We sailed to Aswan overnight. This is an area populated by Nubians, tribes that were most badly effected by the building of the high dam. Many villages had to be moved when the dam was built in the 1970s. Nubians speak and write Arabic but their own language was thought not be written. Lately archeologists put together Nubian tales using Coptic plus 8 letters. Nubian culture is distinct from Egyptian culture.
A Nubian boatman taking us to the new island of Philae seen here in the distance.
Another problem of rising water was the inundating of the Temple is Philae.
The island was rebuilt as well as the Temple itself as the water was rising.
The water mark above the entry gate shows where the Nile would cover the temple after the 1902 dam was built. Water would cover that much of the dam eight months of the year until the new island and Temple were built.
daily woodring 