Somewhere near Aswan the RAII crunched, scraped and squeeked to a stop on the river bank so we could all stagger off and inspect the side of the boat on the way to Kom Ombo, a temple dedicated in part to the crocodile god Sobek. Within the compound we were shown a pit where sacred crocodiles would have been kept, and once they died they would be mumified and treated with almost as much honour and respect as Sobek himself.