Where We Be
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| Smile for the camera! |
| Nubian Village -- Aswan, Egypt |
That evening we take a tour to a nearby Nubian
village. Our soft-spoken Nubian guide, Araby,
leads us to a motorboat. We putter up the Nile
to the First Cataract, circling Kitchener’s Island,
a lovely botanical garden and bird sanctuary.
Araby really knows his stuff and identifies every
bird and bush we ask about. At one point, as we
take a detour up a narrow offshoot of the Nile
through dense foliage, our driver gets a bit too
close to the shrubbery and the prow whacks off
a branch. Unflappable, our Nubian guide picks
up the branch, shows it to us, and says “Acacia.”
The Nubian village is on Aswan's west bank. We
reach it near sunset and see other visitors
arriving by camel. We're ushered into a quaint,
colorful Nubian home -- pastel blue on the
inside, with bright figures painted on the walls.
We take a seat at the table and Araby talks to us
about typical life in a Nubian village. As he talks,
he grabs three baby crocodiles out of a shallow
tub and sets them on the table in front of us.
The next thing I know, he's saying "Don't be
afraid" as he sets a baby crocodile on my head.
Okay, that was something I wasn't expecting!
Robin also gets her turn modeling a "croc hat."
village. Our soft-spoken Nubian guide, Araby,
leads us to a motorboat. We putter up the Nile
to the First Cataract, circling Kitchener’s Island,
a lovely botanical garden and bird sanctuary.
Araby really knows his stuff and identifies every
bird and bush we ask about. At one point, as we
take a detour up a narrow offshoot of the Nile
through dense foliage, our driver gets a bit too
close to the shrubbery and the prow whacks off
a branch. Unflappable, our Nubian guide picks
up the branch, shows it to us, and says “Acacia.”
The Nubian village is on Aswan's west bank. We
reach it near sunset and see other visitors
arriving by camel. We're ushered into a quaint,
colorful Nubian home -- pastel blue on the
inside, with bright figures painted on the walls.
We take a seat at the table and Araby talks to us
about typical life in a Nubian village. As he talks,
he grabs three baby crocodiles out of a shallow
tub and sets them on the table in front of us.
The next thing I know, he's saying "Don't be
afraid" as he sets a baby crocodile on my head.
Okay, that was something I wasn't expecting!
Robin also gets her turn modeling a "croc hat."
| A Nubian warrior teaches us some new moves at the dance show that evening |
| What a picturesque bedroom with cupboard! |
| Robin watches as a henna "tattoo" in the shape of a flowering vine is applied to her hand and wrist |
| Robin's hand just after the henna is applied |
| We buy a kachina-like Nubian doll from this woman |
| Some visitors arrive by camel -- this is one of the camel drivers |
| We love the bright, colorful ambiance of this typical Nubian home |
| A Nubian woman enters her home at dusk with a basket balanced on her head. Apparently a tree grows right through the roof of her home! |
| It's not every day you have a baby crocodile placed on top of your head! |
