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Africa
Travel Newsletter > Sinai -
In the Shadow of Moses > Page 2
1.1 Sinai- In the
Shadow of Moses
Janub Sina is the crown of the peninsula
and the best place to get away in the Middle East. Resting on the two
prongs of the Red Sea,
the region enjoys the best of both gulfs. The eastern shores along the
Gulf of Aqaba have the finest resorts stretching from Taba, all the way
south to Sharm el Sheikh where Aqaba meets the Suez. The Aqaba coast is
the holiday capital of the Sinai Peninsula.
Taba, a border town at the easternmost tip of southern Sinai is where
Israel and Egypt fence off. Formerly a small Bedouin settlement, it was
in the past a stopover for desert caravans. The town has grown over
time, and is now Egypt’s busiest border crossing. Taba
adjoins the main Israeli Red Sea port city of Eilat, and caters mainly
for Israel transit visitors. About 220 km north of Sharm el
Sheikh, the town remained an Israeli stronghold until 1987, being the
last to revert to Egyptian
hands after the 1979 peace treaty.
Taba has now blossomed into a scenic beach town, with a beautiful
mountainous backdrop and spectacular views over the sea and far off
over Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. It is popular with both regional
and international tourists, and offers excellent accommodation ranging
from luxury hotels to budget camps. The main activities here include
diving, water sports and desert style golfing at the Taba Heights
Resort.
The area has 4 superb diving sites at Coral Island, Sun Pool, Marsa El
Muqabila and Ras Burka. Scuba diving, wind surfing, snorkelling and
parasailing are just some of the activities awaiting visitors. For the
more adventurous, quad biking into the desert mountains is fun.
Entertainment and nightlife at this resort is lively and there are
excellent shopping opportunities for unique Egyptian artefacts and gold
pieces. Taba is a wonderful all-year destination, though swimming and
basking may not be as enjoyable in summer -between July and August, as
the sun tends to be spitefully hot.
An international airport at Taba serves the town well with lots of
charter flights from Europe and Cairo. There are also daily buses from
the capital and nearby towns of Nuweiba and Dahab. This is also
a good base from where to take organised tours to the neighbouring
countries. There is a ferry that connects to the Jordanian beach town
of Al Aqaba. Excursions to nearby attractions may lead to the historic
Pharaoh’s Island, a manifestly charming spot some hundred
meters off the Taba shore.
Nuweiba –Arabic for bubbling springs – is a port
town that lies 80km to the south of Taba. It is a beach resort that has
emerged from sheer desolation to be an excellent holiday destination.
It is distinctly unique with an oasis at Nuweiba Muzeina that has an
exclusive beach, coral diving and makes a tranquil getaway. It also
enjoys mountainous scenery with superb sunrises over the Hijaz
Mountains.
Besides the beach, shopping, scuba diving, snorkelling, parasailing,
wind and kite surfing, visitors can also enjoy ship spotting, Bedouins
culture tours, camel treks to the mountains and excursions to the
Coloured Canyon.
The Coloured Canyon is a fascinating, richly coloured rock formation
that stands out from the Sinai landscape northwest of Nuweiba. About
a kilometre long, the colour play on the rock makes it one of the most
awe-inspiring rock formations in the world. A walk into this natural
wonder reveals a maze of magnificently coloured sandstone walls, rising
as high as 40 metres. The maze is a retreat of calm and tranquility- a
tonic for the body and soul.
Further south, about 50km from Nuweiba is Dahab, another Aqaba coastal
town and former Bedouin fishing village. Meaning
“gold” in Arabic, Dahab is an exceptional beach and
cherished diving destination. The town is reckoned to be more
entertaining than Nuweiba and throngs with more activity. Here, the
usual surfing can be enjoyed together with
some swimming and snorkelling. The shore reefs here are better suited
for diving and it is more beautiful than further north.
Very good diving can be experienced at the Blue Hole –for
expert divers,
the Canyon, Eel Garden, the Lighthouse and South Oasis dive sites.
Picnics and boat trips to the Lagoona make great day excursions; and
also tours to the Bedouin oases of Ein Khudra and 3 Pools. Seafood
cafés and eateries mostly serve sumptuous Bedouin cuisine.
The shopping is good, but nightlife here is rather slow, except if you
consider smoking a shisha pipe. Dahab has traditionally been popular
with backpackers, though there are developments of luxury hotels and
diving centres meant for more affluent travellers.
Dahab is the perfect spot from where to divert inland, as it is
centrally placed along the Aqaba coast. Horse and camel treks, quad and
jeep safaris can be taken into the desert mountains and beyond.
Expeditions will most definitely include Mount Sinai, a biblical and
historic site that is believed to be the mountain where God spoke to
Moses- he who led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. It is also
here that God is said to have handed to Moses the ‘Ten
Commandments’.
The mountain is at times referred to as Jabal Musa, Moses’
Mountain or
Mount Horeb. By whichever name, it is of great significance to both the
Hebrew and Christian faiths, and has for millennia attracted thousands
of pilgrims every year.
Scaling the heights is a great recreation for those who love a
challenge of this magnitude. The mountain stands 2,285 meters high and
is encircled by a mountain range of higher peaks; the highest being
Mount St. Catherine at 2,637 meters- which is also the
peninsula’s highest peak. At a valley at the foot of the two
mountains lies an edifice of significant religious importance to
Christians –St. Catherine’s Monastery. This has for
over 15 centuries been Sinai’s centre of religious
pilgrimage. Both the monastery andthe mountain are UN World Heritage
Sites.
The monastery is a fortification dating back to 527 AD – and
is the world’s oldest monastery. Within its imposing stockade
is the Basilica- a Byzantine-style basilica, which holds ancient pieces
of art and a sarcophagus that supposedly bears the remains of St.
Catherine
of Alexandria -a saint of the early Christian church.
You will also find the Chapel of the Burning Bush -said to sit next to
the authentic Burning Bush where Moses first met God; Charnel House
that houses the exhumed bones of the long gone monks of St. Catherine;
the Library, and Gallery of Icons that holds antique manuscripts and
sacred symbols only rivaled by those of the Vatican; and the St.
Catherine’s Mosque.
The mosque has never been used since it is not correctly positioned
with Mecca, but is of significance to the Muslim faithful. It is
believed to
have been a refuge for Prophet Mohammed –founder of the
Islamic faith. Other interests within the monastery include
Justinian’s Wall and the Fountain of Moses. Roman Catholics
visiting here will be happy to know that they will be walking in the
footsteps of Pope John Paul II who
visited St. Catherine's Monastery in 2000.
On the way to the monastery, the routes are sited with ancient
chantries, a stone-hewn arch where pilgrims made their confessions and
a natural amphitheatre where the tribal heads of Israel supposedly sat
in waiting while Moses spoke with God. Between St.
Catherine’s and Dahab is the impressive Blue Desert; 4 miles
of desert rocks that were literary painted blue by a Belgian artist
–Jean Berame in 1980. This was his monumental symbol of peace
after the Israeli-Egypt Peace Treaty of the previous year.
Dahab is 100km north of Sharm el Sheikh, via Na’ama Bay
–a tourist
epicentre to the north of Sharm. The bay is strikingly beautiful with
resorts and hotels, diving opportunities, golfing, shopping and a
vibrant nightlife. Its proximity to Sharm allows easy access to most of
Sharm’s luxurious facilities, leisure activities and dive
sites.
Sharm el Sheikh is the southernmost city of Sinai. Sharm is a remarkable
tourist centre with a mountainous backdrop; the town is set overlooking
the Straits of Tiran and enjoys dramatic landscapes over Saudi Arabia.
Initially known as Mifratz Shlomo (Gulf of Solomon), Sharm boasts
Sinai’s
most luxurious resorts, sporting amenities and incomparable shopping
opportunities.
The climate is pleasant all year round with temperatures averaging 21
-28 degrees Celsius; it is cooler in November to March and warmer
between April and October. It is due to its strategic placement and
favourable conditions, that the Israelis used it as an operation base in
their takeover of the Sinai.
After they pulled out from the promontory, Sharm was the only town left
intact. Though Sharm did not appear on most maps before the 1967 war,
it has from the mid 1980’s rushed to become a modern city. It
is today the most popular tourist resort, and most developed city on
the peninsula.
Sharm is renowned as the Red Sea’s most distinguished diving
location
with sites at the Straits of Tiran, Shark Bay, Amphoras and Ras Um Sid.
Its warm and clear waters are filled with marine life, making it a
divers’ dream. It records the highest marine life along the
sea –250 coral reefs and 1000 fish species, and the
underwater scenery is simply incredible.
Still, the charm of Sharm spreads beyond diving. Its natural sand and
pebble beaches never disappoint sun worshippers. Most sought after on
visitors’ checklists include: the world class resorts, scuba
diving, snorkelling, boating, canoeing, windsurfing, kite surfing,
parasailing,
yachting and cruise shipping. Shopping is also a craze here, with a
variety of Bedouins crafts and Egyptian souvenirs on offer. The
nightlife is super -with numerous nightclubs and entertainment spots,
to suit the tastes of the most discerning connoisseurs.
Sharm is in addition a significant conference centre in the Middle East.
It is in fact referred to as the City Of Peace on account of the many
important peace conferences it has hosted.
A little offshore from Sharm is Ras Mohammed National Park, a tiny
foreland cape and Sinai’s southernmost tip. This is where the
two gulfs –Suez and Aqaba, touch and the area has been a
designated wildlife
sanctuary and landscape protection region since 1983. The sea
subjugates most of the park, and its greatest attraction is its
picturesque underwater and abundant sea life with radiantly affluent
coral reefs.
Northwest from Ras Mohammed, into the Gulf of Suez, are excellent wreck
diving opportunities. At Shag Rock, two wrecks lie in wait at 52ft
below the sea: Kingston –an 18th century steamship, and
Carina –a 19th century wreck. Within the vicinity is the best
and the most legendary of the Red Sea wrecks –the SS
Thistlegorm, which was discovered by Jacques Cousteau- a renowned
Italian diver, in 1955.
The SS Thistlegorm was a British Army warship that went down after a
surprise attack by a German Bomber in October 1941. At depths of 108
ft, the 413 ft long wreck presents a great diving experience with a
visibility of up to 100 ft. Diving is exceptionally beautiful in the
early morning hours when the waters are unruffled and clear. Other
wrecks in the Suez include: Dunraven, a British steamship at depths of
92ft and Million Hope at Nabq Sharm el Sheikh, whose wreckage can be
seen right from above the surface.
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