Sinai Mountain Range Egypt

The beginning of our journey and the meeting point for all participants will be the city of Sharm el-Sheikh, where we meet on December 7. Those who wish can fly with the guides from Lviv on December 6. If you plan to fly from other cities, we will help you with plane tickets.

We arrive quite late in Sharm el-Sheikh, so today, we will not have enough time to enjoy the Red Sea, but we will make up for it on the next day of the trip. After the airport, we go to the hotel and rest.

The next day, we will have a free program in Sharm el-Sheikh. For those who have a flight on December 7, the guides will meet you at the airport. In the evening, we will all go to a local restaurant to get to know each other and celebrate the start of the trip.

It's time to hit the road, get ready, and drive to the beginning of the route. The drive will take about five hours, but there will be sandy landscapes of Egypt around so that the trip will pass in a flash. The first point we need to reach is the White Canyon. This canyon is one of the most famous sights in the interior of Sinai. The White Canyon is carved into the rock with cracks and deep hollows. There are many steps and ropes to help visitors climb up or down. Despite the rather complicated and dangerous appearance, it is easy for anyone who walks in the mountains. This is an Egyptian via Ferrata.

The canyon starts between extremely narrow walls and then opens a bit before entering another deep cave. When you walk through the canyon, you have the feeling that you are on another planet, and here is the most interesting part of the canyon: we climb up the hill first and then go down into the crack, so we reach the lower part of the canyon, which connects to the Ain Khudra oasis.

According to one legend, a huge treasure is hidden in Ain Khudra, just like in the movie The Mummy. Today, several Bedouin families live in the oasis, as this place plays an important role in Bedouin migration. Here are the transfers for guides and camels moving from the Tarabin tribe to the Muzein tribe. It is in this oasis that we will spend the first night of the trip.

The territory of modern Egypt is the land of the old world, shrouded in ancient stories and legends. It's incredibly beautiful here, but beauty hides many dangers. To make us comfortable and convenient, we will hire a local Bedouin to walk with us the entire route and carry our water on his camel.

Today, we will have a long hike between rocks and canyons. We will pass Navamis, a place where circular prehistoric stone tombs are located. Next, we will go to Matamir, a magical place with sandy hills and dunes rising from the sandy plain. There are several peaks in Jebel Matamir that you can climb to see the sunset, which we will do.

Ночувати будемо в бедуїнському кемпінгу в поселені Матамір, загалом всі ночі під час походу будуть або в кемпінгах бедуїнів, або в їх поселеннях у наметах.

Friends, we are in Egypt, and it is beautiful; we are meeting the sunrise, having a delicious breakfast, and continuing our journey. We are following the desert wind, passing the peak of Jebel Maharum - a rock that separated from Jebel Barqa, with a large hole cutting through the middle and the Haduda dune leading to the entrance to the mountain. This view looks incredible! First, we will climb the dune, and then to the top, from where we will view the surrounding landscapes of the Sinai Peninsula and take photos because, after such a trip, you should have great memories. It can be said that this is a fairly popular place among tourists, as the Haduda dune is the largest in South Sinai and is among the most beautiful places in the White Desert.

We will walk a little more along the slopes of Mount Jebel Barka, explore the caves, feed our camels, and then return to the village of Kiri, where we will spend the next night.

This day marks the end of the Sinai Trail, which we have been walking through the desert for the last 4 days. We enter a remote region of low rocky hills and gradually climb into the highlands. Over the next two days, we will cross the endless desert to reach Mount Sinai. But one thing at a time. Today, we have a pretty busy day because the distance is not small, although when you travel, you don't even notice fatigue, emotions overwhelm you, and you want to go more and more and plunge into this adventure. It will be the same today. We will get a significant portion of the emotions the Sinai Mountains will give us.

In the evening, we reach our camp, which we will make in Wadi Matura, a riverbed located in southwestern Asia and northern Africa, which is usually dry except during the rainy season. But we go there because there is an oasis with beautiful views, dotted with acacias. This place is home to a few Bedouin families who will take us in for the night, and we will also taste their national dishes, which are considered one of the most exquisite among the diversity of the Arab East.

Egypt is so beautiful that most people think there are only pyramids and the Sphinx, but this is far from the case. Every morning, we wake up to the sunrise in the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula and realize the value of natural relaxation.

Today, we will have something special for breakfast. Maybe it will be foul, falafel, or something from the Bedouin diet. In any case, it will be delicious because it is not every morning that you can enjoy traditional Bedouin dishes.

Today, we need to replenish our water supplies because we are walking along the flat canyon with rocks, where almost nothing will be visible. We will be crossing a deserted wasteland, where camels used to ride, and if you ask the local Bedouins, they will tell you about the history of this trade route, which was once used by caravans of traders. Having overcome most of the way, we will have a view of the St. Catherine's Highlands. If you have ever watched movies about the desert today, you can feel like the main character who went on a journey. And for those who like to run trails, you should know that the famous Sinai trail, 550 km long, runs along this route.

In the evening, we will reach the village of El Farah, where we will spend the night at a Bedouin campsite.

Today is the 6th day of the trek, and most of the way, it has already been covered, but the culmination is still ahead. It will probably be a pleasant experience for all the trip participants to travel with a camel, and after so much time, it will become like a family. And now we are coming to the Sened plain, the Blue Desert. If you think it's a metaphor, you're mistaken because the desert is blue. How it happened: After the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt was signed in 1979, Belgian artist Jean Verame wanted to celebrate this historic peace in his way. Veramet first came to Sinai in 1978 and spent two years asking the Egyptian authorities to allow him to fulfill his artistic dream. With official approval, he was given 10 tons of paint and began painting the desert blue. A year later, he painted the Sened plain, which stretches for almost 6.5 km with boulders up to nine meters high, blue. Thus, this place became a symbol of the return of the Sinai territory to Egypt.

So, we will have a lot of photo zones. We can say that we will be walking around a surreal gallery all day. In the evening, we will reach the next campsite in the village of Frouche, where we will spend the night.

Today we are heading to the large settlement of Farsh Eliyahu at the foot of Mount Sinai, where we will climb Mount Moses. The peak is rocky, but it is easy to climb because thousands of pilgrims who visit it every year have laid an excellent path. According to biblical legend, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on this mountain. At the top of Mount Moses are the Church of the Holy Trinity and a small mosque. To the north of the church, there is a small cave under the rock where, according to the Bible, Moses hid for forty days and nights.

The mountain is interesting both from the point of view of history and religion and from the views that can be seen from its top. The day is quite short at this time of year, so we will meet the sunset at the top and descend after dark. And here is another advantage: We will be able to appreciate the beauty of the Sinai Mountains at night, the huge low stars of the Egyptian night sky—all this will remain in our memory forever.

And then we visit our Bedouin guide friend, who will shelter and feed us a delicious dinner. We will spend the night in the city of St. Catherine.

Today's rise will be very early because we want time to see as much as possible. So, we set off along the Sinai Trail, first walking along an old road past chapels and old wells. This path is also called the “Valley of the Forty Martyrs”, the beginning of the track to Mount St. Catherine, the highest peak in Egypt at 2629 meters and the final peak on the Sinai Trail. We must climb to the top before sunset to see the spectacular views on both sides of the Sinai Peninsula. From the mountain, we will see the lands of Africa and Asia. The views will be 360 degrees, where we can see the Sinai Trail, which we have been traveling all these days, and even part of the Gulf of Aqaba.

Going down from the top, we will head to the village of St. Catherine, near which is the Monastery of St. Catherine, one of the oldest continuously operating Christian monasteries in the world, built in the fourth century. We will go on a tour of the monastery, which houses priceless relics of the ancient world, so this opportunity should not be missed.

After the tour, we returned to our campsite, where we spent the last night. We had dinner with the owners and said goodbye because tomorrow we would go to Dahab to the beaches of the Red Sea.

This is the last sunrise in the Sinai Mountains. Today is the end of the hiking part of the route. We have completed the entire planned track along the Sinai Trail, so we can be pleased with ourselves. The last point on the route we want to show you is the Abu Jifa Pass, a good viewpoint from which you can see the mountains of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, and Mount Catherine. This is the final panorama of our track.

With nine days of trekking behind us, we say goodbye to the Sinai mountains and head to the resort of Dahab. There, we will check into a hotel and take a break from the mountainous part of the trip. The journey will take about two hours, so in the evening, we will still have time to swim in the Red Sea.

It's time for a passive vacation; we wake up at the hotel, have breakfast, and recommend running off somewhere in the city to see as much as possible and not waste our time on “all-inclusive.” Dahab has an Old City called Masbat and the Bedouin village of Assa. The Old Town consists of a promenade with inexpensive campsites, small hotels, restaurants, shops, cafes, and several narrow streets. In the city's bay, you can find the ruins of an ancient port that belonged to the Nabataeans, so we headed here. Here, you can have a delicious meal and feel like a real traveler, not a tourist.

We have two whole days in Dahab, so during this time, we should definitely try diving, windsurfing, and kitesurfing. There will be plenty of emotions after such rides. Everyone will have a free program for these two days, but we recommend visiting the Blue Hole, an underwater vertical cave surrounded by coral reefs. Its depth is about 130 meters. Whether you're going to dive there or look at it from the shore, this place deserves your attention.

At the end of the 12th day of our trip, we will go to a restaurant for dinner to remember the best moments of the trip and say goodbye before leaving for Ukraine. On this day, we will also have a transfer to Sharm el-Sheikh, from where we will go to the airport.

Our trip has ended, and we have learned a lot. We have seen Bedouin settlements, walked the Sinai Trail, and experienced the culture of the Sinai Peninsula. But time flies fast, and it's time to return home, so after breakfast, we check out of the hotel and head to the airport. Before we leave, we promise to return here someday to recall the emotions we experienced during the trip.

ATTENTION! The organizers reserve the right to change the program due to weather, route time, or other circumstances.