Lake Nasser Cruise
Lake Nasser Cruise, also known as High Dam Lake, is the world’s biggest manmade lake, situated in southern Egypt, south of Aswan, and northern Sudan.
The term Lake Nasser refers to the major portion of the lake that is situated inside Egyptian boundaries and accounts for 83 percent of the overall area of the lake, whereas the remaining portion is located within Sudan’s borders and is known as the Nuba Lake.
Lake Nasser was created as a consequence of the waters gathering behind the High Dam during its construction (which lasted from 1958 to 1970), and it was named after the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
The Lake Nasser’s history.
Because he was the brains behind this massive undertaking, the lake was named after President Gamal Abdel Nasser. This arrangement necessitated multiple efforts to transfer various critical locations as the lake started to develop during the building of the High Dam between 1958 and 1970. The lake location has roughly 18 archaeological monuments, including the Abu Simbel temple.
Lake Nasser’s Highlights
It is also an important source of fresh water and generates a significant amount of hydroelectricity for Egypt.
A cruise on Lake Nasser is appealing to tourists for a number of reasons, including the dramatic desert scenery, the abundance of ancient sites, and the legendary fishing opportunities.
It’s difficult to imagine that Lake Nasser’s huge expanse of vivid green-blue water is man-made. It has an area of 5250 square kilometers, is 510 kilometers long, and is between 5 and 35 kilometers broad.
It holds around 135 billion cubic meters of water on average, with an estimated six billion lost to evaporation each year.
Its maximum capacity is 157 billion cubic meters of water, which was achieved in 1996 when severe rains in Ethiopia forced the activation of a special spillway at Toshka, some 30 kilometers north of Abu Simbel, for the first time since the dam’s construction.
Since then, the Egyptian government has started on a contentious project to construct a new canal and irrigate thousands of acres in what is now the Nubian Desert between Toshka and the New Valley, a project that President Mubarak has compared in scale to the Suez Canal and the Aswan High Dam.
Aside from the numbers, the contrast between this massive body of water and the lonely desert on all sides makes Lake Nasser a location of stark beauty. Because the lake’s level varies, it has been difficult to develop communities on its shores.
Instead, the lake has become a stopover point for migratory birds making their way north and south. Its beaches are home to gazelles, foxes, and various varieties of snakes (including the dangerous horned viper).
Its waters are home to several fish species, notably the massive Nile perch. Crocodiles – some up to 5m long – and monitor lizards are also seen in the lake’s shallows.
Apart from the fast-growing population of Abu Simbel town and the few tourists that come, the major human presence here is restricted to the 5000 or so fishermen who spend up to six months at a period in tiny rowing boats, collecting roughly 50,000 tonnes of small fish each year.
