the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, won the admiration of many people, more so visitors seeking the ideal Egypt holidays.
The captivating landscape of the Nile valley adds great value to the nile cruise, allowing you to enjoy the best of the Nile while sampling the rich Egyptian cuisine. A typical nile cruise starts from either Luxor or Aswan, lasting either three nights, four nights, or seven nights. There are however shorter trips between Aswan and Luxor that take only a few hours.
The usual cruise is aboard a Nile cruiser, often referred to as a floating hotel. A cruiser has most features of a land based hotel, including small swimming pools, hot tubs, exercise rooms, nightclubs, good restaurants, stores and even small libraries. The best time for a Nile cruise is between October and mid April, when the weather is fairly cool. However, most cruise boats operate all year.
The Egyptian Red Sea is also a fascinating destination. Located between Asia and Africa, Red Sea has over the centuries attracted numerous people as it serves as a link between the East and West. The Red Sea receives thousands of scuba divers from around the world as well as visitors wishing to take vacations at the Red Sea coast.
The red sea coast runs from the Suez gulf in the North down to the Sudan border further south. The sea derives its name from the mineral-rich mountain ranges in it, which made ancient travelers name in Mare Rostrum. Throughout the year, thousands of migratory birds come to the red sea coast, making the place a haven for birdwatching enthusiasts. In the sea are also found over 800 fish species among them the deadly stone fish and the butterfly.
Another natural extension to a Nile luxury cruise or any other Egypt holiday activity would be a cruise in Lake Nasser, the world’s largest man-made lake. Lake Nasser, formed after the construction of the Aswan High dam in the 1960’s, is about 498.9 km long with depths of up to 600 feet. The lake was named after after the then president of Egypt - Gamal Abdel Nasser.
The two temples at Abu Simbel are some of the greatest attractions around lake Nasser region. Ranking alongside the great pyramids of Giza as Egypt’s top tourist attractions, the Abu Simbel temples represent an amazing engineering accomplishment. The temples were relocated from their original site to a higher ground during the construction of the dam, to prevent them from being submerged in the resultant lake Nasser.
Lake Nasser is also a haven for lovers of fishing as it has some of the best freshwater fishing in the world for both Nile perch and Tiger Fish.
Getting to Egypt and traveling within the country is relatively easy by flight. EgyptAir is one of the several airlines that operate flights to Egypt. Most international flights to Egypt land at the Cairo International Airport, while others arrive at the Sharm el Sheik airport. While a self explanatory map of Egypt is available, you may require a tour guide to help you move around and explore the country.
About the Author:
Andrew Muigai is the MD of Africapoint.com, a travel agency that offers
Egypt Vacation Packages, Egypt flights, and reservations for
Egypt Hotels among other Egypt travel services.