Crossing Sinai on a bike

Donnerstag, Februar 09, 2006

Sinai

Duration: 1 week
Getting there: via charter plane from Austria and Switzerland to Sharm El-Sheik in Egypt
Cost: approx. 1300 Euros per person
Travel agent: Bergspechte in Linz, Austria
Local travel agent: Subsinai adventures in Dahab, Egypt
Starting point: Dahab
Time: December 2005
Climate: local winter; dry, mild (20°C during the day and down to 5°C at night); it could rain but it did not
Gear: own mountain bikes

Day 1

One week in the Sinai desert was a phantastic experience. I went with my friend Gerald from Austria. It started in Dahab, Egypt and was organized in Austria by Bergspechte and in Egypt by Sub Sinai Adventures.

We biked for 6 days. Each night we camped in the open desert, under the stars; except once in a Bedouin village, once in a Bedouin tent and once in a camp. During the trip we climbed two mountains - one near Serabit to visit a 4000 year old Pharao temple and the famour Mount Sinai or Mount Moses (where according to bible and Koran Moses received the 10 commandments from God). We met a number of Bedouin people and children along the way and crosses or stopped in a couple of Oasis. We biked between 2 and 7 hours every day - which may not sound much but it is as we encountered sand quite frequently.

Day1

Our jeep arrives and we upload all our belongings, the food for a week, a lot of water and our bikes.

We left Dahab and took the highway to the North, for about an hour and a half. The scenaries were already phantastic, the weather perfect, our 2 guides so far very quiet and the two of us simply immersed in the beauty of the mountains and sand dunes around us.

A perfect road led us right into the centre of Southern Sinai. That part belonged to the St. Katherine nature reserve.

Along we passed a couple of Police control posts. Each time our drivers had to explain their business, our destination, show their ID cards and our passports. Quite serious about protection of tourists, the protection of the nature reserve or a way to employ lots of people?

Along we passed a couple of Police control posts. Each time our drivers had to explain their business, our destination, show their ID cards and our passports. Quite serious about protection of tourists, the protection of the nature reserve or a way to employ lots of people?

We were accompanied and guided by Aid and Waleed.

Waleed was our guide. He spoke English and was a young and friendly Egyptian.

Aid was a Bedouin, from Egypt. He spoke very little English, was always very quiet but seemed to know everything. As we learned it was important to distinguish Bedouins from Egyptians. Bedouins are the real indigeneous people from the Sinai desert. You can find them all over Sinai, Jordan, Saudi and maybe beyond. They are originally Semites, travelling from place to place with their herdes, always looking for feeding grounds.

Nowadays most have swapped the camel for a pickup truck and the tent for a little house. But they remain connected to the desert

All of a sudden, AID, our Bedouin guide left the road and stopped. We had arrived at our real starting point quite in the middle of nowhere in particular. We would get used to this feeling. From now on, no more car.

First, we unpacked and prepared our bikes. Then ourselves; plenty of water and applied sun cream. It had some 20+ degrees Celsius but the sun felt very strong on our skin.

Then our guides took off with the jeep; after a few minutes they disappeared behind the horizon and we were alone in the desert.

It was warm, dry, bright and TOTALLY QUIET. Nothing was to be heard, nothing moved.

Ahead of us was nothing but sand, rocks, stones and mountains.

So we started off, full of energy and eager to try the new environment. The track was fairly hard to begin with and the little descent made us pick up speed quickly.

Happily we cruides along until we hit the first fork and were lost. We had no idea where the jeep had gone, no signal to be seen and no sound either.

What a start we thought and so much about the guidance!

We picked the right fork and soon saw the jeep waiting in the distance for us. From then on they would leave us out of sight and stay always 1-2 kilometers ahead of us.

The environment changed after a while. Rocks and stone were replaced by sand and thorn bushes. Cruising became impossible; now it was hard work to get along.

We had to learn much about the treacherous sand and how to discover the various types of sand. How impossible deep sand was to get over and how to avoid it.
This is quite fun about biking in such terrain:One must drive with complete attention to the 3-4 meters ahead, constantly scanning the underground for patches of sand.
At the same time keep on looking up to 50-100 ahead to find your way through bushes, around bigger rocks and avoiding sand dunes and pitches. And then keep an eye on the sometimes very distant jeep to not completely miss the big direction.

Of course, every now and then we would either miss a

stretch of sand or see no other way than through a difficult stretch. This would sometimes see us pretty quickly in the dust.
As the picture with Gerald shows.
Luckily sand is quite soft so we got over the week without any serious injury or even bruise.

When the sand got too deep it was simply impossible to continue on the bike. When pushing got too tiresome we hopped into the jeep until the underground got more solid again. On the first day we did this maybe thrice for about 4 kilometers.

One of the best things about biking in the desert is the complete freedom to choose your own path. It took us a while to realize not only do we not need to follow the

track, it may in fact be much better to go astray. More and more we ventured to the right and left, probing different types of underground and combiningthem with different speeds, different driving techniques and different levels of pressure in the tires. Sometimes we would go on for several kilometers ending up quite far away from the jeep.

This experience was simply phantastic - finding your own way. Where in Europe can you do that? Forests may be too thick, fences everywhere, mountains too rocky to bother, neighbourhoods blocking the way. Here nothing stopped you going in almost any direction as far as the eye could see.

Lunch.

Our first lunch in our first oasis. Oases actually exist, I wasn't quite sure they weren't some phantasy from some fairy tale. This was a small one. 3 Bedouins were there already working on some water pump which they used to pump water from this well to their village a kilometer or so away. As is custom Bedouins always help each other and share. So, the 3 joined our party to first make fire, then prepare food and have lunch together.

We ate some pita bread with a tuna-onion paste, warm beans, wite cheese with olive oil and spices, and, of course, Bedouin tee. That is black tea boiled together with the hot water in a pot and sugar. Quite tasty.

How such an oasis exists isa bit of a mystery to me. It rains only once a year, in winter, ie. the period we were there. But sometimes it would not rain at all. Yet, water pooled in some spots and would not evaporate fast enough and sustain some acacias or palm trees.

Afterwards the Bedouins continued their work, we had a little rest and prepared ourselves for the afternoon ride.

We felt quite tired after a hard morning ride and would soon feel much worse.
The underground in the afternoon was generally much softer, it was warmer, we were exhausted; often we had to get off the bike and push; just to get up on the bike and be immediatly stuck again.
One would try harder not to repeat the exercise and sometimes just about get through a nasty stretch but at great energetic cost.

We had to stop and recouperate and drink a lot.
The jeep picked us up another 3 times.

It was that exhausting!

Finally we got to our evening station.

Evening camp site

Day 2

This is going to be our first long day. We get up at sun rise, so just after 6. Aid even earlier to prepare the fire, boil the water and pray. We are at a beautiful spot. To stretch our muscles after a rather hard sleep on the rocks Gerald and I explore the surroundings a bit.

The rocks come in the most bizarre forms and shapes.

After breakfast we get ready. Everything needs to be packed really neatly so it can't fall off, nor get too dusty.

After an hour or so we come by this typical Bedouin village. Life is pretty simply around here.

But where-ever there is a Bedouin village there are kids, hospitality and water. We stop at a little water tank. Every passerby is invited to stop and take some water. Typically one or several kids will look after the water and advise you of what quality it is (to drink after boiling, to drink for camels, to water plants)

Nowerdays gas fuelled pumps get the water out of wells.

The kids 'engage' us right away in a discussion about the importance of pens and why on earth we haven't brought any. Pens are the typical present for kids aorund there. Had only somebody advised us, we could have brought a hundred! What a nice and useful gift as well. Kids elsewhere want sweets or money.

The donkey and I couldn't bond very well.

And off we go. The underground gets rocky as we approach the ascent to a mountain path.

Even the jeep needs his first gear and use all its power to get up here.

After about a century in gruelsome heat we finally arrive at the top.

Later in the day we get back to our beloved sand.

Enough is enough. It is virtually impossible to drive in sand; let's get a ride.

Time for lunch.

Waleed prepares it - while we take a rest.

A little spot in the shade, more than enouh to enjoy. What is not visible here is that we are surrounded by secret plantations of hashish. Each guarded by about 3 Bedouins with big guns. This is apparently how the Bedouins survive in the desert in the 21st century.

And now for something completely different. The endless planes of stones and rocks.

It felt like a never-ending story.

Riding this for about 2 hours at great speed (otherwise the wheels did into the sand beneath the rocks an dget stuck) is great news for your buttocks.

Finally our destination. again a pretty spot very close to something famous - one of the places described in the bible where Moses got lost with his tribe; - and the black chimneys!

The black chimneys were formed by lava

Stunning.

And a sunset to dive into

The evenings are to discuss the day, life, the universe and everything else. It gets quite cold but it does not matter. What matters is the total tranquility, not a sound anywhere; the serenity of the environment; the most pristine state of the sand around you; the entirely clear sky.