Safari, Hurghada

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Safari is word of swahili origins and it actually means "long journey", traditionally the term is used for a big-game hunt. This term is misused nowadays because every trip to Africa and around there is called safari. Fact is, safari is a trip taken to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.
There is so-called safari park in the outskirts of Hurgada, constructed there for one purpose only, to take money from the tourists and visitors. If you pay 100 euros they will take you to some fake village where just a few fake beduins could be seen.

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It is fun. The drive throughout the desert is amusing as the drivers often choose to drive up and down the rocky hills which generates some screams of the enjoyment. On your way you will stop to se fatarmogana ( for me the highlight of the trip ) than once again, to climb the sandy dune.
After you arrive in the village the beduin will meat you with cup of tea, than you can ride the camel, watch the women making the bread, buy the souvenirs (avoid that) , watch the sunset over desert (great)....
After you finish with the sightseeing, you will have the diner, Bedouin’s dance and sing show is the next.
On the return you will stop to watch the stars on the sky over desert.

Before you decide to take my advice about this excursion, please read about it in my tourist trap tip.

We had a guy, Mohammed, that taped every second of safari. It was amazing watching him hanging out from the jeep. I must say, that he was charming and while discussing of selling all the women from the group to the bedouin that keeps a "shop" in the village, he refused to sell me for 300 camels but Mohammed wanted to keep me for himself. I even got a "parfume" from him. It's a creme that smells like.... something, don't know what...I didn't know if I should be honnoured or scared... I don't mean just the parfume thing!

We took the CD from safari, but when we tried to open it, it was impossible. So, after two months we are still trieing to find a program that could be asociated with it :-)

I guess you can't have everything :-)

I liked safari very much. It was the first time that I actually saw the desert. Sure, Hurghada is in desert, but this is when you stand in the middle of nowhere. In a distance you see something and for a moment you think it's a lake, but than you realise that there is no such thing in this place. It's just your imagination playing with you. It's a shame that a camera can't capture that...

The two of us were amased with this sight. As far as you can see it's just sand and heat. This safari was the first place where I realized that "silence" is my favorite "sound". I am not very fond of loud and crowded places anymore. I guess that comes with age...

When I say SAFARI, the first thing that comes to my mind is Nigeria, giraffes, elephants and killing all those inocent animals. Well, safari in Egypt is totaly different.

It is something that you shouldn't miss. Imagine going to a desert.... Nothing but, well NOTHING.... That's why it's called a desert ( this was very clever statement :-)

My group was an experimental for our guide, and he took only 10 of us. He was supposed to pick us at 10 am and came at almost 11am. I think that you can see how pissed we were while waiting for him.

Water where there isn't any - this is what you'll experience on a hot day with no winds! And that's what we saw 1st when we went on our jeep safari. If you enlarge the picture hopefully you'll see what I'm taking about right above my head!

The motor saffaris trough the dessert to a Beduin village was really nice. It was fun going on the fourwheeled motorcykles (beware that you have to have your head and face covered with something!) and the visit to the Beduin village was really interessting. It's impressive how they manage to survive in the dessert!
The trip ended with a beautiful sunset before heading back home. Everything was taped and you could by the film on VHS or VCD. The quality was not really good and some anoying music was put onto it but it's kind of fun to have anyway.

Went for miles through the desert on quad bike, to the foot of the Red Sea Mountains. Had a Camel ride, saw the Bedouin camp, went to watch the sunset up a hillside, had a BBQ and then came back in the darkness and dust ! A wonderful experience !