Magical nights in the desert

Part one – A taste of the desert

www.kingsafaridahab.com

Our first quick taste of the desert consisted of a one-night ‘Dinner in the Mountains’ trip; one that many visitors to Dahab take. We met our guide on the beachfront and he drove us in his jeep to the edge of town, to the ‘camel station’. Here we got onto our camels, which brought us up to into mountains of Dahab. As soon as we arrived we started to feel the quiet, unhurried atmosphere of Bedouin life in the desert. Even though we were only a few miles out of Dahab and this place had clearly been set up for visitors like ourselves, we started to relax straight into this calm feeling, while the Bedouin were sitting by a large fire, where our meal was being prepared.

Our guide wanted to take us to a nice viewpoint before sunset, so we followed him a bit further into the mountains, where we got a great view of the sea and the town below. Clearly these men are one with this landscape, thin, flexible and agile, our guide skipped across the rocks with no effort at all, arriving at the top way before us…

As the sun started to set, we slowly made our way back to the Wadi, where the Bedouin were sitting around the fire. We sat with them for a little while, sipping the tea that was poured into tiny glasses from a small blackened teapot that sat by the edge of the fire. After tea, a bit of small-talk and trying on some scarves, we were shown to our private hut, where we waited for dinner. Every now and then a man would come up with something to drink and a few candles for us to have dinner by. As the sky turned dark we moved to the edge of our hut to marvel at the amazing number of stars in the sky. I could only imagine what it would be like to move deeper into the desert.

From the edge of our hut we could make out a few more figures in the darkness that had joined the Bedouin group. I walked over to say hello and found out that one of them was a guide for a French yoga group, enjoying a vegetarian meal in one of the other huts. He told us that what we were having just a little sample taste of the desert, and that, if we wanted to experience more we should really think about organising an overnight trip, further into the desert. He said he would ask one of the Bedouin to come and talk to us after dinner.

With that in mind we sat down to a lovely meal of fragrant beef and vegetable stew, rice and freshly cooked Bedouin bread. After the remains of our dinner were cleared and we had been treated to some more tea, a Bedouin man walked up, said hello and sat down beside us.

To us Westerners it seems strange to sit down without immediately explaining who you are and what you want, but as I have experienced before, it is very common in this part of the world to do so. He lit a cigarette, smiled and sipped his tea quietly. At this point my mind was made up. I HAD to spend a night in the desert before we would fly back to Europe three days later. Our guide advised us to visit the King Safari office in town to discuss the practicalities. In part of two Magical Nights you’ll read all about our first real venture into the Sinai desert.

If you would also like to enjoy your Dinner in the Mountains of Dahab, go to www.kingsafaridahab.com, under ‘Short Desert Excursions’.

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