A Sunset Felucca Boat Ride on the Nile

There are some experiences that you feel obligated to have, when visiting Luxor. And one of those is getting out onto the Nile. Shortly before sunset, the river is invaded by an army of Feluccas. But if you’d like to hop onto one of these picturesque boats, bring your nerves, patience, and a willingness to fight. Because you’re either going to be haggling, or getting ripped off.

Before heading out, try to pick a day with a breeze — more on this soon. And don’t arrive to the banks of the river too early, when the operators aren’t yet desperate enough to strike a good bargain. Don’t show up too late, either! You’ll want to see the sun actually set, and you don’t want to be panicked about making it out on time. The felucca boatmen have years of experience in reading tourists, and will sense your weakness instantly.

We knew the rules, and marched down to the pier with just the right amount of confidence. That is, we were 100% positive we were about to get ripped off, but confident that it wouldn’t be too much. (One of the biggest mistakes foreigners make when haggling on someone else’s turf, is clinging to the belief that they have to “win”. Let go of that, it won’t happen.)

After being approached by a few different guys, we settled on the one who seemed least obnoxious, and talked him down to nearly half his initial offer. He didn’t seem irritated once we got onto the water, which is a sign that we probably still paid way too much. But everyone was satisfied, so it wasn’t a bad outcome.

Unfortunately, we had been so concerned with the haggling, that we neglected one of the other rules of Felucca Boat Riding: choosing a day with at least some wind. The weather this evening was so still, that the feluccas’ massive sails were rendered mostly useless. After idling about near the docks for too long, our captain hired some kids with a motorboat to drag us into the middle of the river. We never so much “sailed” as were “slowly pushed by the river”.

But it was hard to complain. We were sitting on the Nile with a view of the setting sun, holding cups of strong tea that our captain had prepared. It didn’t take long for the residual stress from haggling to evaporate, and once the calls to prayer began sounding from all the mosques in the city, the atmosphere was positively magical.

While we waited for the flow of the Nile to push us back into shore, the captain took full advantage of his captive audience to offer us 1001 other experiences he could arrange for us. And no amount of negative replies would deter him. We were learning that the locals here don’t believe in taking “no” for an answer. Aggravating and an unfortunate, unavoidable finale to what had been a nice evening, but we were feeling too chilled-out to be bothered by it.

From our Travel Blog.

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