Friday, 28 February, and we’re heading north on the River Nile aboard Jaz Cruise‘s Jaz Celebrity. We would soon be approaching the city of Esna and awaiting our turn to pass through the Esna Lock, about 100 miles/162km from where we embarked on this cruise in Aswan. As our riverboat approached Esna, we passed some impressive palms and sand-covered hills on the starboard side:
Oddly enough, even though we were almost a hundred miles downstream from Aswan, we passed a dilapidated sign on these hills that appeared to “welcom” (sic) us to that city now far to our south:
So, I did some research while writing today’s article and found that this was indeed the case. I found several images of this signage taken in better days:
Step past the lady above checking her cell phone, get out from beneath the shading awnings, and peer over the railings for a better image of those hills:
The wait to get through the Esna Lock can be long. But our riverboat did not just wait in the river. We headed toward the east shore and pushed the bow right up against some farmland. We were even offered a sample of what one of the farmer’s was growing, but neither Ursula nor I can recall what it was.
Prior to reaching the lock, our riverboat first passed through a narrow channel on the west side of the dam located to the south. It’s a unique setup, and at first I thought the narrow dam channel was also a lock from its appearnce. Below is a Google Maps image of the setup. And in the lower left corner you’ll see a riverboat about to enter the dam channel:
On Wednesday I’ll present to you the actual lock and our transit of it. Until then, here’s some photos taken of Esna as we awaited our turn. You’ll notice I included the time of the photo to show you how long we waited to get through the lock (hint: hours):
Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)
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