Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series on Mary Richardson’s visit to Egypt.

By Mary Richardson

I woke up before dawn, excited to be on the Nile River in Egypt. Alone in the darkness, I climbed the stairs to the top deck of our boat. I was about to witness the daily miracle of the Egyptian god, Ra, creating a new day. One of Ra’s duties is to carry the sun across the sky on his barque, and every night his barque has to pass through the underworld where the snake-like god Apophis attacks him, trying to stop his journey. Yet, every night, Ra is victorious and emerges at dawn, bringing light to the day.

As I watched Ra’s victory, the water began to glow, and the sky turned orange. His rays touched the date palms and mango trees along the banks, turning them from black silhouettes into a graceful green canopy. The scene looked biblical. Then a group of modern-day hot air balloons caught the sun’s rays, looking like jewels thrown into the sky. Another day in Egypt had begun.

My husband, Joe, and I were in Egypt on a Viking River Cruise, arranged at just the right time of year by our travel agent, Anne Rose. In early November, we were on the cusp of the high season. The hot weather was moderating. The crowds were big, yet smaller than they would be in winter. The river was still high enough to cruise.

We started the journey in Cairo, where the Nile enters the Mediterranean and looks like the Mississippi Delta. Then we flew to Luxor, where we boarded our lovely boat, the MS Antares, which has the ambiance of the African Queen, but with great plumbing. Then we sailed (actually, motored, but they call it sailing) south, up the river toward the Aswan dam. We were in Egypt to see the ancient pyramids, temples, and tombs, but that’s another story. Today, just being on the Nile was enough.

The Nile is almost assuredly the longest river in the world; some people are debating a few technicalities. It is one of the few rivers to flow north to south. The White Nile originates in Lake Victoria in Tanzania and Uganda, and runs for more than 4,000 miles before it reaches the Mediterranean Sea. The Blue Nile originates in Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The two Niles merge at Khartoum, in Sudan.

Human activity in the Nile Valley goes back to about 6,000 BCE. Archaeologists and historians don’t know that exact date, but they do know the exact date of when the first pyramid was built. The Step Pyramid, located near Cairo, was built in just 20 years, between 2670–2650 BCE. So almost 5,000 years ago, the Egyptian civilization was so advanced it could build the oldest remaining stone building in history, one that is 200 feet tall and weighs about 850,000 tons.

And what was happening in the rest of the world? Mainly nothing.

So why did this area draw a critical concentration of people to an area rich enough to permit cultural advancements ranging from the pyramids to one of the oldest known written languages. Why here? The answer is the Nile.

It is the only dependable source of water. If a person headed west from the Nile, he would be in the Sahara Desert and wouldn’t hit sustainable water for about 5,000 miles, when he reached the Atlantic Ocean. If that explorer headed east, he wouldn’t hit sustainable water until reaching the Red Sea.

Today, the Egyptian government protects the purity of the Nile River by banning cargo boats and other potential polluters. Only 300 cruise vessels are allowed on the river. Most common are the small river cruisers, such as the MS Antares we were on. Then there are the ornate dahabiyas, which is what the pharaohs and early archaeologists would have used. The dahabiyas have no engines, just two sails, one in the front and the other in the back. Today, each dahabiya travels with a tugboat that pulls them when the wind isn’t blowing. Also on the river are little fishing boats and small feluccas. Their shining white sails catch the sun as they dart in and out.

As we sailed up the Nile, the countryside looked bucolic. Children came out to wave at us and yell hello. Farmers herded white oxen to their fields. Men, wearing the traditional loose, flowing galabia robes, rode their horses down to the river. Solitary fishermen threw out their nets.

The rural scene took me by surprise. How could it be? Egypt is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. About 117 million people live here. Almost everyone – a whopping 95 percent – lives in the narrow strip of fertile land along the Nile River. And that arable strip makes up only about five percent of Egypt’s entire land area. The rest is desert.

The answer is Cairo, and to a lesser degree other cities. Almost 50 percent

of Egypt’s population lives in these cities. That means the countryside can remain

rural, pastoral, and traditional.

Even though I spent a lot of time on the upper deck, we were very busy on

the cruise. The grandeur of the temples and tombs amazed me. The obligatory

market streets before the entrance to any monument were amusing and the

salesmen (always men) were good-natured. I bought a scarf, but if my suitcase

hadn’t been so full, I would have brought back beautiful textiles, rugs, and

papyrus.

Yet it was the river that was always on my mind. The “golden hour” came

around 5 p.m. when the setting sun bathed the shoreline in a golden light, and

the sand turned rusty red. And then it was night. The river was dark. Ra was in the

underworld fighting the snake god so he could bring back the sun.

But the city of Luxor was helping out Ra. Powerful floodlights lit up the

mountains so that they looked like pure molten gold. On the city side of the river,

spotlights on the Luxor Temple made it look like a navigational beacon.

The wind turned cool as I stood on the deck, contemplating the Nile. It was

beyond my understanding how this river fostered a civilization that brought us

this ancient, astonishing architecture and artwork, and recorded detailed history

with hieroglyphics. How is it that these monuments are still standing? Had I really

reached out and touched walls that had been built by human hands 5,000 years

ago? All I could do was shrug, silently wish Ra well with his nightly struggle, and

go to dinner.