Damming the Nile

Thursday November 11 -  We’ve traveled as far as we can on the Nile by boat.  The Old Dam aka the Low Dam was constructed in 1898-99 to control the annual flooding of the Nile.  It has 9 locks to move boats up river and creates a reservoir every summer but better water management was needed.  In 1960-70’s the New Dam aka the High Dam aka the Russian Dam was constructed by the Russians.  In the process they knew a huge lake would be formed and would flood the Nubian communities and the temples that had been built along the river. The world community came together and moved the villages and the Nubian Temples block by block, brick by brick. The villages maintained their same names and populace.

The New Dam is 2 miles wide at the bottom and 350 feet high.  It has 6 main tunnels with 24 branches which feed 12 turbines that today supplies only 10% of the country’s power.  Nasir Lake that formed is 40-50 miles wide and 220 miles long.  They were able to save 50 Nubian Villages.

Near the Old Dam is the Temple of Isis that used to stand on the island of Philea where it was underwater for over 70 years. It was quite a project to dam the island, remove the water and then remove all the silt and scum off of the temple before moving it to higher ground.

The temple was built in New Kingdom Times or in the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD.  The Chapel of Trajan was built by the Romans in 150-170 AD.  Like many temples in Egypt it was covered in sand so that villages were built in and on the temple.  This temple’s images have been desiccated and Coptic graffiti covers many of the walls.  The Hall of pillars is partially roofed to allow for ventilation and Christian crosses are carved into most of them.

During the afternoon we visited the Nubian Museum to learn a little more of their history then we went shopping in the Aswan market.  While most of the group sipped a coffee, Marjorie, Sandy and I checked out a couple of spice vendors.  I got some cardamom seeds while Marjorie got cumin, oregano and turmeric. We wanted to find some saffron but after testing it, she determined it was fake.

This was our last night on the boat so the crew tuned up their drums and led us in a rousing round of dancing!