The Nile: 5000 Years of History

Bettany visits Egypt’s gateway to the world, the Nile’s mouth, before boarding her fabulous ‘dahabiya’ and meeting the crew that will guide her upriver the entire length of Egypt.

A hundred miles south of Cairo, Bettany starts on a stretch of Nile that few visitors ever get to see. Once Egypt’s main highway, this was where Cleopatra herself used to travel and be seen by her people.

Traffic on the Nile is building, signaling Bettany’s arrival into Luxor. The crew takes a well-earned break whilst Bettany heads to the west bank to see where generations of skilled royal tomb-builders lived.

Bettany reaches the Nile’s southernmost parts. Once a dangerous crocodile haven, now this stretch of river is startlingly beautiful. Bettany joins archaeologists at the temple of the crocodile god as they uncover and extract a giant stone message board.