Qualla: Lake Nasser

Lake Nasser: Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Karelj, Public domain. Before there was a lake here, there was a homeland. Nubian villages lined this stretch of the Nile as they had for centuries - mud-brick houses painted in bold geometric designs, date palm groves shading shared courtyards, cemeteries of saints that families had kept up for generations. When the Aswan High Dam closed in 1970, all of it went under. Tens of thousands of Nubians were forced to leave - relocated to hastily built settlements near Kom Ombo in Egypt or Khashm el Girba in eastern Sudan, far from the river and from the specific landscape their identity was rooted in. The lake that rose behind the dam was named for Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian president who championed the project. The people who lost their country to it are still living with that loss today.

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Image: Karelj | Public domain

Lake Nasser: A Reservoir in Two Countries

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY 2.5. Lake Nasser is one of the largest artificial lakes in the world - about 550 km long, covering a surface area of roughly 5,250 square kilometers when full. Eighty-three percent of it lies in Egyptian territory. The southern portion, in Sudan, is called Lake Nubia by Sudanese offic...

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Image: CC BY 2.5

Lake Nasser: Ancient Ground, Gone Under

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Than217 at English Wikipedia, Public domain. The lake's rise triggered one of the most ambitious archaeological rescues in history. UNESCO's International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia coordinated a global effort to document and, where possible, relocate the treasures of Lower Nubia before they drowned. The temple...

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Image: Than217 at English Wikipedia | Public domain

Lake Nasser: Gain and Loss

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 4.0. The High Dam has given Egypt measurable benefits. The reservoir provides year-round water for irrigation, replacing the seasonal floods the Nile used to deliver and destroy in the same motion. Egypt's arable land increased by about 30% after the dam was built. The power station g...

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Image: Roland Unger | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lake Nasser: The Nubians Who Remember

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Karelj, Public domain. More than fifty years after the displacement, the Nubian communities of Egypt and Sudan continue to press their case for recognition and return. Some Nubian families were resettled to land near the lake's shores; their old homes, the specific places where their ancestors are buri...

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Image: Karelj | Public domain