“Our memories in a box”: End of Cairo’s historic houseboats

Last week, about 30 houseboats’ owners were notified that their boats would be impounded. The Egyptian water and irrigation ministry sated on Tuesday that 15 had been removed and also others houseboats to be dealt with over the next few days.

Ayman Anwar, head of the Nile Protection Authority, commented on the decision to remove 32 houseboats on the Nile. He added that the government effort to clean up the river and bluntly that despite repeated warnings, all the boat owners had failed to renew their licenses and were behind on fees.

“In 2016, we sent many notices through the Irrigation Ministry and gave owners the opportunity to sort things out by 2020,” he said on June 26 on ONTV. “Their status was in violation of the law. The state gave them many opportunities, but no one was responsive.” he pointed.

Some of the houseboats, permanently moored on the riverbank, are inhabited by poor residents. The others have houseboats been expensively restored. A few of the houseboats have been turned into restaurants, offices and gyms.

Residents of the Nile’s famous houseboats in Cairo are having their homes demolished and towed away. They also were very sad towards this decision and say ” sadly, we will collect our memories in boxes”.

The houseboats, located in all over the city’s Nile banks and between the island of Zamalek and Giza, just west of central Cairo. houseboats have been an integral part of the country’s history. The houseboats hosted belly dancers, artists, intellectuals, even American diplomats and German spies. It seeks a peaceful oasis amid Cairo’s intense bustle.

These boats, many of them elegant two-story structures with verandas, have been moored for decades along the tree-lined banks of the Nile.

Houseboats were shot in many films and literature, such as Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz’s novel Adrift on the Nile.