Desert of Sinai

Desert is something that most people would associate with boring and lifeless matters. In fact, people who have ever been to the Sinai are convinced of the very contrary.

The predominating landscape of Sinai is desert. It extremely varies in both color and form, an exeptional mineral universe being formed in millions of years (see geology) in which nature has created splendid, singular sculptures out of the rock. Next to sand you find limestone, crystalline rock, sandstone, and vulcanic rocks.

Colors rank from light white via yellow and red to dark black. The combination of these colours seen against the dark blue of the mostly cloudless sky is a breath-taking experience every minute. Especially in the mornings (6-9 a.m.) and in the evenings (4-6:30 p.m.) the sun is giving an intense light that illuminates the desert in the most beautiful photo scene. Photographers find a perfect time to capture the most marelous atmosphere.

The Sinai desert is quite arid due to the meager rainfall and the fast evaporation caused by the high daytime heat. It beares a complex ecosystem with different types of plants that have adapted to this difficult environment. Even a heterogeneous fauna is part of this desert including wild foxes, goiats, rodents, gazelles reptiles, raptors and various insectivores.

Most parts if the peninsula is rocky and mountainous, with some sandy streches. These sandy areas are mostly located in the central Tih Plateau and were created by the pulverization of the rocks my meteors.

The mass of the rocks in the Sinai peninsula is cut by amazing valleys, the so called wadis. They are mostly parallel and can be dozens of kilometers long while hundreds of meters wide. On the other hand, sometimes these wadis are so weakly developed that they may be merely crevices in the rock. Wadis basically are fossil beds of rivers that run through the region in the Quaternary Era (some 1,8 mil. years ago). At that time there was much more rainfall which deeply eroded the rock beds.

To the right, a massive sand dune located in Ras Mohamed, south Sinai. Nice to be seen the small waves on each side of the dune, naturally formed by the wind.