(Dahab Island Murals)
If you noticed a running theme in the last few posts, congratulate yourself. You are very observant! Yes, I have felt the call lately to preach the gospel of the Nile. Time out on the water is better than therapy.
This post – our final in a three-part “Nile series” – features Dahab Island, one of the few inhabited islands within the Cairo city limits.
When you visit Dahab Island, you step through a portal into a completely different world. You leave behind the bustle of the city and find yourself on a dairy farm nestled fantastically between the megacities of Cairo and Giza. This is what makes Dahab Island unique.
(What better thing to do on a chilly winter’s day than to take a ferry out to Dahab Island?)
Full disclosure: my eight year-old son loves Dahab Island. Wide open spaces to run in and explore? He’s all about that. My teenage daughters? Not so much. One visit to Dahab Island was enough for them, thank you very much. I will give you an unvarnished description of our visit to Dahab Island and leave it to you to decide if this outing will work for you and your crew.
(Bring a jacket on the Dahab Ferry if visiting in the winter!)
You catch the Dahab Island Ferry just across the street from the Egyptian Geology Museum. As a side note: the Geology Museum is modest but worth visiting at least once in your lifetime. Consider stopping by briefly on your way to the ferry.
(Front steps of the Geology Museum)
One more detour before you launch: you will find a man frying potatoes at a little stand in front of the ferry. Do buy a paper cone’s worth of french fries; this may appease your tweens and teens. It certainly pacified mine.
(Local wildlife on Dahab Island)
The Dahab Ferry is shy in comparison to the boisterous Maadi #Nile Ferry. You won’t find any motorcycles or mouthy youth like Maadi. Pay the fare of a few Egyptian pounds and enjoy a quiet ride to the island.
Once you arrive you’ll be free to explore the northern end of Dahab Island. The southern end is blocked off and occupied by, among other things, the Dahab Island Palace. You must book your visit to the palace in advance and arrive via the palace’s private boat (not the ferry).
As for the northern end of Dahab Island, you are free to roam. Right or left – take your pick; you will eventually end up back where you began.
As you walk, you will run into a few surprising things. One thing that you will notice is that many of the cowherds live in boats moored to the shore with their families.
You will also see colorful murals tucked in amidst the ramshackle buildings of the island. Try to find as many as you can.
(The residents of Dahab Island – cows and their cowherds)
And another thing you’ll find: milk! My first time to Dahab Island, I was on a mission…a mission to buy butter. I had heard I could find local milk for sale on Dahab Island, and you know what they say: where there’s milk…there’s butter.
See, it was mid-January and I knew that “balady” (local) butter is best in the winter. Why is that, you ask? That’s because alfalfa – the cows’ favorite snack – is sweeter during the months of January and February. The sweeter the alfalfa, the sweeter the butter. Get it?
(Poor quality picture, high quality “raw” milk on Dahab Island)
Now, to be honest, I wasn’t born with this insider knowledge. A local friend taught me this one day as she stuffed 10 kilos of butter into her shopping bag in a winter market in Wadi al-Natrun. So I knew what I was doing that day on our first visit to Dahab Island. I went in search of butter. Alas, no one had butter to sell, but I did take home some fresh milk, straight from the cow.
(Milk jugs at the ready on Dahab Island)
Another little side note: many people in Egypt buy “fresh” milk from a neighborhood labbaan – a distributor of fresh, or raw milk. They boil it at home, skim the cream off the next day, and serve the delicious milk to their kids.
(Yours truly skimming off the cream from milk from a local labbaan)
I learned this shortly after moving to Egypt and immediately started doing it myself. I usually buy six to eight kilos of milk at a time, pasteurize it on my stove top, and then use some of it to make cheese and yoghurt. If you are interested in trying this out, study these instructions for pasteurizing milk, cheese, and yoghurt. Then, visit your local labbaan (try this one), buy some milk, and just go for it!
Now you know what to look for on Dahab Island. But there’s one more thing I need to tell you: in addition to finding a charming dairy farm in the middle of a metropolis, you will also find trash. The island is right in the middle of Cairo and Giza and I suppose the wind and water currents make Dahab Island a vortex for trash. This fact, plus the sight of the cows living amongst the trash, was hard for my teenagers. It made them uncomfortable. You must decide what is best for your crew, but I hope you personally will decide to go even if you choose to leave your kids at home.
(Dahab Island may not be “pristine,” but it is definitely a bit of “wilderness” in the middle of the big city)
Well folks, it’s time to say goodbye to our three-part series on the Nile. But next week’s post will also feature a milk-related adventure you’ll be dying to try. That’s all the teaser you’re going to get, so stay tuned. You’re going to love it. And I’ll see you out there on Dahab Island!
(A Day in the Life on Dahab Island)
