Egypt Guide
The Nile Valley
Elephantine Island
Elephantine Island takes its name from the huge black rocks clustered around its southern end, which resemble a herd of pachyderms bathing in the river. From a felucca you can see cartouches and Predynastic inscriptions carved on the rock faces, which are too sheer to view from the island. Elephantine's spectacular beauty is marred only by the towering Mövenpick Resort Aswan, reached by its own private ferry and cut off from the rest of the island by a lofty fence.