NORTHEAST EGYPT (Suez, Ismailia, Port Said, Sharqia)
The monasteries of the Arab Desert and Wadi Natrun. Tentative WHS (28/07/2003)
Two citadels in Sinai from the Saladin period (Al-Gundi and Phataoh’s island). Tentative WHS (28/07/2003). Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty (1174-1260 Egypt, Syria and Upper Mesopotamia), in 1171 ended the Shiite Fatimid caliphate in Cairo (979-1171), to re-establish Sunnism in Egypt and obtained the investiture from the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad.
On 5th July 1187, after the famous battle of Hattin, he regained Jerusalem from the Crusaders. The Crusaders occupied Syria and Palestine from 1098 to 1291 and when they controlled Ascalon in 1153, the last Fatimid bastion in Palestine, the way to the country of the Nile was left open.
Saladin controlled Egypt (1171) and had built one of the biggest citadels in the world in Cairo in 1166. Two citadels were repaired:
Al-Gundi where some ruins are still left 20 km from the Suez-Taba route in the open Sinaï desert. It occupies a strategic position between the two gulfs, Suez and Aqaba along the land route for trade, pilgrimage and military purposes. It is built on a steep, 285 m high escarpment, difficult to climb especially on the northern and north-western side. Water came from the Ayn Sadr.
Pharaoh’s island fortress in the middle of the Gulf of Aqaba and was occupied by the Crusaders. It is surrounded by a 2 m thick wall reinforced at regular intervals with square and round towers. There are three underground cisterns, all in a perfect state of conservation. It controlled the traffic between the three banks of the Gulf of Aqaba; from the north coming from Palestine and Syria, from the east from the Arab Peninsula and from the west from Sinaï and from Egypt.
When the Crusades came to an end (1291) and a pilgrims’ road was built passing through Eilat, it seems to have lost its importance and may even have been abandoned. Today the tall walls flanked by still well preserved towers, with a rampart and battlements,
African Cities
ISMAILIA
SUEZ CANAL. An artificial sea-level waterway connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. In 1858, Ferdinand de Lesseps formed the Suez Canal Company and construction from 1859 to 1869. It reduced the journey from the Arabian Sea to London by approximately 8,900 kilometres (5,500 mi), or 8 days at 24knts. The canal extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. Its length is 193.30 km (120.11 mi) including its northern and southern access-channels. In 2020, more than 18,500 vessels traversed the canal (an average of 51.5 per day).
The original canal featured a single-lane waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass and the Great Bitter Lake. It contained no lock systems, with seawater flowing freely through it. In general, the water in the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez.
While the canal was the property of the Egyptian government, European shareholders, mostly French and British, owned the concessionary company which operated it until July 1956, when Nasser nationalized it—an event which led to the Suez Crisis of October–November 1956. The canal is operated and maintained by the state-owned Suez Canal Authority (SCA) of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used “in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag. Nevertheless, the canal has played an important military strategic role as a naval short-cut and choke point. Navies with coastlines and bases on both the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea (Egypt and Israel) have a particular interest in the Suez Canal. After Egypt closed the Suez canal at the beginning of the Six-Day War on 5 June 1967, the canal remained closed for precisely eight years, reopening on 5 June 1975.
The Egyptian government opened in 2015 and expansion and widening of the Ballah Bypass for 35 km (22 mi) to speed up the canal’s transit-time. The expansion intended to nearly double the capacity of the Suez Canal, from 49 to 97 ships per day.
PORT SAID (pop 603,787 2010).
In north east Egypt extending 30 kilometres (19 mi) along the coast of the Mediterranean north of the Suez Canal. The city was established in 1859 during the building of the Suez Canal.
There are numerous old houses with grand balconies on all floors, giving the city a distinctive look. Port Said’s twin city is Port Fuad, which lies in Asia and connected by free ferries. The only other metropolitan area in the world that also spans two continents is Istanbul.
Port Said acted as a global city since its establishment and flourished particularly during the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century when it was inhabited by various nationalities and religions. Most of them were from Mediterranean countries, and they coexisted in tolerance, forming a cosmopolitan community.
St. Therese Church
Casa d’Italia. Modern Architecture Buildings. This striking modernist building is adorned with a large inscription in the centre, declaring in Italian,
IN THIS HOUSE OF ITALY
BUILT ON THE FAITH
AND LOVE OF THE HOMELAND
THE MILLENARY ESSENCE OF THE COUNTRY
THE CULT OF DANTE
LIVES ON WITH THE WORK OF ITALIAN INSTITUTIONS
THE SHINING TRADITION OF THE TRIPLE VICTORY
UNDER THE GLORIOUS SHIELD OF SABAVDO
IS THE ANIMATING POWER OF ROME
ONCE AGAIN AT THE HEART OF AN EMPIRE
XXVIII OCTOBER MCMXXXVIII – XVI
REIGNING VITTORIO EMANUELE III
LEADER OF FASCISM AND HEAD OF THE GOVERNMENT
BENITO MUSSOLINI
FOUNDER OF THE EMPIRE
However, Italy’s plans did not materialize and it was promptly closed from the outset of the Second World War. After a brief stint as a British military hospital then, it has largely remained empty and closed to this day. While still the property of the Italian state, Italy has rejected plans to turn it into a cultural centre due to the fascistic pronouncement that is still placed on the front of the building,
Port Said Lighthouse. Completed in 1869, one week prior to the inauguration of the Suez Canal, the lighthouse was built to guide ships passing through the canal. The lighthouse has an octagonal shaped tower that is 56 m high.
French architect François Coignet used the novel technique of building the lighthouse out of reinforced concrete. The lack of nearby stone quarries and the cost of importing stone from elsewhere caused those in charge of construction to become interested in the use of concrete. The lighthouse was constructed by layering liquid 20 – 25 cm in thickness. To ensure the structural cohesion of the whole, iron wall ties were inserted. The use of concrete was doubly innovative: employed as a distinct material, not merely a substance for filling, and strengthened with metal rods. Quite simply, reinforced concrete had been invented. The use of electric light (powering an arc lamp) made it possible to display a consistent flashing light and it was a state of the art lighthouse at the time.
Nothing of the original Port Said infrastructure remains except for the lighthouse. The buildup of silt along the coast of the port has left the lighthouse inland, where it can no longer serve its original purpose of guiding ships.
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THE SINAI
Saint Catherine Area. World Heritage Sites (Officially Sacred Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai). An Eastern Orthodox monastery located on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai, near the town of Saint Catherine, Egypt.
It stands at the foot of Mount Horeb (Jebel Musa) where Moses received the Tablets of the Law. The entire area is sacred to three world religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The Monastery, built between 548 and 565, is the oldest Christian monastery still in use for its initial function. Its walls and buildings of great significace to studies of Byzantine architecture and the Monastery houses outstanding collections of early Christian manuscripts (world’s oldest continually operating library has many unique books such as the Codex Sinaiticus until 1859) and icons. The rugged mountainous landscape, containing numerous archaeological and religious sites and monuments, forms a perfect backdrop to the Monastery.
Tentative WHS
Dahab. Tentative WHS (01/11/1994). El Mshraba hill 5km from North Dahab 5 Km excavations have found a lighthouse inside a great fort with Byzantine foundations, a great wall, many used rooms, wells and stores rooms. The anchorage in the old part of Dahab dates from 6th-5th century.
El-Gendi Fortress. Tentative WHS (01/11/1994). Located in the southern Sinai, it was originally constructed by Saladin in 1183 AD, the large fortress includes defensive towers, mosques, residential structures, and defensive ditches surrounding the site.
Mountain Chains. Tentative WHS (12/06/2003). see below
Newibah Castle. Tentative WHS (01/11/1994). A castle located in the eastern Sinai built in 1893 on top of the remains of a still older castle dating back to the Ayoubid period .
Sandwiched between the Sinai mountains and the Gulf of Aqaba, and is 150 km north of Sharm el Sheikh, 465kms southeast of Cairo and 70 km south of the Israel–Egypt border separating Taba and Eilat. Nuweiba Port (1985) on the Gulf of Aqaba has a ferry between Jordan and Egypt.
North Sinai archaeological Sites Zone. Tentative WHS (01/11/1994). The Mediterranean coastal strip of North Sinai between the Suez canal and Ghaza was the most important land bridge linking Egypt and Canaan from predynastic times onward.
These well-traveled highways carried the military expeditions of the Egyptian pharaohs on their way to Canaan and Asia as well as the invading arms of Persia, Greece and Rome.
Pharaoh Island. Tentative WHS (01/11/1994). An island in the northern Gulf of Aqaba 200 meters off the shore. It is 350 metres long and up to 170 metres wide covering 3.9 hectares (9.6 acres). Some scholars identify this island port with the biblical Ezion-Geber.
In the early 1160s, the Crusaders allegedly built a castle on Pharaoh’s Island and in 1170, Saladin conquered the island and reconstructed the citadel. In 1181, and attempted naval blockade was not successful. In the 13th century, it was a fishing village The Mamluk governor of Aqaba lived in the citadel until 1320.
Because of its location near Jordan and Israel, the island and its coral reefs have become a popular sightseeing attraction.
Ras Mohammed. Tentative WHS (22/01/2002). National park at the southern extreme of the Sinai Peninsula with the Gulf of Suez to the west and the Gulf of Aqaba to the east.
In 1983, a marine reserve was established to protect against urban sprawl from Sharm El Sheikh, 10kms away, and other coastal development. It consists of 135 km2 of land and 345 km2 of water. The park has two islands 6 km offshore, underwater caves , a mangrove forest and desert habitat with mountains, wadis, gravel and coastal mud plains and sand dunes. Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef are popular areas of coral reef in the park for divers. Others are South Bereika, Marsa Ghozlani, Old Quay, and Shark Observatory. The wreckage of the SS Thistlegorm, located off the coast of Ras Mohammad, is a popular area for divers.
Rutho Monastery. Tentative WHS (01/11/1994). Rutho is the old name of El-Tur containing a Monastery dating 6th Century with two basilica churches, oil press, well provisioned stores, kitchens, rooms for monks, ovens for bread and food surrounded by a strong wall.
Temple of Serabit Khadem. Tentative WHS (01/11/1994). In the mountains near an ancient turquoise mine that produced beautiful stones used to make ornaments, jewelry, and blue paint. There are miner’s huts, their engravings on the walls, including images of the ships that transported the stones to the Nile Valley. Reaching the temple is a 4X4 adventure.
The An-Nakhl fortress, a stage on the pilgrimage route to Mecca. Tentative WHS (28/07/2003). A Ksar (castle) in the exact center of the peninsula dating from Ancient Egypt. It has historically been an important stop and staging ground for Muslim pilgrims undertaking the Hajj or Umra, holy Muslim pilgrimages from Egypt, Morocco, Algiers and Spain. The existing fortress was built just after 1517.
Described as a square fort on absolutely barren grounds surrounded by 15-20 houses inhabited by ex-soldiers and their families. All food is transported from Gaza or Suez, It was involved in WWI and both the 1956 and 1967 Israeli/Egypt wars.
Two citadels in Sinai from the Saladin period. Tentative WHS (Al-Gundi and Phataoh’s island) (28/07/2003)
Wadi Feiran. Tentative WHS (01/11/1994). 81 miles long, it is Sinai’s largest and widest wadi. It rises from the mountains around Saint Catherine’s Monastery, at 2500 m above sea level. It empties into the Gulf of Suez 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Abu Zenima.
Bedoin from Wadi Feiran and the Feiran Oasis offer hospitality to travellers. Pilgrims and interested tourists come here and to nearby Saint Catherine’s Monastery.
OTHER DESTINATIONS
Sanafir. A Saudi island at the entrance to the Straits of Tiran which separates the Gulf of Aqaba from the Red Sea. 2.5kms east of Tiran Island. The island has floating coral reefs.
In 2017, Egypt transferred Sanafir and Tiran Islands to Saudi Arabia. The proposed deal caused mass protests across the country accusing President Sisi of “selling” Egyptian land.
Tiran
DAHAB Village
Dahab Beaches
Abandoned Outdoor Movie Theatre. Bizzarium:
Abu Galum Protected Area
Nabq Protected Area
Ras Mohamed NP
Zaranik Protectorate
African Cities
ARISH
SHARM el SHEIKH* (pop 70,000 2015).
City on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. The city and holiday resort is a significant centre for tourism in Egypt, while also attracting many international conferences and diplomatic meetings.
In 2005, the resort was hit by the Sharm El Sheikh terrorist attacks, which were carried out by an extremist Islamist organisation targeting Egypt’s tourist industry. Eighty-eight people were killed, the majority of them Egyptians, and over 200 were wounded by the attack, making it the second deadliest terrorist attack in the country’s history. The deadliest terrorist attack took place in Sinai when Militants detonated a bomb inside a crowded mosque in the Sinai Peninsula on 24 November 2017 and then sprayed gunfire on panicked worshipers as they fled, killing at least 305 people and wounding at least 128 others. The third deadliest was the Luxor massacre of 1997.
Sharm El Sheikh’s major industry is foreign and domestic tourism, owing to its landscape, year-round dry climate with long hot summers and warm winters and its long beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year and have become popular for various watersports, particularly recreational scuba diving and snorkeling. There is scope for scientific tourism due to the diversity of marine life: 250 different coral reefs and 1000 species of fish. The number of resorts has increased from three in 1982 to ninety-one in 2000.
Sharm el Sheikh Airport (SSH)
Sharm El Sheikh Beaches
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RED SEA (Hurghada, Al-Qusair, Marsa Alam, Safaga)
Bird Migration Routes. Tentative WHS (12/06/2003).
Bardawil Lake is on the coast, has an area of about 59,000 ha, and is a Ramsar Site. It consists of two interconnected hypersaline lagoons, with interspersed islands and peninsulas. The site provides important spawning areas for fish and supports commercially important fish stock, mainly the mullet. It is also an important wintering and staging area for about half a million birds in 244 bird species, 18 reptiles.
Salt extraction and the constant formation of sand bars (siltation) close the channels connecting the lagoons with the Sea. These channels are vital for the annual migration of mullets from the Sea to the Lake and vice versa. The El-Salam irrigation Canal, bringing water from the Nile mixed with agricultural drainage water from the eastern Delta pollutes the Lake
Zaranik Scrubland. Migration and wetland hotspot east of Lake Bardawil about 35 km west of El-Arish,. The site consists of a lagoon, beach, and desert scrub vegetation (68% water and 32% land). It is an excellent site for autumn migrants.
Gebel Shayeb El-Banat. Near Hurghada, it comprises four mountains: Gebel Abu Dukhan (1705 masl), Gebel Qattar, Gebel Shayeb El-Banat (the highest peak in the Red Sea coastal mountains), and Gebel Umm Anab.
The shoreline is a chain of coral reefs up to 100 m wide.
Ma’aza tribe, known as Bani Attia (pop 1000) living in an area of 90,000 sq. km. They are pastoral nomads, raising sheep, goats, and camels with no fixed dwellings.
Saluga and Ghazal Nile Islands Granitic outcrops of fine grained granite. The 94 species of vegetation is the relicts of a Nile Valley gallery forest. Trees of six species of Acacia dominate the plant communities
Important Bird Areas of Egypt especially water birds (herons, ducks, waders and terns). Lake Nasser A huge man-made water reservoir extending for 300 km upstream the Aswan High Dam in Egypt and continues as Lake Nubia for another 200 km in Sudan. It has an average width of 10 km. On completion of the construction of the High Dam in the early 1970’s, the Lake covered the entire Nubian Nile Valley in both Egypt and Sudanand deeply penetrated into the surrounding desert through the numerous wadis (dry desert rivers) that drained from the Eastern (the majority) and the Western Deserts, about 80 all in all, the largest of them being Wadi Allaqi. This gives the Lake its dendritic shape in satellite images. The climate is extremely arid with very hot summers and cold winters.
A yearly fluctuation of as much as 30 m and large wetlands have formed in the deltaic mouths of the dry wadis where they join the Lake. It is increasingly important as a wintering area for migratory Palaearctic water birds,
Mountain Chains. Tentative WHS (12/06/2003).
Yelleg, Halal, and Maghara Mountains Yelleg (1087 m), Halal (892 m), and Maghara (750 m), are isolated highlands with the only conifer tree in Egypt, Juniperus phoenicia, 200 species of vascular plants including a rare assemblage of rare, vulnerable, and threatened species
Gebel Dokhkhan See Gebel Shayeb El-Banat Site
Gebel Elba region in the south-eastern corner of Egypt lies adjacent to the border of Sudan, and the Red Sea. Average annual rainfall is 50 mm/year, but moist north-easterly winds bring as much as 400 mm. This creates “mountainn oases”, or “mist oases” on the slopes of these mountains. Habitat-types include Red Sea coral reefs, Mangroves, Low shore-line coastal dunes, Littoral saltmarsh belts
Many species threatened with extinction: African wild ass, the addax antelope, the Tora red hartbeast, the dama gazelle, and the scimitar-horned oryx.
Traditional home of several hundred nomadic Bisharin tribesmen, whose language and some of their traditions can be traced to the Ancient Egyptian language and traditions. Gebel Oweinat Region Formidable mountain in the centre of the flat and featureless Western Desert of Egypt and it stands out like an island from the surrounding plain. The last rainfall was seen in September 1998 and as much as 10 to 15 years may pass without a drop. Yet this little rain is sufficient to allow vegetation and some wildlife to survive.
The western part lies entirely in Libya and forms a large granite ring complex about 25 km in diameter, being the eroded remnants of a large arachaic granite dome. Two permanent springs, Ain Ghazal and Ain Doua, can be found at the southern foot have never went dry in living memory. A heavily used desert track passes by along the western rim of the Mountain, linking Kufra with El-Fasher in western Sudan. Site
The Gilf El-Kebir Plateau. A landscape similar to Mars and one of the driest regions of the Earth. Remote and not yet been fully explored. It is a high, flat topped plateau (a few basalt flows) of Nubia sandstone covered with a thick red soil with vertical escarpments on all sides, 200 to 300 m above the surrounding desert. It is dissected by numerous canyon-like dry wadis. The soil indicates heavy rainfall in older times.
OTHER DESTINATIONS
Bir Tawil. M@P
Hala’ib Triangle. Egypt/Sudan – M@P, XL
El Ikhwa island
Shadwan Island
Foul Bay area, XL
Wadi el Gemal NP
El Gouna Aquarium; El Gouna
Brothers Islands Lighthouse
African Cities
HURGHADA (pop 248,000). One of the country’s main tourist centres located on the Red Sea coast owing to its dramatic landscape, year-round dry and temperate climate and long stretches of natural beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year. Founded in 1905, it was a small fishing village, but it has grown into a major Red Sea holiday destination for Europeans starting in the 1980s. The city is known for its watersports (windsurfing, kitesurfing, yachting, scuba diving and snorkeling), nightlife and warm weather. Daytime temperatures are around 30 °C most of the year (July and August over 40 °C). Tourist numbers from Russia dropped significantly after the Metrojet Flight 9268 plane crash in November 2015.
The city extends for about 36 kilometres (22 mi) along the coast, but does not reach far into the surrounding desert. Dive sites around Abu Ramada Island, Fanadir, Giftun Kebir, and Giftun Soraya are popular. Tourists also visit shipwrecks such as the El Mina or the Rosalie Moller. In a 2016 attack and again in a 2017 attack foreign tourists at Hurghada’s beach resorts were targeted by terrorist attacks.
Russians. Hurghada has 4 schools for Russian children, much of the signage in the city is in Russian. In 2015 there were about 20,000 Russians in Hurghada. Russian women staying in Hurghada often marry Egyptian men through an ‘urfi (non-shariah) process.Hurghada Airport (HRG)
Hurghada Grand Aquarium
Sharm El Naga beach
MARSA ALAM*. Town in south-eastern Egypt, located on the western shore of the Red Sea. It is a popular tourist destination. Beaches: Abu Dabab beach, turtles are common, crocodilefish and octopuses. Marsa Alam is also known as the world-class kitesurfing destination and perfect starting point to safaris. Marsa Alam also has some inland attractions, such as the Emerald Mines and the Temple of Seti I at Khanais.
Despite being over 135 miles (217 km) km north of the tropical zone, the city experiences a hot desert climate. The temperature of the Red Sea at this location during the year ranges from 22 to 29 °C (72 to 84 °F).
Marsa Alam Airport (RMF)
3alganoob Music Festival
Daedalus Reef Lighthouse
Sharm El Luli beach
DIVING: The Red Sea resorts at Sinai peninsula, including Sharm El Sheikh and Ras Mohammed, diving in The Gubal Strait, the wrecks at the Strait of Tiran, reef diving in Hurghada and Marsa Alam, the Abu Nuhas wreck system, and pelagic encounters at Brother Islands, Dahab. Shallow reefs, walls, drift dives, coral gardens and some of the most famous wrecks in the world in crystal clear waters. Many species of sharks.
It is possible to dive all year round. However the water temperature does vary a lot: From July to September, it is the hottest month with a water temperature of about 28°C. The coldest month is February with a water temperature of about 21°C.
From October to November, you can expect from 25°C to 27°C. From March to June, the water is warming up with temperatures ranging between 22°C to 25°C.
There is not really one single “best diving season” in the Red Sea but if you don’t like crowded dive sites, try to avoid the high season from July to December. If you do go during the busy period, you should book your hotel well in advance.