Sideshow

Not many rivers flow from south to north. The Nile is the most significant river on that small list. It has two sources. The Blue Nile rises in the mountains of Ethiopia. The White Nile begins its journey in Africa's great lakes region. These two parent rivers meet in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.

Then the great river flows north to Aswan which is southern Egypt's most significant city. Moving further north it is about 140 miles to Luxor which in ancient times was known as Thebes. This was the very cradle of Egyptian civilisation - an economic and cultural awakening that endured for three thousand years.

It hardly ever rains in central Egypt. Without The Nile, Egypt would have been an inhospitable and barren desert. The river brought the means to exist and prosper. To this day, The Nile nourishes the land to both east and west, forming green strips of agricultural land. Even in ancient times, Egyptians knew how to divert river water - building canals and irrigation ditches. All wealth grew out of The Nile.

Unlike Steve Reed who cruised from Cairo to Aswan in 2019, Shirley and I drifted from Luxor to Aswan and back again. The banks of The Nile were like a sideshow or even a slideshow sliding by. You never knew what you might see.

Sometimes people waved. Here a fishing boat. There a mosque and the muezzin calling  believers to prayer. Here a woman washing pots. There an egret flashing white  in front of dense date palms. Ruins. A remote railway station. A white 4X4 vehicle on a beach. And all the while - The Nile flowing northwards like an everlasting dream.