For thousands of years Egypt threw a party for the Nile. In 1970 the party stopped. We're bringing it back, as one festival that sails from Giza to Aswan every year.
Wafaa El-Nil means "the Nile's loyalty." Every summer the flood came, the fields came back to life, and the whole country went down to the water to celebrate. It is one of the oldest festivals on earth, and almost nobody under 50 has seen it.
Legend says the most beautiful girl in the land was given to the river so the flood would rise. The flood was life, and the festival was how Egypt said thank you.
A legend told by later historians. There is no Pharaonic record of a sacrifice.
When Islam reached Egypt, the story says the sacrifice ended. A letter was given to the river instead, and later a clay doll, the arousa.
Under the Fatimids, Mamluks and Ottomans the flood day was a state holiday: boats, music, crowds on the banks, and the ceremonial opening of Cairo's canal.
The Aswan High Dam ended the yearly flood. With nothing left to celebrate, the festival faded away.
The same river, the same thank you, rebuilt as a modern festival: one boat, six governorates, and the music, food and people of each stop.
Other festivals build a stage in the desert.
We put ours on the river the desert grew around.
Giza, three governorates in between, then Luxor and Aswan. Each stop is two days of temples, villages and kitchens, and ends in a festival night hosted by the people who live there. VIP guests finish in Siwa. Pick a stop to see it.
For international guests who want the whole river.
Join for one governorate: two days and its festival night.
For Egyptians: the festival night in your own city.
The state wants 30 million visitors a year and needs new reasons for them to come. A festival that runs the length of the country is one.
After the currency float, a premium week in Egypt costs far less than the same week elsewhere. That room for margin pays for the production.
Musicians, cooks, artisans and village hosts in Beni Suef, Minya and Sohag get paid, in places most tourists never stop.
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