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The Philae Temple is part of a complex of ancient monuments dating back to around 360 BC situated on the island of Agilkia, which is in the lake formed between the Old Aswan Low Dam and the Aswan High Dam on the Nile. The buildings were originally located on the nearby island of Philae, but they started to be flooded once the Low Dam was finished in 1902.

The flooding became worse as the Low Dam was increased in height twice and finally faced even worse flooding with the construction of the High Dam. Due to their enormous historical value all the buildings of the Philae temple complex were relocated to the higher ground of the nearby Agilkia island during the 1970s. Being on an island, access to the site is only by ferry, departing from a dock near the east end of the Aswan Low Dam.

We arrived a bit before 8, having left our Cairo hotel at 3 for a flight 800 south to Aswan. Already at that time the area was bustling with tourists and of course local vendors flogging whatever they could. The dock was lined with boats ready for the coach-loads of tourists, and the occasional independent traveller. I’m sure there was some organisation about which boat took whom, but it wasn’t clear to us.

Once on the water we could see dozens more similar ferry boats moored—seemingly far more than even this very popular attraction could support. The long, low line of the Low Dam was obvious to us on our right soon after departing and passing the rafts of unused boats. An impressive feat of engineering when it was completed at the beginning of the 20^th century, it is still important in controlling the Nile’s flooding and generating electricity.

The trip to the equally crowded and chaotic dock at the temple complex took just 12 minutes, with great views of some of the other islands and of the Philae Temple complex itself as we got closer. The island was filled with a variety of imposing structures dating from the Pharonic and Roman times, with many fine carvings both inside and out. And aside from the magnificence of the historic buildings, the location on the lake was also beautiful.

After a while the wind picked up a bit and desert dust blew in, colouring everything with a yellow tint and obscuring the view over the lake. By the time we were ready to leave we heard the wind had caused the site to be closed, with no more boats ferrying people to the island, only returning them to the mainland.

We returned via a stop for lunch at a waterside Nubian restaurant, and glad we had made our painfully early start to the day, otherwise we would have missed these impressive ruins. The return ferry trip ended with bang as it hit the concrete dock, albeit without any visible damage. Our boat approached the dock which was lined with other boats, and the only way to moor was to forcefully push our way in. We experienced several violent ends to ferry trips on the Nile!