Fear of Terrorism, Anti-Americanism Cited for Drop : Nile Retains Its Allure, but Fewer Tourists Answer the Call

Slender canoes ply the Nile River, their sails dangling like giant white handkerchiefs.

Farmers, brown and thin as stalks of wheat, steer wooden plows pulled by water buffalo along strips of green sandwiched between the life-giving river and the suffocating Sahara Desert.

Such scenes were recorded on the walls of the Pharaohs’ tombs 5,000 years ago and have left their imprint in the writings of figures as diverse as Napoleon and Agatha Christie.

From its headstream in Burundi, in central Africa, to the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile flows 4,160 miles through eight countries.

Images of Life

But if the images of river life remain largely unaltered, recent world events have left their mark on the timeless Nile. Tourism, the industry that has grown up around the world’s longest river, is suffering.

Frightened by reports of terrorism and growing anti-Americanism, many tourists now avoid the Middle East. Some Americans conceal their nationality from the curious, claiming to be from Canada or Europe.

The canoes, known as feluccas , share the Nile with steamers that move briskly up and down the river. Once the exclusive conveyance of British aristocracy, the steamers in recent years carried thousands of Americans.

Modern steamers like the three-deck Nile Presidential, which cruises the 125 miles between Aswan and Luxor twice a week, are among the easiest ways to view the Nile.

On one recent trip, however, the ship was less than half full and only six passengers were Americans, a dramatic change from recent years, according to an official at the cruise line’s headquarters in Cairo.

Egypt’s tourism ministry said recently that tourism revenue was down by about 40% from a year earlier, costing the government $750,000 daily.

On a walk through a back street in a small Nile village, a man wearing the flowing white robes and turban that signify an Islamic fundamentalist hissed loudly to an American couple, “Yankee, leave.”

More Room, More Attention

But for those who do make the journey, the slowdown in tourism also means more room and more attention.

On board the Presidential, passengers spread out in lounge chairs on the ship’s top deck, swim in a pool or sip tea. Beyond the railing on the passing shore, water buffalo wallow in mud and children play a version of soccer.

The constancy of the Nile panorama makes it easy to get lost in the past. Modern life, when it intrudes, is often laid atop the ancient, like the bright white neon that outlines the minaret of a mud-brick Nile mosque, or the tourists themselves, laden with Japanese cameras, suntan lotion and bulky guidebooks.

The boat makes five stops along the Nile. Visitors can wander the narrow streets of the souks , or Arab markets, where the smoke of cooking fires blends with the aroma of burning incense. Passers-by need only pause to be engulfed by merchants eager to bargain away camel saddles, jangling gold bracelets and hot sesame bread.

The souks, farms and mosques all hug a swath of fertility that the Nile cuts through the desert. The river is, in the words of one guidebook, a narrow green ribbon tied around the brown package of Egypt.

Viewed as Moody by Ancients

Despite its generative qualities, the Nile was viewed by ancient man as a moody river. Some years it was stingy and dried to a trickle, summoning back the desert sands. Then, in a powerful flex of muscle, it flooded the land.

Early Egyptians believed gods floated on Nile currents and blamed the Pharaoh for improper rule if the river brought years of drought and famine, as in the time of the Biblical exodus.

The family feuds fought along the Nile shores before the time of the Bible were recorded in hieroglyphics on sandstone walls of tombs and temples. They rival the scripts of the prime-time soap opera “Dallas.”

A favorite is that of an iron-willed feminist, Queen Hatshepsut, who was prevented by virtue of her sex from becoming Pharaoh. So she married her half-brother to become co-ruler nearly 3,400 years ago.

Archeologists believe Hatshepsut was finally done in by a jealous relative, who killed her and obliterated her image from most of the monuments she built.

Hatshepsut’s architect, who was also her lover, built the queen a giant mortuary temple dwarfed by cliffs on the Nile’s eastern bank across from Luxor, 320 miles south of Cairo. The temple has been badly mutilated over the years, and is being restored.

Numerous Tombs

Nearby, hundreds of underground tombs lay hidden in the brown hills, an attempt by royalty to prevent grave robbers from finding their buried riches. For the most part, the effort failed. All but one of the tombs rediscovered in the last two centuries was empty, often even of the mummy itself.

Seti’s tomb, discovered in 1817 by a circus performer from England, is the largest. About 3,250 years old, it is best seen with a flashlight and must be entered by climbing down dozens of steps.

A procession of fire-breathing goddesses, lion-headed gods and sacred animals march on the walls, leading Seti’s spirit to the underworld. A flock of vultures is portrayed on the ceiling.

A tour of the deep, dark burial chamber must be quick. The air is so thick with dust that it is dangerous to stay more than 10 minutes. Those who remain too long start wheezing and the sound echoes inside the tomb. Visitors emerge red-faced, sweating, sometimes a bit panicked, and collapse on cement benches outside Seti’s burial place.

The only tomb found in modern times, complete with ancient treasures, was that of Tutankhamen, popularly known as King Tut. Uncovered in 1922 by archeologist Howard Carter, it contained vast riches: a mummy case of solid gold, a fly-whisk trimmed with ostrich feathers, walking sticks inlaid with precious jewels.

The treasures can be seen in the Egyptian museum in Cairo. The tomb itself now holds only a sarcophagus.

Vendors Hawk Wares

Vendors hawking pottery, beads and sculptures surround the air-conditioned tour buses near the underground tombs and wave their souvenirs in front of bus windows, yelling out prices that usually can be bargained down by more than half.

A cluster of Egyptian men, wearing ankle-length dresses called galabiyas , linger around the tombs, too, eager to tell the tourist--for a fee--intriguing stories, often not found in guide books, of the Nile’s past.

Travelers also are accompanied by friendly gangs of youngsters who never seem to be in school. To many visitors they blend quickly into one child, hand outstretched, pleading “ Bakhshish ? Bakhshish ?” (Arabic for tip or handout).

This, too, is part of the unchanged scenery. In Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile,” one character, Mrs. Allerton, asks another for help in chasing away the Nile children.

“They close in on me little by little, and then I yell, ‘ Imshi! ‘ (Arabic for ‘scat’) . . . and they scatter for a minute or two. And then they come back and stare and stare.”

On the other side of the Nile, in Luxor itself, are the massive temples of Luxor and Karnac, a perfect place to drape an arm around a statue of a stern-faced Sphinx and pose for a snapshot.

To the south, on the eastern bank of the Nile across from Aswan, is a modern memorial that illustrates the continuing Egyptian obsession with death. It is Aga Khan’s mausoleum, reached by a camel ride or a climb up stairs built into the dunes.

Aga Khan, a swinger in European social circles, was also the 48th ruler of the Ismaili sect of Islam. After his death in 1958, his wife built the mausoleum and opened it to the public.

A guard allows visitors to enter in small groups and makes sure they have removed their shoes before they step into the brown brick building to stare at the roped-off sarcophagus.

Legends for future tourists are growing around this modern monument. Each day a fresh red rose is placed on the sarcophagus and guides tell of Aga Khan’s widow flying the flower in from Europe when none could be found in Egypt.