There is no Nile horizon in Egypt undotted by felucca: light and swift sailboats, used in the transport of goods and people. The breeze marries the current and rocks them gently down stream. Some sit anchored to the shore, tethered by rope and the strong sailors who knotted it. For over a millennia, felucca have been intimate to the Egyptian experience, for both locals and foreigners alike. This miniature odyssey of transported goods and good-feeling sailors has transformed into a self-sustaining culture first developed in ancient Egypt – though no one can be sure of an exact time frame. It’s no surprise that felucca have sustained an inseparable association with the Nile. Most famously used in Aswan and Luxor, these little sail boats have garnered a sweet-seeming reputation: bobbing along, fine and slow, as its passengers chatter about good weather and opaque Nile water, about blue lotuses and the sailor’s youngest daughter. It is a culture of patience and pleasure, of hard work and hospitality. Over the course of cultures and charismatic kings, Egyptian felucca were developed into a wide array of types. From shallow draft fishing crafts (zahari) to…
