Trail of the unexpected: Eygpt

Drifting down the Nile at water level is a great way to experience Africa's mightiest river. But to drift a few hundred feet above the river at the point where it passes the world's greatest concentration of antiquity is an unqualified joy.

Drifting down the Nile at water level is a great way to experience Africa's mightiest river. But to drift a few hundred feet above the river at the point where it passes the world's greatest concentration of antiquity is an unqualified joy.

The great, good and average of Britain's tourism industry are meeting this weekend in Egypt. But relatively few members of the Association of British Travel Agents will wander south from the convention venue, Cairo, to Luxor. And only a tiny minority will enjoy a dawn flight across the Nile Valley.

A balloon flight in Luxor begins with a pre-dawn felucca ride across the Nile from a pier near the Winter Palace Hotel, with tea supplied to perk up drowsy passengers and take the edge off the night chill. From the West Bank you are taken by bus down a road with sugar-cane fields on either side, and past the Colossi of Memnon. The huge statues look eerie in the early light.

The launch site is alongside the Ramesseum, the monumental complex built by Ramses II. Labour is cheap in Egypt, so passengers are not required to help and even the pilot will stand back until the balloon has been fully inflated with cold air. He then does last-minute safety checks and turns on one of the powerful burners. This heats the air in the balloon, which lifts it – and the basket – upright. The passengers climb in and after a short safety briefing, the balloon takes slowly to the air – with luck, just as the sun is rising.

The first thing that strikes you, as you rise high in the air, is that between you and Nile everything is green, but to the other side it is desert. The well-defined line between the two stretches as far as the eye can see. The flight is sheltered by a mountain range, so usually the winds are very light, giving plenty of time to view the antiquities beneath. Just to the north-west is the cliff of Deir el-Bahri, which separates you from the Valley of the Kings.

At the foot of the cliff is the magnificent temple of Hatshepsut, with the temples of Mentuhotep I and Thutmoses III on either side. Below you are the Ramesseum and the village of Qurna; to the south is Ramses III's palace and the temple of Medinet Habu. As you go higher the Valley of the Queens is visible to the south-west.

Looking down at Qurna, you see what look like people living in abject poverty. Not all of them are. Some mud houses are built on top of tombs, and the villagers have been digging in their basements for decades and illegally selling what they find. You occasionally catch a glimpse of a gold Rolex beneath the sleeve of a drab-looking galabaya. The government has been trying to get the villagers out for years, and has even built them a new town, which you can see just to the north. It is all but deserted.

Ballooning always seems to bring problems in its wake, and Egypt is no exception. For a long time the antiquities police tried to get money from the balloon companies on the grounds that the passengers were getting to see the temples they flew over for free. They wanted baksheesh, and would prevent flights by arresting the pilot and crew and detaining them for a few hours before letting them go. They were finally told to stop the harassment by the high court in Cairo. An uneasy peace now seems to exist.

Balloons do very occasionally fly over the Nile, but this is discouraged by the military, which administers all Egyptian airspace. It is considered that a route over the Nile takes the balloons too close to the airport. If you hear on the balloon's radio the pilots of planes flying into Luxor International saying "Inshallah" ("God willing") when cleared to land, it is probably best to stick to the approved routes.

If you drift south, the pilot may fly down to just a few feet above Habu. From here you can see the amazing bas-reliefs depicting the victories of Ramses III. After about an hour you land – perhaps in the desert near the Coptic monastery, or in a sugar-cane field, hopefully after the harvest. The crew packs the balloon away while you have a picnic breakfast in the desert. After a leisurely repast you are taken back across the Nile by felucca. But you will never look at the river in the same way again.

You can fly non-stop to Luxor aboard Egyptair, with fares from about £330 return. Some charter flights are also available in winter. There are currently three balloon companies in Luxor: Balloons over Egypt (00 20 95 370 638); Hod Hod (00 20 95 370 116 or e-mail jenniehodhod@aol.com); and Magic Horizons (00 20 95 365 060, www.magic-horizon.com). The standard price is about £125 per person, but you may be able to negotiate a much lower fare

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