The Sheikh and the Crocodile

"Why don't we go to Elephantine island today?" Meg says.

There's an archaeology site there and a Nubian village that we can hang out in for the day. It seems like a great plan. I tell her it sounds good.

We eat breakfast and then head to the ferry crossing.

During the boat crossing I get mildly worried when we go right past the large island that I think is Elephantine Island. Okay, maybe it was the wrong island. But, the Nile's not that wide and I don't really see any other place that we could be heading. It looks like we are going to the west bank which is really just has a few houses and pretty much entirely open desert.

I ask the lady in the group of women sitting next to me if they are going to Elephantine island. She doesn't understand anything I'm saying but takes my hand and smiles. And - she doesn't give my hand back. I smile back at her. She pulls me close and then her daughter takes my other hand.

I'm generally a touchy person and I like the warm friendly vibe that I'm getting so I continue to sit with the family and talk with the little girl for the rest of the boat ride.

Then, the boat stops. Yay, we're definitely on the west bank. We must have taken the wrong ferry. We get off the boat and the little girl and her mother - from what I can understand - are insisting that Meg and I come to their house for a visit.

Since we are lost, we take her up on the offer. The little girl holds my hand all the way back to her house. My new friend brings us into a small side room of the house. There's a mud-brick bench running along all sides of the room and a TV in the corner. She immediately turns on the TV for us and changes the channel to soap opera. The other women from the boat sit down with us. The are wearing jilbabs (loose dress) and hijabs (head scarf). When they sit down, they take off their hijabs. It appears we are getting comfortable. Mom walks out of the room to get us some refreshments.

She comes back with something to eat and tea. "Sukaar?" She asks. Oh good, a word I know! Meg and I both reply, "Na'am." Because yes, I love some sugar in my tea!

A child comes over to Mom and cries. She picks the boy up, pulls aside the jalbab covering her body, and starts breastfeeding the toddler.

We enjoy the visit but after about an hour, we realize we have to get moving. We are lost and we need to figure out how we are going to get back over to Elephantine Island. Clearly we can't take the boat that brought us here!

I take a picture as a keepsake to remember the family and then mom walks us down to the water and points towards the right. I assume it means there's a boat in that direction but there is no dock in view. We're sad to say good-bye but we really do need to push on.

Mom's the one in black holding the baby and my friend from the boat

is the small girl in the blue checkered dress.

So we headed out. To where, I really don't know. We just start walking along the edge of the Nile in the direction we are aiming for, hoping for a boat. And we walk, and walk, and walk.

Meg leading the way in our search.

It's so hot. Actually, it is the hottest time of the year here. And, out of respect, we both wore pants and long sleeve shirts while traveling in the Middle East. We run out of water pretty quickly and my feet are swelling. I can't believe how fast the lack of water is getting to me. I've never seen my feet so swollen. You see people in movies, lost in the desert, walking for days without water. I really don't believe that's possible. My head is already hurting and we are both starting to drag.

We still haven't encountered any houses, any humans, or any docks.

We keep walking. There is really no turning back at this point. I honestly don't think I could do it. I'm just hoping that the unknown mystery dock is closer than the dock we came from.

Finally, we see a boat. Just one boat that is pulled right up alongside the bank. It's certainly not a ferry, but at least it floats!!

We make our way to the boat. It's a private boat some German tourists chartered. We ask them for a ride to Aswan. It's already really getting late so the idea of going to Elephantine Island is now out the window and we just need a boat to get back to the mainland. They're not going to Aswan but they will drop us off on the closest island.

Well now, that's not ideal but at least there is a chance we can get water. We get on the boat and they drop us off on a very small island. I look around. I'm not very hopeful that there will be a ferry, or water for that matter, given the size of the island.

The Germans considered their good deed done and left us.

We leave the dock and start evaluating the situation. Almost immediately, we run into this older man walking slowly with a cane and ask him for information about the island. Turns out, we ran into the best possible source of information, the sheikh of the island.

That was convenient. Seems our luck is changing. Or, maybe not.

The sheikh told us he had a boat but insisted that we first come to dinner at his house, have some drinks, pet his crocodile, and then he would bring us back to Aswan.

Pet his crocodile. This is getting weirder by the minute. We started with the intention of visiting an archaeology site and now we are standing here with this sheikh agreeing to pet his alligator so that we can get passage on a boat back to the mainland.

Well, he's not giving off any dangerous or creepy vibes so I don't think 'crocodile' is a euphemism! He seems genuinely excited to have us over for dinner and show us his crocodile. We really need some water and dinner also sounds good so we agreed to his invitation.

He's over the moon. He starts walking towards his house, waving us to follow. After a long evening of dinner and conversation - and yes, petting his actual pet crocodile - we were allowed to leave...on one condition.

Turns out his crocodile was only about the size of a large lizard!

I mean, of course this can't just end, right? I should have seen that coming. He tells us that after he brings us to Aswan, he wants us to go with him to an internet café so that one of us could write an email to his American girlfriend while he dictated.

"Um, okay. Sure." It's dark outside. At this point, we're so close to getting back to the hotel. I can handle this one last thing. As long as it was actually back in Aswan.

We get on his small boat and head back to Aswan. He really does make me write an email to his girlfriend but after that, we part ways. Now, it is really late. We headed back to the hotel. I fall into bed with my clothes still on.

Exhausted after a long day of 'site-seeing.'