No need for panic, as these are friendly pirates! As we are cruising up the Nile, our Viking crew had alerted us about the approach by some of the vendors, as we got closer to Esna. As we had our first encounter, I made sure to get some pictures of their process, which is rather daunting!
Here’s one of the images…
These two young men had rowed themselves into the path of our cruise ship, and I really thought that they were going to be run over, as they were that close. Clearly, they had a plan and attached their rope to one of the bumpers on the port side of the ship. Once attached, they immediately started hawking their wares!
Their technique was amazing, as they would throw samples up to people on the various decks with perfect aim! Additionally, they didn’t lose any returned merchandise in the river. I don’t know how much they sold, but they were attached for a good 3-4 miles, so they had a good row back to where they started.