Red Sea Diving, Dahab

Bedouins generally prefer jobs that don’t tie them down, but at the same time they need a regular income to support their families. Hence many Bedouins work as independent taxi drivers in and around Dahab. Both the hotel and dive centre help to support Bedouins’ traditional lifestyles by using their taxi services and paying them a fair price. In addition, the dive centre made a commitment to employ non-Western staff and have amongst others trained a young Bedouin and Egyptian in-house as a technician maintaining dive gear and as a dive instructor respectively. The hotel employs a nearly all Egyptian staff and has developed close links with local Bedouin families.

The majority of diving in Dahab is done directly from the beach. This has the environmental advantage of minimising fuel and therefore emissions from outboard motors, as well as the absence of waste waters and oil discharge. There is a drive to raise environmental awareness with both customers and staff through the Dive Centre, including making sure divers' buoyancy is neutral so they don't damage the coral during dives and offering regular free clean-up dives. All customers booking this holiday are offered a free PADI Coral Reef Conservation course (theory only, PADI certification fee not included).