We arrived in Cairo at 4am and decided to drive our rental car straight to the pyramids and the sphinx so we could get out bearings and avoid the majority of the traffic. It wasnt until we drove through Cairo later in the day that we could fully comprehend what “Cairo Traffic” really meant – 5 cars across on a two lane road, swerving and pulling out at random, the constant flashing of lights and beeping and honking of horns (meaning any of hurry up, get out of the way, I`m behind/beside/infront of you, I`ve seen you, what are you doing, or watch out for the whole in the road), not to mention the donkeys pulling carts the wrong way down the road!! Complete chaos, but somehow it (mostly) works.
The pyramids and amazing! It is impossible to imagine just how they did it. Some of the stones are 10 metres long – hard to move on the ground, let alone stacking them 50m up! We went inside Cheops`s pyramid through a narrow tunnel and gangway like steps up. The internal room for his tomb is a perfect rectangle with a surprisingly high ceiling and well polished stones. We waited patiently for other people to come and go and were rewarded with the entire pyrimid to ourselves. The silence was wonderful but even more incredible was making ommmmmmmmm noises and listening to the sound resonating around the room. Very very cool!!
We left the big city and started making our way east across the desert. Our first stop was Ismailia beside the Suez Canal. We stayed at New Palace Hotel – its been a long time since it was either new or a palace but the beds were comfy, the water hot, and the Egyptian breakfast delicious. For dinner we ate our first real falafel at a tiny street-side joint (yummy and all of NZ $1) and had a laugh in Egypt-glish with the local fruit seller – it was great to be off the beaten track.
From there we headed south-east under the Suez Canal to St. Katherine, via the Holy Oasis. The oasis was just as you would expect yet still so surprising to come across lush green palm trees after hundreds of kilometres of blowing desert sand.
When we arrived in St. Katherine it was snowing and freezing cold in the wind so after stumbling upon a Beduoin camp we decided to stay. We then spent the next 8 hours around the camp fire in a make-shift blanket tent sharing stories, jokes and card tricks with the locals mixed with some drumming and singing and much drinking of hot sweet tea.
We squeezed in a few hours sleep and by 3 am we were walking up the holy Mt. Sinai / Mt. Musa ( where it is thought God delivered the 10 commandments to Moses). It was very windy and very cold (from -4 at the bottom to -8 at the top) so we were thankful for all our gear – particularly our new windproof balaclavas. We trekked up the camel track by moonlight and returned by the 3750 Steps of Repentance. We snuggled into our sleeping bags at the top for sunrise – a beautiful mix of clolour, swirling clouds, blowing snow, glowing moon, shining stars, and glimpses of the bright suinlight. The mountain was much less busy than we had been led to expect and breaks in the faithful, the weather, and the clouds allowed for wonderful views and a peaceful time together.
Then it was time to hit the beach! We stopped briefly in Dahab for more falafel before finding a beautiful Beduoin lodge with grass huts right on the beach at Shark`s Bay.
Friday it was finally starting to warm up and we had an awesome day boat diving at Ras Mohammed National Park. The coral reef was truly amazing and teeming with wildlife – the colours, the patterns, the shapes all so different but all so beautiful.
Our last few days on Sinai Peninsula were spent inside Ras Mohammed National Park. We hired wetsuits so we were able to spend hours snorkelling on the reefs close to the shore. We chose four different locations and each revealed something special – garden eels, eagle and blue-spotted rays, pufferfish, jellyfish, giant clams, lionfish, and fish and corals in so many colours. Amazing! Amazing! Amazing! We camped beside the sea so saw lovely sunrises and sunsets and it felt like we had the whole National Park to ourselves.
The last couple of days we have made our way back to Cairo and taken in more of the markets, crazy streets, and the kindness of the Egyptian people. We have throughly enjoyed our time here and have some very special memories. Tonight we are flying to Nairobi in Kenya but will take a shuttle straight to Tanzania to avoid any conflict. We start climbing Mt Kilimanjaro on Friday and it will hopefully take us 6 days – wish us luck!!!
