Mention that you’re cruising the Nile and you’ll hear it: “Like ‘Death on the Nile’?”
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you → mention → Nile
Agatha Christie’s 1937 whodunnit made us imagine Egypt aboard a chintzy cruise with cream teas.
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us → make → teas
That’s a relic.
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That → ’ → ?
They’re strange looking shallow sailing vessels, with two big masts at each end that date back to the pharaohs.
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that → ’re → pharaohs
Now, an Egyptian travel company, Kemetale, is updating the experience for the 21st century.
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company → update → century
The idea began when Ahmed El Leissy — who ran a travel company dedicated to yoga, meditation, and wellness in Egypt’s lesser-traveled landscapes — met businessman Mohamed Hassan while exploring a remote part of the southern Red Sea coast.
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who → begin → coast
They shared a vision for off-the-beaten path travel, focused on authenticity and connection.
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They → share → authenticity
So together, they custom-built the dahabiya, Kemet, which launched in 2022.
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which → build → 2022
(Kemet means “black land” and is the ancient indigenous name of Egypt.)
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Kemet → mean → Egypt
Crossing over the gangplank is like stepping into a boutique hotel.
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Crossing → cross → hotel
Central to the boat — designed by the award winning Cairo firm Eklego Design — is a bar and dining area, lined with comfy chairs and cushions.
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bar → design → chairs
A back deck has plush daybeds for watching the river go by, while a glassed-in area is air-conditioned should the heat get too intense.
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heat → have → daybeds
Similarly a downstairs library/living room is the perfect place to cool off, read or make yourself a cup of tea.
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room → cool → tea
Should you prefer the sun — or the night sky — the top deck has loungers and panoramic views.
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deck → prefer → loungers
All the areas are artfully curated, thanks to the collector’s eye of Hassan, who has a passion for interior design.
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who → curate → design
He leaned into local artisans and sources to bring what Kemetale calls “1,000 stories” to the boat.
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Kemetale → lean → boat
Look around and there’s always a nugget to discover, like the representation of the Nile on the plates and the local art on the walls (oh, how we begged for a chance to buy!)
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we → look → chance
Below deck, Kemet has eight cabins for up to 16 guests, some balconied, and some with adaptable sleeping arrangements — handy, since the trips are often bought out for private groups.
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trips → have → groups
Our four-night journey is titled “a sandstone summer drift” (from $4,077 per person).
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journey → title → person
It starts in Aswan, an hour’s flight from Cairo, where we are whisked into the magical world of ancient Egypt with a trip across the river to the Philae Temple, dedicated to the goddess Isis.
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we → start → Isis
The cruises include the services of an onboard Egyptologist for the duration — in our case the eminently knowledgeable and ebullient Amr Wifky, who also acts as our translator and market barterer.
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who → include → translator
At the temple of Kom Ombo, dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon god Horus, there are depictions of strangely modern medicinal implements that became lost to time.
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that → dedicate → time
And it’s not just for pharaohs — the museum next door houses 300 mummified crocodiles.
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museum → ’ → crocodiles
In Esna, the Temple of Khnum has ceiling hieroglyphics that are being restored to their original colors.
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that → have → colors
In Gebel el-Silsila, we see the sandstone mines from which the temples of the valley were built.
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temples → see → valley
But as fabulous as these are, they are also the usual suspects, visited by the myriad cruises and land packages that ply the Nile.
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that → visit → Nile
What makes a Kemetale trip so special is the local immersion, thanks to the deep connections of the owners and crew (some of whom are so local that they can leave the boat and go home at night.
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they → make → night
After docking at El Kab, we go where few visitors dare, climbing into rustic vans bound for the outskirts of town, passing roadside markets and donkeys laden with bales of straw to a line of rock-cut, cliff-face tombs.
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visitors → dock → tombs
Inside are the remains of locals rather than royalty and there are some bones lined up for us to see.
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us → be → locals
Colorful hieroglyphics protected from the sun show small snippets of everyday life: One of the deceased was remembered for having a particularly unruly horse.
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One → protect → horse
Because we are in a small vessel, we can also pitch up at remote spots along the Nile, ones that El Leissy, who accompanies most sailings and wrangles the 13 crew, has scoped out.
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who → pitch → crew
After a short sail, we pull up at an island for a refreshing swim in the Nile — much colder than expected, but thankfully crocodile free since the arrival of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s, which keeps them all on the other side.
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which → pull → side
It’s one of Hassan’s favorite parts of the trip.
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It → ’ → trip
“We usually arrive with some light still in the sky,” he said.
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he → arrive → sky
“Guests swim, walk around a bit, and then we set up dinner on the shore and cook over the fire.
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we → swim → fire
Nothing about it is polished.
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Nothing → polish → it
That is exactly why it works, and it is the evening people tend to remember.”
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people → work → ?
As dusk fell, locals rowed us out in fishing boats for sunset bird watching.
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locals → fall → watching
It’s best not to look at the missing planks beneath your feet but instead take in the ibis and kingfishers.
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It → ’ → ibis
In fact, the food on this trip is seriously exceptional, brought to us by the smiling chef, Atef Mahmoud.
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food → bring → chef
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
