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. (more…)

Sports in Sinai

Biking
This sport is not very famous and practiced in Egypt and this for a few resons: first of all, the streets are very dangerous since cars are driving fast and sometimes it seems they drive without a notice. A bicicle “counts” less than a car, a car less than a bus etc. If you consider to drive through the desert with a mountain bike, it is possible.

In most places you will find sand that is not too soft, rather a bit stony, but be aware of several dangers. There are still land mines left and if you have problems with the bike, it might be a long way back to a good water place again. Also, deserts are commonly under-estimated in terms of their conditions. It is highly recommended to be well prepared.

Diving
Diving is probably the sport why most visitors come to Sinai. There is hardly places in the world where diving is more exciting than here. Because of its extraordinary significance, we have established pages with much deeper information. Please click here to dive into Sinai diving.

Golf
In South Sinai there are a few golf courses. The Jolie Ville Golf Resort is a 18 hole Championship Golf Course and is located approx. 5 km from Sharm El Sheikh. Soon, there will be a more detailed description of the golf facilities in Sinai.

Hiking
Sinai beares lots of the most breath-taking sceneries in the world. And, hiking is one of the best ways to experience this nature, and to admire the quality it holds. Although hiking is a sport which beginners seem to find simple and easy, yet there are some tips to be kept in mind in order to enjoy the hike along with the scenery.

Jogging
Jogging becomes a bit difficult in Sinai. However, it might be of interest to some enthusiasts to go very early in the morning when the sun is not too hot yet. The desert has a comfortable surface, but it should be highly recommmended to not leave the tracks. Land mines are not completely cleared yet and depending on where you go, there might still be uncleared areas. Trails been done by Beduine vehicles are mostly save though.

Climate of Sinai

Sinai’s weather is easy to summarize: it is very hot and dry. However, there are significant differences in temperature between day and night. Considering some mountains are over 2.000 meters high, the temperature might sometimes vary for more than 30°C.

Right travel time:
Because of the strong heat in summer time it may be recommmended to travel in spring or in autumn. March-April as well as September-October are probably the most pleasant times for traveling. Especially in spring time there is a clearer sky, more vegetation and and water will be found in the oasises. In winter (November-February) it does become colder, but sometimes it is still enough for swimming.

The summer is hot. However, for those who can cope with heat better than with cold, traveling to Sinai in summer time is still recommendable. This is especially true because there is hardly humidity to be expected. Besides, there are less tourists in that time, so that more individualism is secured.

Despite very warm and sunny weather throughout the whole year, in the desert it might become cold, especially in winter times. In higher areas it might even snow (e.g. St. Catherine), but only in the months of December to February. Considering this, people that are visiting colder areas should bring warm clothes as well.

Geology of Sinai

Sinai, the triangular-shaped peninsula of Egypt, is situated between Asia and Africa. The separation of the two continents caused the form and geographical shape of Sinai the way it looks today.

Sinai is approx. 380 km long (north - south) and 210 km wide (west - east). The surface area has an extension of 61.000 km², the coasts are streching about 600 km on the west and on the east. On the western part there is the Gulf of Suez (with the Suez channel) and the eastern part of Sinai brings up the much deeper Gulf of Aqaba. The sea in the Gulf of Suez measures approx. 80 meters only, while the profile of the Gulf of Aqaba goes down to approx. 1.830 meters. The latter is a part of the big land rift that extends until Kenya.

Big siesmic activity and the tremendous eruptive phenomena have given Sinai its characteristic looks. The highest mountains are the Gebel Musa (Moses’ mountain) with 2,285 metres, and the Sinai’s highest mountain Mount St. Catherine (Gebel Kathrina) with 2,642 metres. Many of the Pharaohs got their precious stones from the southern Sinai.

The west coast - reaching from Ras Mohammed to Taba - is filled with rich coral reefs sections, one after another. This under water paradise is giving ideal conditions for flora and marine fauna, and finally nowadays for divers.

The northern part of Sinai mainly consists of sandstone plains and hills. The Tih Plateau forms the boundary between the northern area and the southern mountainous with towering peaks.

History of Sinai

The Sinai was inhabited by the Monitu and was called Mafkat or Country of Turquoise. From the time of the First dynasty or before, the Egyptians mined turquoise in Sinai at two locations, Wadi Maghareh and Serabit el-Khadim. They were operated on and off on a seasonal basis for thousands of years. Modern attempts to exploit the deposits have been unprofitable. These may be the first known mines.

Modern history

The Mamluks of Egypt contolled the Sinai from 1260 to 1518, when the Ottoman Sultan, Selim the Grim, detroyed them at the Battles of Marj Dabiq and al-Raydaniyya. From then until the early 20th century, Sinai, as part of the Pashalik of Egypt, was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. In 1906 it became part of then British-controlled Egypt, when the Turkish government yielded to British pressure to hand over the peninsula.

The border imposed by the British runs in an almost straight line from Rafah on the Mediterranean shore to Taba on the Gulf of Aqaba. This line served as the eastern border of Sinai ever since, and is now the international border between Israel and Egypt.

In 1948, Egyptian forces passed through Sinai on their way to invade the newly-created state of Israel based on a United Nations mandate dividing the land between the Jews and the Christian and Muslim inhabitants. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Israeli forces entered the north-eastern corner of Sinai, but withdrew shortly after, following British and American pressure. Under the terms of the 1949 Armistice Agreement, Sinai, together with the Gaza Strip, remained under Egyptian control, although parts of it were demilitarized.

In 1956, Egypt used its control of Sinai to impose a blockade on the Israeli port of Eilat. Following this, Israeli forces, aided by Britain and France (which sought to regain control over the Suez Canal) invaded Sinai, and took control over the entire peninsula within several days (see Suez Crisis). Several months later, Israel withdrew its forces from Sinai, following strong American and Russian pressure. Following this, the United Nations Emergency Force, the UNEF, was stationed in Sinai to prevent any military occupation of the Sinai.

In 1967, Egypt reinforced its military presence in Sinai, renewed the blockade on Eilat, and on May 16 ordered the UNEF out of Sinai effective immediately. In response Israel initiated the Six-Day War in which, the Egyptian army was defeated, and Israel took control over the entire peninsula. The Suez Canal, whose east bank was now controlled by Israel, was closed.

Introducation of Sinai

The Sinai Peninsula is a triangle-shaped peninsula lying between the Mediterranean Sea (to the north) and Red Sea (to the south), located in Egypt and has an area of about 60,000 square kilometers. Its land borders are the Suez Canal to the west and the Israel-Egypt border to the north-east. The Sinai Peninsula is in Southwest Asia (also called West Asia - the more geographically accurate term for the Western term [esp. American usage] of Middle East) while the rest of Egypt is in North Africa. For geopolitical purposes, the Sinai is often considered part of Africa (as the rest of Egypt is).

The Sinai is almost entirely desert, but is settled along the Sabah coast at Taba (near the Israeli town of Eilat), where there is a hotel and casino. Moving southwards along the coast, there lie: Nuweiba, Dahab and Sharm el-Sheikh. The Sinai is also settled on the north coast near the Gaza Strip at El-Arish.

Jabal Musa, also called Mount Sinai, in the Sinai is biblically significant as it is the site where Moses received the Ten Commandments. A monastery situated at St. Catherine in the southern Sinai Peninsula claims to be the site of Biblical Mount Sinai, though historians and archeologists generally reject this as the site.
See Biblical Mount Sinai

The eastern boundary of the peninsula is a geological fault zone known as the Great Rift Valley, which can be seen from the upper Jordan River valley, extending southward through the Red Sea into Africa.