The Golden Island

The five minute boat ride from Cairo’s shores to Gezirat El-Dahab will take you to the past. The rural scenery of Gezirat El-Dahab, or the Golden Island, shows a simpler lifestyle than that of the city.

Golden Island is a taste of rural life in the middle of Cairo. Legend has it that Moses was raised here by his mother because it was an easy lookout point for enemies.

The residents are sustenance farmers, domesticating water buffalo for milk production and raising flowers to be sold in flower shops across the capital.

The people of The Golden Island don’t have much, but they are generous, warm, and welcoming. It is nearly impossible to walk past a family enjoying a meal or tea without being asked to join.

Indeed, there are no automobiles or tractors on the island, so at any corner, you might come upon donkeys laden with corn stalks, manure, or passengers. Baby donkeys, goats, geese, and ducks are found in abundance. Cattle and water buffalo plow fields in the absence of tractors.

Visiting The Golden Island is like taking a trip back in time, and gives you a bit of the flavour of the simplistic life of The Delta.

It shows you the pastoral side of Egypt right in the middle of the city, and is a great stop for photographers; you can frame a farmer ploughing his field as it was done in ancient times against a backdrop of skyscrapers.

The Ring Road, with all its busy traffic, bisects the island, but you can barely hear the rush of cars from the highway raised dozens of meters above the greenery.

A New Church on the island is worth seeing, it is beautifully decorated and has a good view over the Nile and the fields of the Island.