Eastern Desert Attractions

The Eastern (Arabian) Desert is the great expanse of desert country which extends eastward from the Nile Valley to the Red Sea Rift, rising in the east to a formidable range of mountains (3,300-6,600ft/1,000-2,000m; Gebel el-Shayib, 7,176ft/2,187m) which descend in stages to the Red Sea. The hilly desert terrain is broken up by numerous wadis (dry valleys); and when rain falls in these valleys, and in the few small oases in the desert, an astonishingly luxuriant vegetation springs into life.

A trip through the Eastern Desert, particularly the southern part, is something of an adventure, but a very rewarding one, taking those who undertake it through magnificent scenery and offering an interesting change from the antiquities and museums they will have seen elsewhere in Egypt.

There were already a number of caravan routes across the desert between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea in ancient times, for the most part following the course of the wadis, with watering points at regular intervals. These routes were used for trade with Sinai, Arabia, India and the east coast of Africa (Punt), and after the coming of Islam they were also followed by Egyptian pilgrims to Mecca. There are now five asphalted roads connecting the Nile Valley with the main Red Sea ports.