Luxor West Bank Camel Ride

Your guide meets you at your Luxor hotel and takes you across the Nile to the West Bank, the quieter, rural side of the city, where green farmland runs right up to the desert and the Theban hills. At the meeting point, the camel handlers introduce your camel, help you mount safely and adjust the saddle. No riding experience is needed: the camels walk at a calm, steady pace that suits beginners, older children and first-time riders.

Ride along farm tracks between sugar cane plantations, clover fields and date palms, passing mud-brick houses, irrigation canals and farmers working the land much as their ancestors did. With the Theban hills and their ancient tombs as a backdrop, it is one of the best ways to photograph rural Egypt. The ride lasts about an hour, including a stop for photos and a cold soft drink, before you return to the meeting point and your hotel. Wear a hat, sunglasses and closed shoes or socks.