Zekrayaat
Dahabiya. Operated by Nile Dahabiya Boats / Djed Egypt Travel.
Sailing, two sources checked 12 Sep 2026
Our view
One of the few boats in this collection that publishes a real per person rate card, a crew count and a weekly pattern, and it is at the cheap end. The catch is not the boat, it is everything sold in its name: several agencies advertise five and seven day versions of a trip the operator says it only runs as three and four nights and only sells direct. Book it through the operator or not at all.
Who it suits
- Travellers who want a published per person rate they can check before enquiring
- Families, children are priced from age one and the operator says the boat suits them
- Anyone who wants a short three or four night sailing
- Guests who prefer to deal with the owner rather than an agent
Who it does not suit
- Anyone who found this boat through an agent, the operator states it sells direct only and several agencies advertise trips it does not run
- Travellers who want a pool, there is none
- Anyone who cannot manage stairs, the cabins are below deck down a central corridor and nothing about access is published
- Guests who want a build year, the operator describes a design lineage from the nineteenth century and never states when this hull was built
- Travellers who want a whole boat price, the operator prices per person and sets its charter minimum in nights rather than cabins
- Service style
- Owner run sailing boat for twelve guests with ten crew, sold direct only and expressly not through agents, on fixed Monday and Friday departures.
- The cabin we would book
- One of the two suites. Six cabins and two suites on a 38.5 metre hull means the suites are the only rooms with real floor space.
- Nearest alternative: Lazuli Karnak
- Two small dahabiyas on the same Esna to Aswan stretch at similar per person rates and similar trip lengths. Zekrayaat is confirmed sailing, publishes a full rate card and refuses agents. Lazuli Karnak has no page of its own and its status is unverified. See its record →
Shown in the currency the operator published it in, on the basis the operator sells it on. We do not convert currencies and we do not divide a package total into a nightly rate, because both would produce a number nobody quoted. See how this compares on the rates page.
Identity · 3 of 4 on file
The vessel · 10 of 13 on file
How it operates · 7 of 9 on file
Price · 4 of 5 on file
Reputation · 0 of 3 on file
What we could not establish
Every empty cell above has a reason. These are the reasons for this vessel, written down at the time the record was made, including the places where published sources contradict each other.
No build or launch year is published anywhere for this hull. The operator says only that Zekrayaat follows the design of an original Dahabiya from the late 18th and early 19th century, and elsewhere calls it a Nile boat from the 19th century. Those are statements about design lineage, not a build date, so no launch year is recorded here. One third-party listing calls it a 1930s classical dahabiya with 6 cabins, but it carries no source and contradicts the operator on route and duration, so it was not used.
No refit year is published. No flag or registration detail is published.
Nothing is published about accessibility. Cabins and suites are below deck down a central corridor, the boat has two decks, and no lift, ramp or step count is mentioned. No accessibility information is recorded here rather than inferred from those details.
The charter minimum is recorded as a duration, not a cabin count. The operator states the charter minimum as three nights and gives no cabin figure, so no charter minimum cabin count is recorded. No whole-boat charter rate is published either, only per person per night rates and an invitation to contact the operator directly.
No minimum age is published. The operator says the boats and daily activities are suitable for children and publishes children's rates from age one, which suggests there is no minimum, but it does not state this.
The operator's own guestbook spells the name zakaryaat in the January 2026 entry. Third-party sellers use Zekrayat. The alternative spellings listed for this vessel may be incomplete without zakaryaat.
A note on third-party sources for this vessel. Several agency sites sell a Zekrayaat cruise as a 5 or 7 day Luxor to Aswan trip. That contradicts the operator's 3 and 4 night Esna to Aswan product. The operator states plainly that its journeys are available only through direct bookings and not through third-party agents. Every value published for this vessel comes from the operator's own site for that reason.
Recorded 12 September 2026. If you can settle any of these, tell us and we will correct the record in public.
Something here wrong? Say so and we will correct it in public, with the old value left visible. See the corrections log.