Last week, I announced the launch of the Cairo Photo Tours, part of a new and active group of companies based here in Cairo Egypt, and it has been fascinating watching on Woopra where the interest, responses and traffic has come from. If you don’t know about Woopra, you must. It is totally addictive!

With the launch of the Group, The Photo School and the Photo Tours, as well as the Focus For Humanity Foundation, some of the detail about the Nile Photo workshop with Matt Brandon that was also announced, may have been a bit suppressed, so forgive me if I soap-box for a minute and share with you again why we think this is such an unusual workshop and why you should come on it. In fact in some difficult to justify self-promotion, you can watch Matt and me chat about it in the short video clip below too:

What marks this workshop out are 5 main differences and in no particular order these are:

1. There are currently no other photo workshops that are run in Egypt, which despite the challenging bureaucracy here, surprises me. The weather is always good here (sometime a little too hot if you had read some of my earlier posts from the planning trip!), and in October – when we are doing the workshop – the temperature is a very comfortable 34-36 degrees Celsius in the day and high 20C in the evening. But what marks Egypt out, as a really wonderful workshop location, is the extra-ordinary wealth of cultural photography opportunities and the warmth of the Egyptians’ hospitality.

2. Secondly this is not a workshop spent in basic hotels, in guest housed or on long train journeys – not that those are bad things as they often help you immerse yourself in your environment. But on this trip we are based on a luxurious private Dahabiya- a large twin masted Sailing boat – that has no motors and therefore is in harmony with the wonderful sites and culture we will see. If the wind fails us, then a small tugboat will help us keep on schedule. The Dahabiya is in effect a luxury floating hotel – the standard of the rooms and en-suite facilities, the cleanliness of the public spaces and the kitchens were the equal of many a small luxury hotel (and arguably I should know as that is part of my other day job!). There are all mod cons including wifi, Satellite TV, laundry, free soft drinks and as far as I can work out, hot and cold running staff to cater for every eventuality. The food promises to be great, and the only potential fly in the ointment is that the boat does not have a liquor license – but worry not. I already have a cunning plan that solves that!

3. Thirdly we are mixing the traditional “must see’ locations between Luxor and Aswan such as the Valley of the Kings, Karnak Temple, The Colossus of Memnon, Edfu and Philae temples with a host of unusual, seldom visited locations. Ancient mud-brick villages, livestock markets, ruined mines and a range of different villages including the Nubian village near Aswan that completely astounded Matt and me. In this last village we will get to spend a whole day with a Nubian family – sharing their lives, building a relationship and hopefully getting a compelling photo essay into the bargain. It is this mix of formal and informal and of ancient and modern that helps to make this trip so unique. In all these places – the only exception being the Valley of the Kings where cameras are banned – we have chosen them because of the richness of cultural, landscape, street or environmental photo opportunities that they will provide.

4. Fourthly – and unusually – we have some space for partners to come along. Not many, so you need to be quick, but we are hoping that this might encourage some of you who would otherwise find it difficult to come to such a remarkable place without your beloved other, to convince them that this is finally a photo workshop that they can come on without having to play second fiddle to a camera all week! The Partner program is really a relaxed Nile cruise. In the mornings they are with us when we visit the temples, tombs and historic places. In the afternoon they are able to relax on board or explore the local town and market. Relaxing on board is pretty civilized too – endless free soft drinks, a jacuzzzi, sun loungers, books, board games and Sat TV should occupy most people! In the evenings we are all then together for dinner.

And if that was not enough to persuade you, there is also the option of a Cairo pre-extension – perhaps that should be ”pretension”! A few days soaking up the atmosphere, getting into the groove, visiting some of Cairo’s extraordinarily rich cultural opportunities. We plan to have dawn at the pyramids including a photo opportunity with a camel train; visit the camel souk (check out Matt’s superb photo essay on this); whirl with dervishes, barter in the souks, bazaars and explore the narrow streets of the Old City full of artisans and daily life.

Anyway, enough from me. Please check out the itinerary for both the main “cruise” and the “pretension”. All the details, the costs, lots of images, the prices, what to bring and how to book are over on the dedicated tour website, Cairo Photo Tours.

In the few days since we soft launched the tour, we have already sold a number of places, and several firm expressions of interest. So don’t tarry. You know you want to come. Print out the itinerary, sit down with your loved one, talk it through and then book the trip of a lifetime in October 2011 down the Nile.