On a weekend escape from Cairo, Upper Egypt seems like a bucolic idyll of sorts. Although Aswan proper is for the most part your usual Egyptian town, you feel like in a completely different country once you've set sails for the West bank and the islands and islets around the First Cataract. Organise yourself a boat (motorized, feluccas won't get you anywhere near the cataract) from any of the small cruise businesses in town and just moments after departure you glide past reed-fringed shorelines, towering rocks and even the occasional beach. It's a bit like Stockholm on the Nile, minus the hipsters. There's plenty of bird life to be spotted, so bring your binoculars. Even if you are not a seasoned bird watcher or even twitcher, you'll be amazed about the abundance of different types of airborne creatures that hover above or hide in the undergrowth. Come evening, make sure you have a mint tea boiling and a shisha bubbling to get the most out of this chill-out paradise. While the sun sets and the city puts on its blinking evening attire, you wish you could just fall asleep and be carried away through the night.
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