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Nile: Cruise it to feel it
By Dhananjani Silva
Seen the stunning pictures of Egyptian pyramids, tombs and other spectacular sights on TV, in books and in magazines a million times? Ever wondered if you could become a part of an Egyptian travel story?

Hermes International Travels (Pvt.) Ltd., a shipping agency which provides corporate and leisure travels and which has been in the business since 1954, organised a Nile cruise programme for Unilever Sri Lanka recently. Sixty-four members (two groups of 32) went to Cairo and among the highlights of the trip were the visit to the Aswan Dam and the ancient Karnak temple shared by two deities Sobek and Haroeries.

Located near Aswan, the world famous High Dam was an engineering miracle when it was built in the 1960s. It contains 18 times the material used in the Great Pyramid of Cheops. The dam is 11,811 feet long, 3215 feet thick at the base and 364 feet tall.

Today, it provides irrigation and electricity for the whole of Egypt and, together with the old Aswan Dam built by the British between 1898 and 1902, six km down river, it offers wonderful views for visitors. From the top of the two-mile-long High Dam you can gaze across Lake Nassar, the huge reservoir created when it was built, to Kalabsha temple in the south and the huge power station to the north.

The High Dam added a whole new aspect to Egypt and a new environment as well. The lake is some 500 miles long and at the time it was built, if not now, was the world's largest artificial lake.

The Temple of Karnak today remains the world's largest religious structure. Sites such as Karnak, Dendera and Kom Ombo would most likely fall under the category of "god's mansion". "It was an awesome experience as the trip was totally relaxing and the sights which we saw were amazing and truly memorable. All the cities are located along the Nile river and visiting them is what you call going on the Nile Cruise," said Nawami Jayawardene who took the cruise with her husband.

"Being on a ship itself is a remarkable experience — the cabins, rooms, the restaurants, swimming pools, and the shops, all make it a five-star hotel," she added.

"This was the first time that such a large group from Sri Lanka went to Cairo. There are people travelling to Cairo but not in such large groups," Hermes International’s Senior Executive Kumudu Kannangara said.

"What we try to do is to improve the corporate sector travels — to create more specialized tours for our clients. Rather than the usual inbound, out bound tourism, our aim is to provide specialised tours to the clients, whether it is families coming on special excursions or tours for corporate clients," Kannangara said.

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