Hohann Hermann Kretzchmer (1811-90) was at the Academy in Berlin in 1829, where he taught Wilhelm Wach. In 1838 he went to Rome and visited Sicily in 1840 and Greece, Egypt and Constantinople in 1841. In 1842 he returned to Düsseldorf, but moved on to Berlin in 1845. In 1856 he was appointed Professor at the Academy in Berlin. He painted portraits and genre scenes, but is best known for his scenes of oriental life, which have been much reproduced. The Royal Collection also holds the pair to this painting, Breakfast in the Desert (RCIN 406258), and another work, Halt at the Fountain (RCIN 406261).

In this comic scene, two men, one naked, the other wearing a loose white robe and a red turban, coerce a reluctant donkey forwards into the waters of the Nile, towards a small moored rowing boat on the left; they hold its forelegs out of the water. In the background men with raised sticks urge another donkey into the water, and on the left another small boat is being loaded with a donkey and heavy baggage. On a hill in the distance a few people and a loaded camel make their way down a winding road towards the shore.