After exploring the reedy islands in the Nile, the boat brought us to a small Nubian village on the west bank of the Nile.  Nubians are an ethnic group, with a culture and language distinct from Egyptians, who live in southern Egypt and northern Sudan.  Their traditional homeland was flooded by the Nile dams and so villages like these were created to give them a place to live.

It was a sleepy morning and we enjoyed wandering around the brightly colored village as it woke up.

We stopped at a school for a lesson in the Nubian and Arabic alphabets . . .

and then at a house where a handful of crocodiles were kept in a sort of cage.  We were offered beverages and then invited (aka expected) to pose for pictures holding a crocodile!  It was heavier than you’d think and seemed to think that by wriggling it could escape — I foiled its plans by handing it back to the owner but not without some battle wounds from my wrestle with the crocodile…