Bedouin Excursion, Sharm El Sheikh

4 more images

A popular thing to do in Egypt is a Bedouin/Desert experience. I didn't go to Egypt with the intention of doing this but I'm really glad i did. We booked with our First Choice rep (our trip was called Stars and Dinner but I think some have different names and vary slightly).

We were picked up by a local tour company around 2pm. We piled from our individual mini buses onto a coach. The coach and our guide Alaa, then took us into the Sinai Desert.
We then took a 20 minute (or so) camel ride across the desert, guided by Bedouin people - many of them children which made me feel a little uncomfortable about but our guide told us that these people have already been paid with the money we paid for our trip. The camel ride was fun, at the end of it I took the photo of the little boy who guided my camel, standing next to my camel. He wanted money naturally, I gave him 10L.E. or something and the cheeky wotsit demanded more! I told him I had nothing more to give (we'd left our bags on the coach).

After the camel ride we sat in Bedouin tents and drank tea (that smelt like stuffing) and smoked apple shisha pipes while Alaa told us about Bedouin life. The Bedouins made flat bread over an open fire and some of the people on the tour helped out. Next we got to eat it! Yum yum!

After dinner an astronomer came and spoke to us about the stars. It was really interesting (the stars are so bright and clear in the desert) but an irritating child kept disrupting the astronomer - if you're going to bring your children on a trip like this make sure they behave because its not fair on the rest of us!!!! I don't know where this childs parents were! The astronomer then took us over to 3 telescopes he had set up where we in turn could view the milky way, the north star and jupiter!

The night ended with the Bedouin people selling handmade gifts (we bought some jewellery, a belly dance belt and a wooden camel) and a dance around the campfire! A very good night indeed!

(I may write a travelog about this later)

Hello all,

i was booked tours in the desert in sinai, it's bedouin dinner, i like it more than any desert trips..

Riding the camel it's very amazing and very good experince, i was scared from it, but after i ride it heheheh it was really something unforgettable.

pickup time from this tour around 04:00 pm. transfer to the desert by air condition van and for 30 min.

Start your trip by riding the camel for around 1 hour untill you reach the bedouin tent.
in the bedouin tent u really can feel the real bedouin life, the mountain, desert, tent, camel and sunset are things u can't feel or do at any another place.

Youu stay in the tent to drink the welcome drink, bedouin tea, then the dinner.
After the dinner u stay to show the belle dancing and then u'll move to closed area to see the stars from telescope and the professional guide will start to explain to u everything about stars and how u can know the directions.

After finish around 08:00 pm u'll transfer back to your hotel.

dont forget to take scarf with u and flat shose.

1 more image

We went on the Bedouin night on the saturday evening of our trip. We were picked up around 6:30, and driven into the Sinai Desert for about 30 minutes, just as the sun was going down, which was lovely. The guide on the bus was great too, really friendly and very funny!

When you arrive, you're given a welcome drink, then you can grab a seat (we chose to sit on the cushions on the ground, which have covered palm trees as bolsters!). We were then treated to a great egyptian/middle eastern buffet dinner (3 courses), and the food was great; very, very nice indeed.

Then the entertainment starts. It's belly dancers, egyptian dancers, and a whirling dervish, which was amazing to watch. The bedouin guys are there with a camel, which you can ride for E£5.00, and they have shisha pipes also, which are E£10 to hire for the evening.

At the end of the night, we were meant to be able to see the stars, but the night we went the sky was cloudy, so we didn't see any. The night though is well worth it, and we had a great time.

The day started out in the van and having the pleasure of seeing the sunset in the desert. Seated next to me, I realized halfway through the trip was a security guard (he was really funny and cool, talked arabic to me, and teased me about girls, which was okay because he let me see his sub machine gun!!), which explained why when we picked up the english girls, he poked his head out the door and asked them where the disco is. lol jokes! I think the girls kind of scared.lol Anyway, good thing we had him because otherwise the camels sleeping, and bedouins travelling during the night i saw may have took advantage...We drove for a good half an hour through bumpy desert! felt like i was on a camel. Ah! We finally reached the camp!it was beautiful!

although you are under the tent, but just a simple leaning back and you will the see the beautiful sky. look ahead and you will see the desert mountain with a constellation of lights. really elegant and fantastic thought. The Bedouin tents are very gypsy-like and relaxing. they are made for lounging like an arab sultan with nice pillows and low tables.

We were treated delicous arabic food like kebab, diced salad (tabouli), and humous from Bedouins themselves! As i was digging in, i realized i was taking food from the same bedouin gentlemen from the atv trip. And it was his pleasure to serve me and told me to take more! afterwards i got to smoke some shisha water pipe
There was a fantastic show with belly dancing, and traditional egyptian folk dancing with a stick and circular carpet, etc. Very Entertaining! It culminated in everyone dancing.

The whole time i sat next to a really kind syrian man who was on a trip with his mother! he even offered me a ride to alexandria. Overall the night was fantastic; great food, great show, intiimate seating makes you meet strangers, and at the end of the night, we dropped off the security guard in the middle of street lol, then went on our merry way ready for sleep.

The Bedouin Feast is well worth the £30 per person. It starts just after sunset & you get driven into the desert where the Bedouin men & women cook a traditional Egyptian feast, with lots to choose from including meat, fish, rice, pasta, salad & a nice stew which i took a liking to. You also get a dessert & some herbal homemade tea.

You sit in a Bedouin tent & they tell you about the life in the desert & about there family & friends, camels & horses & other traditional Egyptian things.

They also offer Shisha to everyone & you can enjoy a nice hot drink too. Then a man takes you out into the dark desert to take a look at the constalation of Orions belt & tells you all about the moon & stars & shows you the different shapes. Then you take it in turns to look through a telescope to show you the different planets. Its really amazing & i recommend this to anyone.

Dinner with the Stars - takes you on a trip into the dessert, travelling approx 1 hour.
On arrival at a Bedouin camp, you are taken to watch the sunset over the mountains, after being taken to a Bedouin tent to drink hebal tea, smoke a water pipe, hear how they live, then feasting on a bbq before being taken a short walk to sit and listen to a man tell you all about the stars and planets. He points them out with a powerful torch, before letting you look through a very powerful telescope, also taking photos through the lens if you have a digital camera. Truly amazing!