Advertisement
Published: February 25th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Double Canyon, Sinai
How about this colour for the bridesmaids' dresses, Julia/Shin?? We decided that since we were in Sinai, it would be a good idea to go one of the widely advertised desert safaris as we had never trekked in the desert before. We had tasted some of the other activities that Dahab had to offer - we a full day's snorkelling in an area called the Blue Hole just 3km out of Dahab which was fantastic (lots of really colourful fish, sheltered snorkelling area) - and was ready to move on to other experiences.
Anyway, our 3 day intrepid desert safari transpired to be a walk around some Bedouin family's backyard as we were never more than an hour or two hour's walk from the village or the road.
We had Mohamed, our english-speaking guide; Awad, the Bedouin camel keeper; and his two four-legged charges, Hamran and Shailan, who carried our bags and supplies (not without some grumbling, particularly when they are being harnessed and readied for work). It was possibly the easiest walking we had ever done. We probably did about 8 hours walking (and some free climbing) in total over the 3 days (and an hour on the camel), and spent the rest of the time eating
Hotel Sinai
This is where we spent our first night in Sinai - just the two of us (and the camels). and relaxing. We could have done more walking but presumably the same itinerary in the summer heat would just about finish one off.
The desert in Sinai is a beautiful place - lots of different colours and weird rock formations. A real geologists' dream. Unfortunately, our guide was possibly the most uninterested guide we have ever come across and spent most of the time walking about 100m ahead of us, engaged in small talk with our camel keeper rather than talking to us and telling us about the points of interest. I like to think that he was perhaps a bit reticent to be in tourism. Our generous interpretatlon is that he was trying to be unobtrusive; letting us have time to ourselves. The less charitable interpretation is that he was just lazy.
We spent our first night sleeping in a bedouin tent, which is basically an area covered on 4 sides with material woven from camel and goat hair, with a canopy of the same material. It provides some comfort and protection from the elements but not so much that you'd never want to leave. Luckily, our fairydown sleeping bags kicked in yet again and kept us
Awad making bread for tea
Prepare a fire, take some flour, water, salt, lots of kneading and rolling, bury in ash for 5minutes and voila....fresh bread for tea. yum snug during the night. Us two and the camels spent the night in the desert that night as the other two scampered back by 4 wheel drive (Awad's brother came out) to spend the night in the Bedouin village 10 minutes drive away. We thought it was distinctly unprofessional even though we had agreed to it. We felt we shouldn't have been asked in the first place.
on the secnod night, we slept out in the open behind some bushes and around a campfire. It was fun and we were perfectly comfortable until it started raining. Fortunately it wasn't serious rain (like it is right now in Dahab!) but more like being sprayed with an anaemic waterpistol; annoying but incapable of any serious damage.
On our last day we shared a lunch with Awad's family back in the Bedouin village. It was real eye-opener. Awad's family are considered quite well off compared to the other families in their Bedouin settlement but is still very much what we would consider materially poor. Some American tourists who dropped in whilst we were meeting up with our camels on our first day were absolutely horrified and said in a well-meaning kind
Dashes of colour in the desert
And we thought the desert was a boring place... of way that they hoped we were not going to be sleeping with the family as they were really dirty!
Awad's family is the first to build their stone house in the setllement and and several other families are following fast, abandoning their nomadic ways. They still have livestock - goats, chickens, camels - but the camels are strictly for tourism these days and are the main tools for earning a few bucks. It was dismaying to see that there are few opportunities for the young Bedouin to be educated or engaged in little else other than being camel keepers to the much better off Nile Valley Egyptians who own almost all of the tourism in Sinai. HOpefully they won't end up being pushed off their own land one day.
We didn't have any 'useful' gifts to present to the family at the end of our meal but had some NZ souvenir pencils (with silver ferns and buzzy bees) which we gave to the children in the family. We didn't think they would be much use as none of the girls went to school and the boys in the family had about 5 years schooling between the three
Family of Frig Abo Oba
Frig wanted us to take a picture of his family. We are going to send it on to his agents in Dahab when we are able to print our photos. Here he is with his wife and 6 of his 9 children. Lovely man. of them. However, we learnt later that pencils were appreciated gifts as pens tended to leak in the heat of summer. We also gave Awad a 100 LE baksheesh for the time he spent running after us and Mohamed, doing all the hard work, including cooking us fresh bread for every meal. We assumed he and the rest of the family were well pleased as they all came out to farewell us including the very elderly matriach of the family.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.136s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 66; dbt: 0.1088s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Katie
non-member comment
Questions
Hi I am planning a trip to Egypt in a few months. I would love to go on a simmilar desert safari. How did you book yours? Through a tourist office or did you just find the guide on your own?