Sinai Trail Background
In the Fall of 2023 I hiked the Sinai Trail in the eponymous peninsula in Egypt. As a change from what I usually do, namely hiking solo, this was an organized and guided hike as neither the Bedouin tribes of the Sinai nor the Egyptian government allow unaccompanied hikers in the backcountry. There is not much that these two agree on, but on that they do, if for different reasons. To the Egyptian government individual tourists are a nuisance and it therefore does its level best to make things difficult through bureaucratic interference at all levels and by any means. Why are individual tourists a nuisance to the Egyptian government, you ask? The forces behind it do not get to wet their beak. With package tourism, on the other hand, the military gets a cut. The Bedouin are mostly concerned about knowing who is traveling through their territory because they do, simple as that, or, more explicitly, because of their women and children and animals. There may also be some valid concern about islamist activities in the North of the peninsula and I suppose that both the government and the Bedouin are not keen to have those forces expand and get a foothold in the South.
The hike was organized by sinaitrail.org, a Bedouin run non-profit that aims to give the Bedouin tribes a hand in non-package tourism and in the resulting income stream. At present, of the many tribes in the peninsula five or six participate in this endeavor. Ben Hoffler, an Englishman who has written the authoritative guide for hiking in the Sinai, has worked with the Bedouin in determining what the route through the Sinai should be. Individual tribes provide guides and support crew as the group travels through the territory they control.
As it unfolded for us, the trek is divided into four sections of 12 days each. Individual participants may book the entire trip or individual sections. Obviously, there are not many people who have the time and/or the inclination to hike for 48 days at a stretch, so the possibility to hike individual sections over the course of several seasons makes the Sinai Trail more accessible for more potential hikers. Indeed, three hikers who joined us for a section or two had hiked other sections years earlier.
The entire trek is about 350 miles or 520 km. Section 1 starts in the coastal mountains North of Nueiba on the Gulf of Aqaba and then follows a set of interconnected wadis to Ein Kid, an oasis so small that it does not appear on any common map (red line in the map below)(ein means spring in Arabic). From Ein Kid we followed wadis to the mountains of St. Katherine, a small town surrounding an ancient monastery run by Greek Orthodox monks to the present day (red & blue lines in map below). From St. Katherine we headed Northwest inland from the Gulf of Suez to the ancient turquoise mines of Serabit El Khadem (blue line in map). We could not take the route that was part of the original Sinai Trail along Jebel Serval and wadi Feiran as the local tribe is in a years-long standoff with the Egyptian police/military that cost several people on either side their lives. The military patrols the area and we would not have made it. As a result we followed a set of wadis further inland and could only look longingly at Jebel Serval which looks like a really enticing climb, if rather tough. Section 4 took us from Serabit El Khadem back to Nueiba along a route at the base of Jebel el Gunna (black line in the map below).
Sinai Trail Thru Hike Fall 2023
Starting Oct 20th and finishing Dec 8th my brother-in-law and I hiked the whole thing and were joined by several others for one, two, or three sections. As a result the group size fluctuated between 3 and 6. Group sizes like that are unusually small and this is likely due to several reasons. For one, during Covid the trips were cancelled for two years in a row 2020/21. Then in 2022 there was the COP 27 Environmental summit in Sharm El-Sheikh during which the government did not issue permits for hikes. In Fall of 2023 there was the “unpleasantness” in Gaza which certainly was not conducive to increase participation in the hike, but at least permits were issued.
These closures and the Gaza situation in particular are an unmitigated catastrophe for the Bedouin economy. A good fraction of Bedouin income comes from Israeli tourists who populate the beach camps on the Gulf of Aqaba and the mountain gardens around St. Katherine. It also difficult for sinaitrail.org to maintain buy-in for the Sinai Trail from the Bedouin as the work is not as steady as was assumed at its inception.
I did not have any idea what to expect in terms of terrain in the Sinai. The Sinai Trail popped up on Google while I was researching the Israel National Trail. I decided the latter was not for me, but the Sinai trail intrigued me the more I read. It was a relatively short time between becoming aware of its existence and signing up/being accepted for the hike, not enough time really to form expectations about what it would be like. Sometimes you just gotta jump and the fact this was a guided endeavor made the jumping much easier as I did not have to research the intricacies of resupply and route as I usually do. Traveling by bus from Sharm El-sheikh to Nueiba along the coastal road gave bus a first view of the coastal mountain range. So there was going to be mountains! Cool!
Section 1
We met our first set of guides at a beach camp North of Nueiba as well as the sheikh of the Tarabin tribe in charge of that tribe’s part of the trail. The sheikh was a really impressive guy, only there for the evening to welcome us and set the level of expectations. Suelim I (guide) was impressive as well, in a different way. He was not a smooth operator but an incredibly observant naturalist, not given to too much talking. Suelim II (support) did make up in talking for his cousin, Suelim I. He was Mr. Personality! He had lived in Europe and traveled all over, spoke German with a Swiss accent, if you can believe that. We were all really happy with this pair
Next morning we set off crossing the mountain range that runs along the coast. Winding our way through narrow passages between individual mountains through narrow flood channels. And we received an introduction to the Egyptian way of hiking which is definitely not following Leave No Trace principles. Au contraire! Apparently, thou shalt dump trash everywhere as a sign that you have been there. Empty plastic bottles from bottled water littered just about any wadi. In two places the sight was just so disgusting that we stopped, piled up all the litter we could find and burnt it, the ashes likely being much more sightly than the trash we had encountered. We were told that this was due to “Cairo people”. Yeah right! Owing to the low population density garbage disposal is a real problem for sure, but just tossing the empty water bottle after you having carried the filled bottle all this way into the backcountry should really be a self-evident no-no. But then one sees this too all over the US mountain West where the off-road driving crowd goes and roads are littered to the right and left by tossed beer cans as these clowns drive past.
After a few miles we came across a small oasis with a seep as a water source, enough water for small animals maybe and some palm trees. From there we climbed up a steep camel trail built by the Bedouin ages ago. During the construction they pile up a berm of rocks on the downward slope side and try to remove as much as possible small rocks where the animals are stepping. As we saw later, camels are really strong and have no problem climbing steep slopes and making surprisingly sharp curves in the trail.
We climbed upstream through Colored Canyon, but the sun was not shining during that hour of the day and the colors were not live. For me personally it was a bit ho-hum after having hiked the slot canyons in Utah, for the slot canyon first-timers it lived up to its reputation.
After exiting the canyon we passed Colored Mountain, in sunshine, and that gives you an idea of what the slot canyon could be like in good conditions.
A day or two later we walked up to a precipice and looked down on the oasis of Ein Hadur. This is obviously a settlement and there appeared to be lots of water. Indeed, one of the families had a swimming pool (!) and we enjoyed it immensely after a couple of days of walking in the heat. So we hung out for half a day on the property of one of the families.
Next morning we hiked up White Canyon. White Canyon was, surprise, filled with blindingly white sand in the lower portion. We then climbed out to the side across some ledges to reach the pièce de résistance, the climb-out over a hokey metal ladder and then steps hewn into the limestone with a rope for handhold. Stepping out at the top we were met by a jeep to ferry us across the highway. It would not be good for hikers to be seen by either military or police happening to pass by while crossing the road. As mentioned earlier Egyptian officialdom is not in favor of individual tourism from which the powers that be do not receive a cut. And then there is the relationship between the Bedouin and the government which is marked by deep mutual distrust. ‘Nuff said.
The owner/driver of the jeep invited the group for chai, the unavoidable sweetened tea served in shot glasses. Absolutely nothing can be done without the consumption of tea. We moved on from this settlement to encounter the pre-historic buildings shown below.
Apparently nobody knows how old they are as no biological material was used in their construction which would allow for radiocarbon dating. These structures were built in an area where the rock weathers and forms plates of maybe 4-5 inches thickness,. These plates were assembled up to a height of about 5 feet in a circular fashion leaving a circular space on the inside. Then the plates were added such that their longitudinal axes are pointing inside and these plates were weighed down by placing additional rocks on the periphery of the walls. For the next layer up the plates would point even further into the inside and again be weighed down at the periphery so that eventually a roof is formed. These buildings had a single door, maybe four feet in height, and no other openings.
We moved on from this site to Gebel Barqa through an area of blindingly white sand that was severely windblown resulting in a very hard surface that was really easy to walk on.
Entry to wadi Saal (Photo credit MES)
Over the next couple of days we walked through a couple of rocky wadis over passes, through narrow slots between mountain ranges.
We passed by another small oasis that apparently is popular for wedding parties. Lots of graffiti and the location of one of the few seeps we saw:
In the back near the wall several areas were cordoned off with barbed wire and mesh fencing. Three masonry basins had been built, only one of which had water fed by the seep shown in the bottom picture.
As we continued we passed by two government-built dams used to collect water during flash floods. Owing to the low population density it apparently is not worth to pump the water to settlements. Instead the water gets stored in cisterns below ground and can be brought up by bucket and pulley to water animals. I don't think that this water is fit for human consumption.
Eventually we ended up at a quarry near the airport of St Katherine where our guides changed. One day later we also switched from being supported by a 4 x 4 vehicle to being supported by camel. The terrain was becoming more rugged and support by vehicle was no longer feasible. Camels can carry about 200 kg max per animal for extended periods of time if high quality feed is available. This translates to one camel per two hikers. Not that a hiker brings that much stuff, but water, fire wood, gear of all kind, feed for the camels and the weight of the camel driver add up.
Blue Valley
At the time that Israel turned the Sinai back to Egypt as had been negotiated under the Camp David accord, the Belgian artist Jean Verame approached the Israeli government about his idea to paint a stretch of the desert blue to mark the occasion. The Israelis demurred, but Egypt's president Anwar El Sadat gave him permission. This spot is called the Blue Desert and we walked past. Just as the sheen has come off the accord as it was not as game-changing for the Middle East as had been the hope, the art project has lost the luster it may once have had. The wind and the sand have blasted most of the paint off the rock and it flakes off in big patches. There is the occasional rock that is still quite brightly blue, but others only have patches of color left. The pictures below show examples of each.
(Photo credit:MES)
After crossing Blue Valley we crossed the pass that you seen the bottom photo above as the notch in the left quarter of the image. At the top we met our cameleers who would be supporting our hike for the next twelve days until we reached St. Katherine.
The top two photos show our dinner spot protected from the fierce wind by a giant rock that had come down the wall to the right. The bottom photo shows two guys with their camels walking by. I was erecting my tent and heard world music being played, apparently from a portable speaker. I first found it a bit strange, but then figured it's just like somebody driving their car with the windows turned down and playing music, loudly for the most part, of course.
We eventually hiked one long, narrow steep wadi where individuals had built walls in order to retain water. These locations would not be accessible to machinery hence no government action. These walls of maybe one yard width were constructed from local rock held together by cement. However, a wall (rather than a dam) built from local rock with a bit of cement holding the rocks together is no match for the power of the water in a flash flood. All the walls had been damaged by flowing water. Some of these walls had been built atop dryfalls with potholes below that of course were filled in with sand. The local wild donkeys were digging for water in these locations and we saw a few pools of water, severely fouled by donkey shit. Donkeys, just like cattle, apparently like to shit where they drink. Lower down there were gardens/orchards for which the water that the walls had been supposed to retain was likely intended.
We got to see the power of these flash floods a few days later. The rainy season had begun with sporadic and spotty rainfall. We were lucky in that we were not camping where the rain was at its heaviest, just a couple of hours of a good country rain. But in the next few wadis over a thunderstorm was raging.
Eventually we reached the oasis of Ein Kidd where Section 1 ended and two of our group left and a new person joined. We spent the night in Ein Kidd feasting on dates fresh from the tree and there was an unlimited supply of good, cool water that was being piped in from wells higher up in the valley.
Our camels and the local herd got into it a bit and one of ours was bitten.
Ein Kidd
Over the next three days we climbed through narrow wadis as we approached Mt. Katherine. One day we came out of a narrow wadi and happened on a Bedouin garden with evidence of "tomatoes" and "potatoes" having been grown there. Tomatoes are red and these "tomatoes" are bright red when they are blooming in Spring. They are commonly known as poppies or Papaver somniferum. The "potatoes" were another drug commonly referred to as "weed" or Cannabis sativa.
The owner of the patch and his gardener invited us into their shack for some tea and some rest in the shade. The gardener proceeded to bake a loaf of lebba for us to have with lunch. As we squeezed into the shack there was an overpowering smell weed and, sure enough, when one of us touched a curtain that separated off another compartment of the shack, as the curtain came down there were plastic bags of weed, weighed out and packaged carefully, ready for shipment.
The owner was dressed in an impeccably white abaya, the kaftan-like formal dress of Arabic men. Not small feat considering that all life takes place while sitting on the ground close to dirt and dust! While we were having lunch he prepared to leave and very carefully wrapped a kefiya around his head that again just looked impeccable. He surely was a businessman and not a mere farmer or peasant.
Our guides assured us that their tribe did not deal in drugs and it was "them other guys". We saw many more patches like that later in the hike, professionally managed with elaborate water works. All the protestations notwithstanding, something must be paying for all the pickup trucks we saw. It surely is not the subsistence agriculture and I very much doubt that the Egyptian government directs a great funding stream at the Bedouin.
Higher up in the valley we reached a likely abandoned orchard where we stayed for two nights in order to climb Omm Shomar, a mountain in the 2400 m range the next morning. Close by were the ruins of early Christian churches
The climb of Omm Shomar was great, first a walk across the typical rocky ground with baseball size rocks, then some scrambling over solid rock to a notch, then some more scrambling up to the summit with wide-ranging views over the Gulf of Suez.
From Mt. Katherine we descended to wadi Zabbatin which at its bottom features orchards and olive groves (zabbatin = olive). We stayed in a guest house attached to one of the olive groves. This place is owned/run by one of the few women who plies in the tourist trade we encountered during the entire trip. A very pleasant, well-built, and well-kept place.
This close to town there was a resupply opportunity and resupply meant there would be chicken dinner.
We next climbed a mountain on which an Egyptian general in the 1800's had planned to build a summer palace to escape the heat and disease in the Egyptian lowlands. Alas, he did not live along to see his plans come to fruition.
We hiked up two more mountains before we started to descend in direction of the town of St. Katherine. While the climbing of the mountains was straightforward, the descent had a few hairy spots which required "ropes", ropes in quotation marks as these ropes actually consisted of the PVC pipes that the Bedouin use to transfer water from the wells to their gardens and fields. So I had to put my misgivings about using ropes I had not installed myself aside, and even compromise on the quality of rope.
Another day or two later we made it to St. Katherine for a day off, just the typical town chores of cleaning, a bit of shopping and some sight seeing at the old monastery. We also said farewell to our guides of the past 16 days and to the cameleers.
Section 3 was about to start with a new guide team and was going to be supported by jeep again. We learned that we would not be hiking the route as originally conceived for section 3 since the police/army had cordoned off and was patrolling the area after an armed conflict had broken out between the local Bedouin and the police/army that had cost several people their lives.
As some of the photos from the peak of Mt. Catherine to the North showed, the terrain is still hilly, but not as mountainous and steep as the mountains around St. Katherine. The most enchanting thing in Section 3 was how obvious the geological features became as we hiked and how large scale they were. The Sinai peninsula was raised to above sea level by volcanic forces from below. As it rose, cracks formed in the existing plate which were filled in by lava. As a result one can see seams of dark to black lava rock running for miles. Owing to the lack of vegetation covering them up, they are obvious to someone without any geological training, such as yours truly.
Heading North from St Katherine
Pupa of an insect (Amicta Bagworm Moth (Amicta quadrangularis)) making these elaborate sheaths from the leaves of the ratam bush.
Eventually we reached Serabit Al Khadem, one of the large turquoise mines of ancient Egypt. There is a temple there and a cave in which likely the administrators did their work. Unfortunately, the guide was not knowledgeable about the site and I did not do my homework ahead of time as my signing up for this trip was kind of last minute.
From Serabit we went to a Bedouin camp where we said farewell to some of the group and one new person joined for the trip back to Nueiba. Almost by necessity the last few days partially overlapped with the path we had taken during the first section, but there were some variants we were able to explore. The historic highlights were sites of Nabatean inscriptions. The Nabateans were the culture that built Petra in Jordan, but the area that they dominated was much larger than that. There were also iinscriptions from Christian pilgrims on their way to St Katherine.
Nabatean graffiti, some 2000+ years old
Limonite and hematite lime stone in a colorful canyon
