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Published: July 25th 2010
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We'd all been excited for quite awhile about our first bush camp. Setting off early from Luxor, we spent a very long day driving north, stopping only to shop at a supermarket for supplies. It was early evening when Kevin first pulled Twiga off road and we made our way to the sight of our first bush camp. Hayley and Kevin didn't disappoint with their choice of venue. The site for our camp was amazing-a huge rocky outcrop bordered the camp site on one side and to the other was a wonderful view across the plain to more desert expanse beyond. Laying out the wadi rugs, having tried to clear the area of as many big stones as possible, it felt amazing to be setting out our sleeping gear under the stars. After the cook group had prepared dinner, sitting around eating dinner and toasting marshmallows on the fire was magic. And then Hayley and Kevin introduced us to our first truck disco, or 'trisco', where resident 'DJ' Chris came up with 5 hit songs and everyone in the group donned their head torches and danced like crazy people for the twenty or so minute’s duration. It was an awful lot
of fun and there were some awesome dance moves on display, many by Kevin who brought back into vogue the 'lawn mower'. After all this exuberance, we settled down for the quieter part of the evening, sitting around the fire together. These moments very much reminded me of school camps-given the varied nationalities among us, it was lots of fun swapping childhood songs, trying to learn them in native tongues. And what could be better than the complete silence of the night that later followed as we crawled into our sleeping bags and fell into a slumber under a starry sky? It was a perfect night.
Driving, driving and more driving as also the order of the day following. These long truck days, the first of our trip so far, gave us all a chance to get to know each other better and as the day unfolded, I grew more and more appreciative of how fortunate we were to be travelling with such a wonderful group of people and 2 fantastic guides. This is a group of people who think nothing of pulling together working toward a common goal and today it was Hayley's request for a huge woo-hoo
as we traversed the wonderful engineering feat that is the Suez canal. The Suez Canal is reputed to be one of the greatest engineering achievements of last century. Despite knowing absolutely nothing about engineering, I couldn't help but be impressed as we passed through with a huge Suez Woo-Hoo!!!! We cheered the entire length of the tunnel (reportedly the best cheer of an Oasis tour group thus far) and Twiga too gave a few strong honks to show her appreciation.
As evening fell, we made our way to the Sinai region where we would later tonight set off on a hike up Mount Sinai to watch the sunrise. Getting into this region however called for the exact opposite of our earlier display of exuberance at Suez. As we got closer to our destination, we found ourselves needing to travel through a series of checkpoints. Arriving at the initial stop, Kevin and Hayley buzzed through that our passports should be out and ready, but they would prefer the check to go as smoothly as possible by having us act as though we were asleep. It was quite amusing then, all of us having feigned sleep, were 'woken up' by Kevin
and told to present our passports-which we were all holding at the ready! Such skilled sleepers we are!!! Eventually though we passed through all the check points and made it to the base of the mountain, where Ads and his cook group prepared a delicious dinner of red curry that would out us in good stead for the night ahead.
Setting off on a hike at 11pm is not a regular hobby of mine. But when the full moon is lighting up the landscape and Mount Sinai looms overhead, it seems like the most natural thing in the world. And so we went, led by a guide who professed to have climbed this mountain over 500 times in his life. I have no doubt he was truthful in making this claim. He deftly selected a path and upwards we climbed for the next 3 hours, passing tea shacks perched at regular intervals on the mountain side. The dimly lit little structures formed an amazing sight as one peered out in the darkness, dotting the landscape with a warm glow. The landscape itself was steep in parts. After a two and a half hour walk, the final ascent traverses 750
steps. I felt very thankful for the full moon as we ascended. When we finally reached a point near the top, we pegged out a patch to sleep on, finally crawling into our sleeping bags around 230am. It was only a matter of seconds before we discovered how little Hayley and Kevin had exaggerated when they'd warned it would be freezing on the mountainside. It was far colder and far windier than I could've imagined as I attempted to snuggle close to Adam and our sleeping companions Trusca, Katy, Andre and Marc. Despite the benefit of shared body heat, I felt quite frozen as I attempted to get a few hours of shut-eye before the dawn.
Dawn was almost upon us as we awoke and made our way to the very top, only to find the mountain crawling with tourists from all over the worked, all wanting to experience sunrise on the mountain on which Moses received the Ten Commandments. It was indeed a spiritual experience watching the sun rise over the mountain range. The spectrum of colours as the dawn light spread across the landscape was magnificent. A million pinky orange hues breaking through the blue and purple
sky.
As we descended, we followed a traditional orthodox Christian group down the 4000 steps of penitence. The men and women of the group stopped at each archway to kiss the stones of the arch, pray and sing. Indeed they sang what I can only presume were holy songs all the way down the mountainside. It made the experience all the more memorable and spiritual.
The views down the mountainside were absolutely stunning in the light of day and when we reached the bottom, exhausted but content, it felt like such an achievement. The amazing Swedish Claus even made it to the third tea shop on the mountain ascent-I can only hope to be half as fit and active as he when I reach my 70s! He too saw the spectacle of the mountain sunrise. Quite an achievement.
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