Kitchener's Island

Kitchener's Island, formally the Aswan Botanical Garden, is a slender green paradise set in the middle of the Nile. Gifted to Lord Kitchener in the 19th century, it was planted with exotic species gathered from across the tropics, and today its shaded avenues of palms, flowering trees and rare plants make a fragrant, birdsong-filled retreat.

Reaching it is half the pleasure: you sail across on a felucca, gliding past granite boulders and Elephantine Island on some of the most beautiful stretches of the whole river. Once ashore, paths wind quietly between the beds, a cool contrast to the desert all around.

It pairs naturally with a wider felucca afternoon taking in Aswan's islands at golden hour.