Day 3. Mon 15th September
The road to Sinai.
Up at 7:30, greatly refreshed, to begin our journey to the Sinai Peninsular.
We pile into a minibus (air-conditioned this time) and head east out of
Cairo. As we leave the irrigated Nile valley the landscape quickly turns
to desert.
The peculiar characteristic of Egypt, that has dicatated its way of
life from ancient times until the present day, is that, except on the Mediterranean
coast, it never rains. Even in tropical African countries there is a rainy
season, but in Egypt (which is not even in the tropics) virtually no rain
falls. The last rain was in about 1995, lasted for 20 minutes, and brought
the entire country to a standstill for three days. The only water in the
country, apart from the six oases in the Western Desert, is that which
is "imported" from East Africa by the river Nile. For this reason, although
the country covers 1 million square kilometres, 90% of the population of
Egypt lives, and has always lived, in a roughly 20km-wide strip of land
down the Nile.
At about 12:00 we reach the tunnel under the Suez canal, and are in
Sinai. The Suez canal brings a good deal of income to Egypt, and, as it
is currently not wide enough for two ships, necessitating a one-way system
which alternates daily, plans are in progress to widen it.
We now turn south, and the Suez Canal quickly becomes the the Gulf
of Suez - Red Sea itself
We stop at a beautiful golden beach called "Moon Beach", (Ras El Sudr
is the Egyptian name) for a swim, and a meal of Chicken Chehuahua (well,
that's what it sounded like!). There is a stiff force 4-5 blowing and several
windsurfers are making good use of it.
Tourist travel is closely monitored in Egypt and we pass through a good
many checkpoints with armed security guards. Our passports are all being
held by Maria, and they are examined, but no search is made of our luggage
or ourselves, although we are warned that this is always a possibilty.
After another 50 miles or so south we turn inland into the mountains.
At Wadi Feiran (a wadi is a dried-up river bed) we stop and take a short
walk up the hill to a ruined chapel, ably assisted by several local children
demanding pens and baksheesh. The landscape is now completely arid and
bleak. Although some of the mountains are granite, most are sandstone.
It was in this desert that the Israelites wandered for forty years, and
without the benefit of satellite navigation it is easy to see how.
We reach our destination, the Danielle Hotel in St Catherine's, in the
early evening and go through what will become a familiar checking-in ritual.
We congregate in reception and are brought cold drinks while our luggage
is unloaded and Maria does the paperwork and allocates the rooms. There
are five "rogue males" on this module, so Maria is operating a rotation
system. I have had my turn in a single room in Cairo, as a result of my
late arrival, so tonight I share with Oisìn.
The hotel provides an excellent buffet supper, with a huge variety
of dishes, both vegetarian and carnivorous. Everyone trickles off to bed
quite early, about nine o'clock. We have a long day ahead of us - tomorrow
we watch the sun rise from the top of Mt. Sinai.