Nile 5000 Years of History

Bettany visits Egypts gateway to the world the Niles mouth before boarding her fabulous lsquodahabiya and meeting the crew that will guide her upriver the entire length of Egypt Sailing south of Cairo theres time for Bettany to learn a few ropes onboard before she braves the underground tunnels of a collapsed pyramid where the earliest known hieroglyphic writing can be found

A hundred miles south of Cairo Bettany starts on a stretch of Nile that few visitors ever get to see Once Egypts main highway this was where Cleopatra herself used to travel and be seen by her people Further upriver Bettany tracks down Egypts lost emblem the blue lotus flower and visits the beautiful tombs where Tutankhamens discoverer Howard Carter first got hooked on Egypt

Traffic on the Nile is building signaling Bettanys arrival into Luxor The crew takes a wellearned break whilst Bettany heads to the west bank to see where generations of skilled royal tombbuilders lived Bettany also takes in the modern night life and the giant Karnak Temple before returning to the river in time to cross paths with the oldest steam ship on the Nile

Bettany reaches the Egyptian Niles southernmost parts Once a dangerous crocodile haven now this stretch of the Nile is just startlingly beautiful Bettany joins archaeologists at the temple of the crocodile god as they uncover and extract a giant stone message board from the temple foundations that reveals images and hieroglyphics made over a thousand years ago