Steve Russ writes in April 2026
In puzzling through the Kipling’s trip on the Nile in February-March 1913, I came across an editorial note – regarding the location of “Kear Ibrahim’ – for which I can shed some light for one of the dates in Carrie’s diary. (I don’t know if this is particularly useful, but I thought I should share.)
For February 25, 1913, the entry simply states: ‘Kear Ibrahim’.
According to the accompanying notes: ‘We have been unable to find this location, though it must be on the Nile between Aswan and Wadi Halfa’.
Simply put, the location of Kear Ibrahim could not be found because it does not exist. ‘Kear Ibrahim’ may have been either a diary transcription error by Douglas Rees (this was not a Carrington transcription) or Carrie conflated her place names.
The intended location would have been ‘Ibrim’ or ‘Kasr-Ibrim’ and possibly ‘Derr’, archaeological sites about half way between Aswan and Wadi Halfa.
The Cook tourist steamer on this portion of the Nile (between the First and Second Cataracts) would have taken passengers (which included the Kiplings) – in the language of Cook’s Nile Services tour programmes for both the 1908-9 (pp. 41-42) and 1913-14 seasons (p. 32) – ‘past Derr to Ibrim in time to view the beautiful sunset effect from the summit of Kasr-Ibrim … on the top of a grand precipice over-hanging the river, dating from Roman times’.
So the diary entry ‘Kear Ibrahim’ may have been intended to read ‘Derr Ibrim’ [not ‘Ibrahim’ as in the transcription] – as in Derr and Ibrim. However, neither programme suggests a stop would be made at Derr, so I don’t know if Carrie would have bothered to make any reference to Derr.
Alternatively, Carrie may have meant Kasr-Ibrim, with Kasr and Derr jumbled together to become ‘Kear’.
There is a third possibility although I think the least likely, that Carrie meant ‘Near Ibrim’ as in ‘being near to Ibrim’, with the “N’ of ‘near’ being misread as a ‘K’ to become ‘Kear’.
The steamer would have stayed overnight at Kasr-Ibrim and then sailed sometime around sunrise the following day to Abu Simbel, the next destination.
[ISB April2026]