River Traffic

There is virtually no industrial river traffic. Every once in a while we pass a small motorized barge. One hauling sugar cane plants, two carrying petroleum. No significant movement of agricultural goods. Ghada (our guide) says that the Nile isn't used for industrial shipping (she says because it is too slow). I'm guessing there are two more important reasons.

• There isn't that much bulk to ship. The arable land in the upper Nile is limited to a very narrow strip along the Nile (you can see the desert beyond while cruising down the Nile.
• Egypt had the first railroad in Africa and it runs along the Nile.

We go through a small lock going downstream--smaller than the smallest locks on the Mississippi.