Just fill out the form below and be a subscriber today!

Email:

First Name:

Last Name:

Note: We do not disclose any personal infomation of yours to anyone and also do not condone spam or junk email.

Email this page to a friend

Africa Travel Newsletters > Mt Sinai

The Sinai is Egypt’s land bridge to the Middle East. It is a spread of parch desert, thinly scattered with oases and dotted with sparse Bedouin settlements. It has deceptively little to offer but is actually one of Egypt’s tourist super-sites and a top holiday destination in the Middle East. Its attractions range from top end sun, sand and sea resorts, to breathtaking mountainous landscapes with unique climbing opportunities, desert culture tours, wildernesses, souvenir shopping, and historic sites.

On your visit to Sinai, you get the best value by taking an Egypt tour that combines Sinai with the other attractions that Egypt is famed for.

The Sinai Peninsula occupies 60,000 square km and is almost entirely surrounded by water. It extends from the eastern banks of the Suez Canal, and is washed by the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south. It borders Israel and the Gaza Strip to the northeast, Jordan to the east and Saudi Arabia to the southeast. The peninsula prongs the Red Sea into two, forming the Gulf of Suez to the west, and the Gulf of Aqaba to the east.

The Red Sea is the world’s most northern tropical sea, and flows with extremely saline waters. It stretches 350km at its widest, taking up 450,000 square km, and flowing 2300 km to spill into the Indian Ocean at the horn of Africa. A WWF (World Wildlife Fund) conservation priority, the sea is listed among the Global 200 list of eco-regions. It is rich in marine life, and is a popular underwater attraction that is highly regarded by diving enthusiasts.

The Red Sea has a unique abundance and brilliance of flora and fauna, and diving in its waters is an enchanting experience. The sea is relatively well protected and its waters are calm, warm and run deep; creating the perfect ecosystem for coral reefs to flourish. The sheer quantity and assortment of corals triggers an outburst of sea life.

The Red Sea waters have registered 1,000 invertebrate species, over 200 coral species –both hard and soft, and well over 1,100 fish species. About 10 percent of these fish are unique to the Red Sea while about 6 per cent are deep-sea species. The sea’s pelagic zone has recorded 44 species of Red Sea sharks, which include: pelagic thresher, bignose shark, Whale shark, Arabian smooth-hound, Milk shark, and sharpnose sevengill shark.

The Sinai was in its youthful days a great turquoise and copper mining region. Its earliest settlers were miners who are estimated to have arrived 8,000 years ago. The Pharaohs became masters of the mines 3,000 years later, which as you may expect are long exhausted. Sinai is referred to in the Bible as the "great and terrible wilderness" through which Moses and the Israelites wandered for most of the forty years after their momentous exodus from Egypt. Today, Sinai is a holy land to all three of the great monotheistic religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Up until mid 13th century, historians knew little about the peninsula. The Mamluks ruled in the period 1260-1518,after which the Ottoman Sultan forcefully took over. Except for a few wars thereafter, things remained quiet, till the British arrived in 1906, leading to the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The Sinai headland then became a British protectorate, as a part of Egypt. The British took the trouble due to the peninsulas strategic advantage. Control over the Suez Canal was well calculated, as Egypt was to become their base of action against the Ottoman Turks in World War I.

1948 saw the emergence of the state of Israel, and the resulting conflicts marked the beginning of the Sinai’s most trying times. It experienced numerous Arab-Israeli hostilities and full-blown wars, interspersed by short-lived peace agreements. However, all hell broke loose in 1967 when Egypt kicked the United Nations Emergency Forces (UNEF) out of the Sinai and blockaded the Israeli port of Eilat. Israel responded by declaring war, and in six days had taken over the peninsula, crossing international borders as far as the Suez.

War flared again in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Egypt and a coalition of Arab armies in a surprise move crossed closing lines of the 1967 war. After initial setbacks, the Israelis eventually gained the upper hand, before a UN ceasefire calmed hostilities. The two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979, and Israel withdrew from the peninsula in slow progression between 1979 and 1982. On exit, Israel spared only one city- Sharm el Sheikh: the rest returned to dust.

Despite these setbacks, the Sinai has slowly healed from its past and moved on. It has risen to establish and sustain itself as a unique tourist destination. Its amazing beauty, historic and religious significance, the people, natural attractions and resorts have especially become popular with travellers from all walks of life. Its main regions include the Suez Canal -whose capital is Port Said in the northwest, Shamal Sina in the north, and Janub Sina in the south.

Port Said on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea is a large fishing city and the main port, at the mouth of the Suez Canal. Away from the port, there are some good resorts along the beach. Within and around the city, monuments stand in honour of the past. Places of interest include: the Military Museum, the bazaar, the Roman Cathedral and Saint Auginai Church, Al Salam Mosque, Tennis Island, San El Hagar Town, and Port-Fouad Marine Clubs. The area is mostly popular with local tourists.

The Suez Canal bridges the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and then opens out into the Gulf of Suez. At the canal, it is business as usual as freighters course through in convoy. But while on transit through the canal, you will find the surrounding landscapes quite scenic.

Today, most of the western and northern regions are largely uninhabited, and are not as touristy as the south. Shamal Sina region is an important archaeological and World Heritage Site, though it has little else to offer to tourists. The harsh, scorching parch lands’ proximity to the war prone Gaza Strip has shattered the possibility of desert safaris. Nevertheless, those who manage to come will find the vistas here breathtaking, and the sunrises and sunsets over the mountainous
ranges just as marvelous.

Help and More Information for Egypt!