Elephantine Island, Sehel Island and Tombs of the Nobles Tour

You are collected from your hotel in Aswan by your Egyptologist guide and driver and taken to the riverside, where you board a boat to Elephantine Island, the largest island in Aswan. The ancient Egyptians called it Abu, and it served as the Door of the South, the frontier between Egypt and Nubia. As you cross the Nile, your guide explains why the island mattered to traders, soldiers and priests for thousands of years, and what you will see when you step ashore.

On the island you explore the ruins of the town and temples dedicated to Khnum, Satis and Anuket, the divine family of the First Cataract, and the rock tombs from the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Your guide describes how the island was a centre of trade, quarrying and worship, and how the gods were believed to control the Nile flood. You walk among excavated remains and hear how archaeologists have traced the island's history over many centuries.

Next you travel to Sehel Island, about 4 km south of Aswan, a rocky island covered in more than 250 inscriptions carved by officials, soldiers and travellers over thousands of years. The best known is the Famine Stela, which tells of seven years of low floods and famine linked to King Djoser. Your guide helps you read the story on the rock and explains why so many people left their names here, on the frontier of the river's first cataract.

You finish on the west bank at Qubbet el-Hawa, the Dome of the Winds, a hilltop where the governors and officials of Aswan cut their tombs into the rock. You climb to the tombs with your guide, who shows you the inscriptions describing journeys into Nubia and Africa. From the hill you have a wide view of the Nile and the town. After the visit you are taken back to your hotel in Aswan, where the tour ends.