Sinai holiday
| country: | Egypt |
| location: | Sinai Desert |
| departures: | Available throughout the year on a tailor made basis. Group departure dates |
| price: | From £475 (8 days) per adult and £425 per child (up to 12 yrs) excluding flights, based on a family of 4 people. We can arrange flights from the UK |
read 1 travellers review
the amazing things you'll be doing
There are only a few places in the world where a first-time visitor is confronted with a mountainous desert landscape as spectacular as that of the Sinai. On our Desert Dweller Safari, you will actually trek into the heart of the desert on camel and by foot.
You will visit some of the awesome Sinai canyons and spend time with a Bedouin tribe, learning about their techniques of survival in this harsh desert environment. We will also take you to some of the ancient biblical sites in the Sinai, such as St. Catherine Monastery (reached by jeep), and to explore the Mount Sinai area by foot. To top it all sleeping under the stars in the desert is a most breathtaking and soul recharging experience.
You will always be accompanied by local Bedouins and their essential desert skills - only those who live here know how to find the shade, firewood and water needed to survive. You will learn how the hardy shrubs that survive here can be utilised for food or medicine, bake flat bread on open fires and spend some time with the Bedouin families located at the eco-lodge, who continue to live a traditional life-style. Once in the solitude of the deep desert the silence becomes intense. Sitting amongst the changing colours of the rocks of the desert as the sun sets, without a sound to be heard, it is easy to see why so many people have chosen the desert as a place of retreat
You will visit some of the awesome Sinai canyons and spend time with a Bedouin tribe, learning about their techniques of survival in this harsh desert environment. We will also take you to some of the ancient biblical sites in the Sinai, such as St. Catherine Monastery (reached by jeep), and to explore the Mount Sinai area by foot. To top it all sleeping under the stars in the desert is a most breathtaking and soul recharging experience.
You will always be accompanied by local Bedouins and their essential desert skills - only those who live here know how to find the shade, firewood and water needed to survive. You will learn how the hardy shrubs that survive here can be utilised for food or medicine, bake flat bread on open fires and spend some time with the Bedouin families located at the eco-lodge, who continue to live a traditional life-style. Once in the solitude of the deep desert the silence becomes intense. Sitting amongst the changing colours of the rocks of the desert as the sun sets, without a sound to be heard, it is easy to see why so many people have chosen the desert as a place of retreat
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrival at Sharm El-Sheikh (or Taba) airport and transfer to Dahab, situated approximately 100km north of Sharm. Here, you will check into Coral Coast Hotel, on the northern side of Dahab’s seafront. Coral Coast is a new hotel designed with a Bedouin ambience, offering clean rooms with en suite bathrooms, balcony and fantastic sea-views. Coral Coast Hotel is Bedouin owned and employs a nearly all Bedouin and Egyptian staff |
| Day 2-5: | On your second day, you will be introduced to our unique safari team, who have almost 20 yrs of safari experience within the Sinai area. They successfully combine a complete understanding of Western needs with Eastern knowledge and culture. You will be transferred by jeep to the starting point of your camel safari, where you will meet your Bedouin guides with their camels waiting patiently to be loaded. The next few days you will experience the desert in its most natural form, travelling in the ancient traditional way either by camel or on foot. The steady rocking progress of a camel ride can be very therapeutic, allowing you to relax and watch the landscape open up around you. It is difficult to judge distances across the vast plateaus and wadis (dry river beds) that cross them. The softer sandstone rocks are worn into wavelike patterns by the constant battering of wind and sand. This produces unlikely shapes, which rise from the desert floor long before you reach them and change as you pass them by. Along the way, you will visit many incredible natural features including the White and Narrow Canyons, the Frozen Dinosaur and the Great Dunes. Meanwhile, your Bedouin guides will erect the Bedouin tents - with carpets and sleeping mats on the ground – in perfectly chosen locations (including 1 night at the eco-lodge) and prepare wholesome meals. Camping underneath the stars in the clear desert skies can be an even more fulfilling experience. Star constellations and the Milky Way emerge as the sky darkens and the bright streaks of shooting stars are often glimpsed by the patient stargazer |
| Day 6-7: | On day 6, a jeep will pick you up from the eco-lodge and transfer you to St. Catherine’s Monastery, set beneath Mount Sinai, where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments and the site of the biblical Burning Bush. This area is the roof of the Sinai, where rocky peaks reach over 2500m and even snow falls in winter. In the middle of the desert, St Catherine’s Protectorate offers a surprising ecosystem with many freshwater pools and even some streams! We avoid the overused paths up Mount Sinai and therefore take you to up a more challenging trail with superior views across the Sinai, e.g. Gebel Katherine. Your staying the night camping in St Catherine’s area and at the end of day 7 return to Dahab by jeep. |
| Day 8: | After a good night’s rest, this last day can be spent in whatever fashion you like. Whether it is just relaxing in one of Dahab’s many Bedouin style restaurants, shopping in its bazaar or walking along the beach, one thing is for sure, the Sinai and its people will leave an everlasting impression. Transfer and return to Sharm airport. |
travellers' tales
The most memorable part was, as always, sleeping under the stars in the desert. A close second was the opportunity (because there were just three of us, all female, staying in the oasis) to talk, as far as language permitted, with the Bedouin women. (more)
how this holiday makes a difference
|
The company who organises the camel safari component of this trip has almost 20 years of safari experience within the Sinai area. They combine a complete understanding of Western needs with Eastern knowledge and culture. An integral part of their safaris are the traditions of the Bedouin lifestyle with regards to tented camps, camel handling, food preparation & bread making, herbal medicine, healing and star gazing. Over the years, they have built up special relationships with many local Bedouin families and helped them with issues such as medical care, building of animal water troughs, construction of an eco-lodge run by local Bedouins and employment.
Many Bedouin families choose to live a traditional desert dwelling life-style. However, in the present day they also need an income, which can be provided through tourism. All Sinai trips help local Bedouins by giving them regular work, either as jeep driver or camel guide, and paying them a fair daily wage. While based in the desert, special care and attention will be given to issues such as fresh water usage and waste disposal. Water is a scarce resource in the desert but a necessity for cooking, drinking and washing. Sufficient fresh water will be available at all times, but we ask all people to take great care to avoid wastage. Any waste decays extremely slowly in desert environments and will therefore be burned on a daily basis rather than buried. The hotel in Dahab is small-scale and Bedouin owned, so local Bedouin benefit directly through hotel earnings and employment. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |