Sinai or the Sinai peninsular is the ancient, holy and mystical land. A place with a special atmosphere – Egypt and not Egypt at the same time, the place where the continents meet, the gate from Africa to Asia, the bridge between the Mediterranean and Red seas. Here during 40 years Moses went with his people was looking for the Canaan, here the Egyptian pharaohs made the “way of God Chorus”,  here the Romans and Nabate laid their desert road from east to west which after was used my Muslims setting on a pilgrimage to Mecca..

Sinai is the nature shield protecting Egypt. The mountains are rather a desert. But just this lonely majesty does the Sinai captivatingly beautiful. The mysterious land hardly touched by the civilization, keeping its romantic secrets. Though the land of Sinai has been opened up by the ancient Egyptians as far back as the first Pharaoh dynasty now the peninsular is populated mostly by a few number of Bedouin families, that for living breed goats and sheep. Only the seaside resorts are full of life, the desert is practically uninhabited.

The narrow bridge connecting Sinai with Africa, the Suez channel, is an excellent example of modern engineering idea. Its building was completed in 1869 and since then it was often an issue especially when in 1967 it was blocked because of was with Israel

The atmosphere here is more liberal than in the rest of Egypt. The seaside attracts tourist from all parts of earth with different levels of income.

Geography

In comparisons with the rest territory of Egypt, Sinai is located not in Africa but in Asia on the boarder with Israel. Sinai peninsular starts right after the Suez channel 120 km away from Cairo and is divided into North and South Sinai. The peninsular from the west is surrounded by the Suez gulf, from the east by the Aqaba gulf. The north part is a desert plateau; the mountains in the south are formed by crystal rocks having different shades from bluish and greenish to red-brown. The famous Sinai desert located from peaky mountains in the South to the central plateau At-Tih and till the sandy dunes in the North has become the object of constant attention of tourists. Visitors like to travel Sinai on camels, tourist buses or cars. The historical monuments, the Coptic monasteries, little villages the inhabitants of which leave the same way as their ancestors hundreds of years before turn tours round Sinai in to a travel in time and space. The mineral wealth, concealing oil and minerals have been attracting humans since the time of Ancient Egypt.

Unbelievably beautiful coral reefs and the rich sea flora and fauna without any effort will explain the fact why the South coast of Sinai is considered one of the best places for diving. Here in the South the landscape reminds the moon – granite mountains with the Moses mountain (according to the Bible – the Horeb mountain), mountains of St.Catherine, Serbal and Umm Shumar mountains, where the children of Israel were wandering 33 centuries before.

Flora and Fauna

In the Sinai peninsular there are 3 national reserved areas – Ras Mohammed, Nabq and Ras Abu Galum. All the parks are protected according to the program developed by the Egyptian government in 1983. Here it is forbidden to build hotels and just the less part of the parks is opened for visiting.

Ras Mohammed park is based in the south part of the peninsular. Here 5 ecosystems are presented: desert, lagoon, coastline, coral and sea. In the south part of the park the Ras Mohammed cape rises 60 meters above the sea level. To the west from the cape you can see mangrove trees that are special by the fact that they nourish from the salty sea water.

Park Nabq is the larges park in the Sinai, its territory is 600 squared meters. It is situated 35 km from Sharm El Sheikh. Announced a protected area in 1992 Nabq became a part  of Ras Mohammed national park. The coast line leads to the Aqaba gulf from where you can see the Tiran island. The underwater world here is extremely rich with coral reefs. But the most interest here are plants that count over 130 types. The most widespread one is the mangrove tree. Only in Nabq park there is a whole Mangrove grove. The park is considered an ideal place for walks. A small park Ras Abu Galum is situated between Dahab and Nuweiba. It is unique in the fact that here you can see jagged mountain contour colored in to gold tones and wide lines of beaches with bright sand. The flora of this park is richer than in Nabq because here freshwater sources that give life to 165 types of plants are situated.

Interesting natural phenomenons in Sinai are the thermal springs. The well known are “the Moses” spring or Uun Musa. According to the bible legend when the Prophet Moses was taking the Israeli children out of the Egyptian captivity they took the way through the seabed of the Red Sea, getting tired and wanting to drink, Moses 5 times hit the ground with his stave and in these places the springs appeared. 130 km south there is Hamam Pharaoh and more south – next to Tor town – the “Moses baths” are situated. All these springs are used by locals for centuries to cure rheumatism and arthritis

Ecology

The wonderful Sinai coast line is on the edge of an ecological disaster. Overwhelmed by tourists, fishing, and urbanization of the coast line leave little chance to preserve this unique corner of the world. According to the scientists estimates the most part of the reefs will disappear within the nearest decade.

There are lots of reasons why the corals die. First of all sand getting on the corals, vandalism of tourists, the temperature of the water and its acidity going higher. Most of all the threat comes because of the jeeps that destroy the thin layer of rocks and lichen what leads to soil erosion increasing the number of sand storms brining tons of sand and dust into the sea. The sand brought by the wind or lifted from the sea bottom by the divers’ fins blocks the corals pores what kills the coral. At first looking harmless feeding of coral fishes changes their ration this way braking the ecological balance. Bloom of water, increasing population of sea stars eating the corals – this is just the least of the consequences of such disbalance.

Littering the coast line within the last years has gained catastrophic sizes. The reasons of plastic litter are not only those staying on the beach but as well those who dump the garbage from boats and ships.

If you are not indifferent to the future of the underwater world of Sinai, please, read the information about the Ok Club environmental policy.

Population

The predominate population of Sinai are Bedouins who nowadays have switched to settled and partly settled way of life. However they continue to stick to the traditions of their families, first of all being hospitable. Women do very nice decorations out of beads and weave carpets out of colorful wool. But the main is that the Bedouins are marvelous guides. Without them you would hardly see all those nature beauties that are far away from the highways.

Sightseeing

St. Catharine’s monastery

One of the most interesting things to see for tourists in the Sinai is the St. Catharine’s monastery that is situated at the height of 1570 meters in the valley between the Moses’, Catherine’s and Safsafa mountains. The monastery was built during the reign period of the Byzantine emperor Justinian (527-565 years.). For protection from the constant attacks of nomadic tribes the monastery in 537 became a fortress.

The founder of Islam the Prophet Mohammed, Arabic caliphs, Turkish sultans and even Napoleon patronized the monastery and this helped to prevent it being plundered. After Egypt becoming Islamic in the X century on the territory of the monastery a mosque was built – this clever step allowed to avoid the monastery being ruined. During all its long history the monastery was never seized, ruined or even damaged.

On the territory the Burning Bush grows in the flames of which, according to the Old Testament, God first time appeared to Prophet Moses. In 324 the mother of emperor Constantine Elena commanded to build a chapel in the place of the burning bush.

For centuries the monastery of St. Catherine was a place of traditional pilgrimage of Russian people. Here there are a lot of Russian icons, ancient books, bells and items of church plates. During the last years this almost forgotten tradition of pilgrimage has started to revive.

The real name of St. Catherine was Dorothy. She was born in 294 in Alexandria. The beautiful daughter of wealthy parents she never knew lack of men’s attention. She got good education: fluently spoke several languages, studied philosophy, astronomy, poetry, music and mathematics. A Syrian monk told her about Jesus Christ and converted her in to Christianity. When she tried to convert into Christianity the Roman Emperor Maximian, he sent her to Alexandria where in 305 she suffered martyrdom. After the execution the body of Catherine disappeared. About 3 centuries later monks of the monastery built by Justinian following the vision climbed up the highest in Sinai mountain and found the remains of Catherine there. They brought them down and placed in a golden reliquary in the church. Since then the highest mountain in the Sinai has the name of St. Catherine. The story of the death of martyr of Saint Catherine in Europe was told by the crusaders, since then it was honored as holy.

Among the labyrinth of the monastery’s buildings three-aisled basilica stands out.  The building of it started in 542 and was finished in nine years. The chapel of the burning bush became part of the church.

The apse of the church is decorated with a gorgeous mosaic showing the Transfiguration of Christ.  This is the earliest and one of the best mosaics of orthodox church that has reached our days in the original state. All its artistic style is close to the Italian school of that period, especially to the mosaics in the St. Vitals church and in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople.

The Chapel of the burning bush is behind the sanctuary of the main church. The bush is growing just a couple of meters aside the chapel. It has been transplanted a side to give a chance to build the altar over its roots. This is the only bush of this kind in the Sinai peninsular and neither of the attempts to plant the same kind in any other place ended with success.

In the monastery there is a gallery of icons and a library. There are 150 out of the total 2000 icons from the unique monastery’s collection presented. They carry an exceptional spiritual, artistic and historical value. Twelve oldest and rarest icons have been created in the VI century with wax paints.

In terms of quantity and value the library of the monastery trailing only Vatican. Out of 3000 manuscripts 2/3 are written in Greek. The rest in Arabic, Syrian, Coptic and Slavic languages.

The access to the monastery is open every day from 9 to 12. Usually tourists are shown just the front part of the church and the Burning bush. However the monks have a special attitude towards orthodox. They have a chance to see the Chapel of the Burning bush and the monastery’s library. Because the monastery is situated 1570 meters above the sea level  it’s not hot in summer here, but much colder in winter than on the coast line. When you visit the monastery your clothes should be simple and unobtrusive, it is well known, that a woman should cover her head when she is inside the church. Both men and women better visit the monastery with long sleeves clothes. It is not allowed to enter the territory in shorts and non-sleeve shirts, those who are not aware of these rules may wear long glabee, that can be found on the wracks near monastery’s entrance.

Not far from the monastery there is a little town called Saint Catherine, the main aim of its citizens is to serve the numerous foreign tourists. There are several hotels, restaurants and shops build for them.

Moses Mountain

The mountain Sinai or the Moses mountain how the Egyptians call it is 2285 meters high. Gebel-Musa where God gave Moses the tables of the ten Commandments is the main “power place” in the Sinai. At the foot of the mountain the orthodox monastery of St. Catherine is based. Climbing the Moses mountain taking the main route on foot takes about 3 hours, but the Bedouins with camels will still follow you and wait till you get tired. The best is to go at night to meet the sunrise at the top and return before it becomes too hot. The scene is very captivating: lots of people with torches and camels going up from a distance looking like one big fire zigzag.  At Mondays the monastery is closed and there are no pilgrims there. When going down it is better to take the Moses path – a picturesque route consisting out of 4000 rock steps built by the monks, on the way you can have a short rest n an a small oasis.

Colored canyon

The Colored Canyon is 1 hour of drive from Nuweiba. It is one of the most popular places for excursions in the Sinai. Its length is about 700 meters. This is a unique part of nature with “moon” scenes. Narrow and quite deep (about a hundred meters) the canyon amazes with the unexpected play of forms and colors. Moving on the sandy bottom of the canyon you need to pass a couple of quite narrow places. The trip along the dry wash of a river with walls well smothered by the wind and colored with sedimentary of different colors and tones leaves unforgettable memories.

Pharaohs Island

An interesting historical monument situated not far away from Taba. This is a rocky island near the north end of the Aqaba gulf was as if created by nature intentionally to make a border post. And it was there during the Pharaohs reigns and in the XII century Saladin built a fortress on the island. Now it has become a museum

Red Sea

The Red sea – the inner sea of the Indian ocean is situated between the Arabian peninsular and Africa in a tectonic crack. This is one of the warmest and saltiest seas.

No one for sure knows why it has its name. There are a couple of guesses. One is prosaic: the Red sea was named so because of the seaweeds that in the season color the water into red-brownish color. The second is more romantic: there is a legend that goes back to the Bible’s times. It says about the hard trip of the Jewish from Egypt to Israel. Their way was through the Red Sea, Moses who guided them commanded from the name of God the water of the sea to step a side, opening the rocky bottom full of cracks and canyons passing which a lot of people, most probably, died, giving the name to the Red sea.

The Red Sean washes the shores of Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Israel and Jordan.

In the north the Red sea connects with the Mediterranean through the Suez channel, in the south by the Bab El Mandeb strait with the Arabian sea.

The peculiarity of the Red sea is in the fact that not a single river flows in to the sea, and rivers usually carry sand with their water lowering the visibility in the water. That is why the water in the Red sea is crystal clear.

The climate here is warm and dry, the temperature of air in the coldest period (December to January) during the day is about 20-25 degrees and in the hottest month, August, is round 35-40 degrees. Due to the hot climate near the Egyptian coastline the water temperature even during winter doesn’t go lower than 20 degrees and during summer reaches 27 degrees.

The Red sea is quite young. Its formation started about 40 million years ago, when the Earth’s crust gave a crack and the East-African faultcrack appeared. The Africa’s continental plate separated from the Arabian and between them a gap was formed that gradually over centuries was being filled with sea water. The plates move constantly that is why rather even shores of the Red sea move sides apart with the speed approximately 10mm a year or 1 meter a century.

In the north of the sea there are two gulfs: Suez (the depth of it is down to 80 meters) and Aqaba or Eilat (depth down to 1800 meters)

About the sea exotics of the Red sea there are legends. In terms of quality and range of corals, flora and fauna there is nothing equal in the Northern hemisphere. The tourist boom that started within the last years on the Egyptian coast of the Red sea is mostly connected with the unique and rich underwater world of this closest to Europe tropical sea, with the popularization of diving.

Here you can meet fish, mammals, reptiles, invertebrates – dolphins, turtles, morays, sharks, eels, coral fish and all kinds of erinaceous. The reefs with corals excite the mind with their beauty         .

Resorts

Sinai offers a wide range of resorts for any taste and income, for family, quiet and calm or active holidays.

You are attracted by well developed infrastructure and abundance of entertainment or you are looking for a respectable holiday with your family – go to Sharm El Sheikh, a resort that will offer you a wide range of services in the entertainment industry and excursions.

If you prefer active style of holidays, want start diving, snorkeling, kiting or windsurfing – Dahab, Taba, Nuweiba – small, cozy and calm towns in the Aqaba gulf will be perfect. Their underwater world will open you its untouched reserved beauty and the wind rose will allow you to enjoy the speed and drive under the sail.