Tourism in Hurghada is driven mostly by water: snorkelling, scuba diving and boat trips on the Red Sea are the most popular tourist activities and on the rare occasions that travellers aren't in the water, many spend most of their time by it on the beach. When the area tires them, trips to Luxor or Cairo are usually the next activity choices, with people travelling by car or bus on the roads and avoiding the arid desert altogether. These are the mistakes many holidaymakers in Hurghada make, as the desert itself has its own charm to reveal to steadfast travellers.
There are a number of methods you can use to get out into the sand of Hurghada's desert, with many choosing to enjoy a desert safari provided by tour operators in the area. These can be taken on quad bikes with a local tour guide, who will take you swooping up and down the dunes and tell you about the local history. For those more interested in seeing the life at the heart of the sand, hiring a guide with a jeep can be the quickest option, but there are also some tour guides who will offer camel rides for a fee. Whatever your choice, you'll eventually end up in the arms of the local Bedouin tribe.
The Bedouin are named after an Arabic term, "badyiah", meaning semi-arid desert, with Bedouin literally meaning "those who live in the badiyah" – the local dialect sees badiyah pronounced as badawai, which is how the name Bedouin came about. The Bedouin people live nearly exclusively deep in the desert and have historically reared camels, though many have turned to sheep in modern times. Each tribe of Bedouin is distinct from the next, but all have their own systems of justice and tribe members tend to regard each other as extended family. Although Bedouin tribes are normally quite isolated and mostly nomadic, a tribe outside Hurghada has constructed a permanent home in the desert and welcomes visits from travellers.
A visit to the Bedouin village is the perfect opportunity to see how these desert dwellers lived. Here you can learn all about how they craft their goods and feed their livestock in a seemingly empty wilderness and without modern tools, from tasks as simple as baking bread to how they farm the desert. You may also be lucky enough to be taken out on the camels that the tribe still rear, before settling down to watch the sun set on the desert with a traditional tea and Bedouin barbeque.
You can find more information on holidays to Hurghada and the rest of Egypt on this website.
There are a number of methods you can use to get out into the sand of Hurghada's desert, with many choosing to enjoy a desert safari provided by tour operators in the area. These can be taken on quad bikes with a local tour guide, who will take you swooping up and down the dunes and tell you about the local history. For those more interested in seeing the life at the heart of the sand, hiring a guide with a jeep can be the quickest option, but there are also some tour guides who will offer camel rides for a fee. Whatever your choice, you'll eventually end up in the arms of the local Bedouin tribe.
The Bedouin are named after an Arabic term, "badyiah", meaning semi-arid desert, with Bedouin literally meaning "those who live in the badiyah" – the local dialect sees badiyah pronounced as badawai, which is how the name Bedouin came about. The Bedouin people live nearly exclusively deep in the desert and have historically reared camels, though many have turned to sheep in modern times. Each tribe of Bedouin is distinct from the next, but all have their own systems of justice and tribe members tend to regard each other as extended family. Although Bedouin tribes are normally quite isolated and mostly nomadic, a tribe outside Hurghada has constructed a permanent home in the desert and welcomes visits from travellers.
A visit to the Bedouin village is the perfect opportunity to see how these desert dwellers lived. Here you can learn all about how they craft their goods and feed their livestock in a seemingly empty wilderness and without modern tools, from tasks as simple as baking bread to how they farm the desert. You may also be lucky enough to be taken out on the camels that the tribe still rear, before settling down to watch the sun set on the desert with a traditional tea and Bedouin barbeque.
You can find more information on holidays to Hurghada and the rest of Egypt on this website.
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