The Viking Aton left Luxor yesterday about 1:30 PM and sailed south about 7 hr reaching Esna. We traversed the Esna locks before docking.
We decided the two tours offered this morning didn’t outrank our need for catchup sleep trying to ward off the light colds we are dealing with. So, we slept in. Consequently, today’s travelogue is a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but mainly just some interesting facts and observations.
Our ride, the Viking Aton, was commissioned in 2023 and joined the other five boats in the Viking Nile fleet. Aton is an ancient Egyptian sun god. To meet extraordinary demand, two more boats will join the Viking fleet in 2025 and two more in 2026, for a total of 10. Passenger capacity is 82. On this cruise, there are 71 passengers. Aton is purpose built to ensure it can pass through the Esna locks. She is powered by three axopods with a total output of 500 hp. The boat is 236 ft long with a draft of 5 ft. We were given a tour of the wheelhouse this afternoon where we met the captain. He is the son of a son of a Nile captain. The instrumentation is pretty basic compared to ocean-going ships.
At 4130 miles long the Nile is the longest river in Africa. Although many thought she was the longest in the world, new survey data suggest the Amazon may claim that title. She flows south to north at an average speed of 6 mph. Average depth is 23-26 ft depending on the season. Of the two main tributaries, the Blue Nile and the White Nile, the Blue supplies about 80% of the water. The river flows through 11 countries en route to the Mediterranean. The biggest threat to the Nile today is a massive dam being built be Ethiopia. If not filled slowly enough, the water release could be hampered and do significant damage to navigation on the Nile and curtail agricultural uses.
As one drives through the countryside, you can see the majority of the brick structures have brick pillars sticking up from the roof with rebar in them suggesting unfinished. But although the structure is basically finished, it can be claimed as unfinished construction with lower tax rates.
The population of Egypt now approaches 111M people with another 3.3M being added annually. Of great concern to the government, programs to educate the citizens on birth control have not been successful.
Being a Muslim country, the population does not drink alcohol. Our boat does have one white and one red wine of Egyptian origin. Passable but not award winners. The dining manager says importing foreign wine is almost impossible. Asked why a drink package was not offered, he said the government would not allow it.
Around cities and in the countryside, one sees many, many 3 and 4 row vans literally packed with people. Turns out these are privately owned vehicles taking passengers for hire.
Also, while going around the countryside, it is obvious that obesity and smoking are major threats to the population. Obesity not so much in the countryside, but certainly in Cairo.
Tonight is Egyptian night at dinner, where the menu will focus on Egyptian food and the staff will wear galabeyas, the traditional robe-like garment.
Nubian dancers will be our entertainment.