Archive for November, 2009
Petra is the gateway to many of Jordans treasures
Posted by: | CommentsDuring the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, eTurboNews met with Mr. Nayef Al Fayez, director general of the Jordan Tourism Board and had this exclusive interview.
eTN: Next month, in December, Jordan will celebrate Adha Eid, Christmas, and the New Year. How is Jordan preparing to welcome tourists for these celebrations?
Nayef Al Fayez: Visiting Jordan is very enticing and enriching during holidays and festivals, as it has a very special flavor. Islamic Adha Feast is occurring towards the end of November, where visitors can experience how Muslims celebrate the feast and share their joy. Christmas celebrations are also of a particular interest to visitors especially in Amman, Madaba, and Fuheis, where Christmas bazaars are taking place, competitions for the longest trees, and celebrations are all night long for locals and visitors alike. Other special programs and events are being prepared by DMC for the New Year’s celebrations as well. Jordan is the home of Petra, many visitors come to Jordan to see Petra, but once they are here, they are surprised to see that Jordan has much more to offer to its visitors other than Petra. We consider Petra is the gateway to discover the many treasures we have in our country from the history and culture, to eco and nature, to leisure and wellness, adventure, meeting incentive conferences, to the religious tourism — all these experiences are offered within a very small geographic area, which make it very easy to travel from one place to another.
eTN: You mentioned a very interesting issue about Jordan being an incentive market. I would assume Jordan is a geographic region that is easily reachable from both Europe and all regions in the Middle East. Are you hosting events and international conferences where buyers and sellers from these markets may meet in Amman and, if so, what facilities do you have for these events?
Nayef Al Fayez: Jordan is emerging quickly as a tourism power in the Middle East. It is the host of world-class facilities and some of the most amazing tourism attractions, including one of the New Seven Wonders of the World — the ancient Nabatean Kingdom of Petra. As a result of its tourism boost, the country is picking up more DMCs and qualified DMC programs to promote the spectacular natural beauty and culture Jordan portrays. Jordan began focusing on the meetings business a few years ago and has become one of the most important riches within the tourism portfolio. The kingdom has entered this market with the building of the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre in the Dead Sea, which hosted the World Economic Forum, a world-class meeting with international implications and very high standards of requirements. The World Economic Forum first came to Jordan and has been repeatedly held at the venue, which is an indication of the confidence in the venue and destination. All of Jordan’s top hotels have fully-equipped conference and banqueting rooms with dedicated staff. Future growth for the conferences and convention sector include plans to develop a new convention centre in Amman, while many of the mixed-use developments currently taking shape in Aqaba will also offer conference facilities.
eTN: Do you have many events that involve bridging Israel and the Arab world, since you opened to both regions?
Nayef Al Fayez: Tourism is about bridging cultures and bringing people from different countries together. Jordan has always been an oasis of peace and has invited everyone to meet on its land. Their majesties are internationally respected and connected. They are extremely admired regionally and internationally for their efforts in bringing peace to the Middle East
eTN: For the most part, our readers are travel industry professionals, and they try to find the best programs for a region and for a country. What is the incentive for the travel trade to book Jordan and how should they book Jordan — as a final destination or should they book Jordan as a joint destination with others?
Nayef Al Fayez: Jordan is promoted and sold as both [a] combined trip with other neighboring countries and as a stand-alone destination . The Jordan Tourism Board promotes Jordan as a stand-alone destination, because we believe that Jordan has the product to be a stand -alone destination. The diversity of Jordan’s experiences let it be history, religious, leisure, adventure, or nature, make it an ideal destination that satisfies every visitor. Jordan is considered a small destination offering a lot to visitors seeking enchanting and unique experiences.
eTN: What are Jordan’s niche products? You have MICE and culture, but what other specific niche products would people want to know about?
Nayef Al Fayez: Our national tourism strategy has identified the following niche products:
History & Culture
Jordan is a land rich in history. Since the dawn of civilization, Jordan has played an important role in trade between the east and west because of its geographic location at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe. It has been home to some of mankind’s earliest settlements and till today holds relics of the some of the world’s greatest civilizations.
Religion & Faith
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan echoes with stories recorded in the Holy Bible of Abraham, Moses, Paul, Elijah, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and many other leading Biblical figures whose teachings and deeds have ultimately affected and influenced the lives of millions of people around the world.
Eco & Nature
Jordan is a country of outstanding bio-diversity. It is a land that encompasses all. From pine-clad mountains, lush green valleys, wetlands, and oasis to breathtaking desert landscapes and kaleidoscopic underwater worlds.
Leisure & Wellness
Jordan has embarked on various projects that feature a combination of both leisure and wellness, so as to ensure that visitors enjoy a unique, in-depth, relaxing experience. This combined with natural wellness wonders that Jordan has been blessed with makes for the ideal leisure and wellness destination.
Fun & Adventure
Fun and Adventure Tourism is expanding at a fast rate in Jordan, and promises to remain one of the most dynamic and innovative travel industry sectors for many years to come. Several Jordanian companies now specialize in eco and adventure tourism, providing the visitor with a combination of safety, adventure, and comfort while they embark on their exciting adventures.
Conferences & Events
Jordan’s MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions & events) industry has come of age. It understands the particular demands of the meetings and incentives market and strives to continuously exceed expectations. Jordan has harnessed the necessary ingredients needed to provide groups with successful and unique events.
eTN: I heard a lot about the Dead Sea with its healing powers and achievements when it comes to the medical field. Do you promote it as a medical tourism destination, and what will the Dead Sea do for a traveler; why should someone go to the Dead Sea besides the scenery that I have seen myself?
Nayef Al Fayez: We promote the Dead Sea as both [a] medical destination and a leisure destination. What makes the Dead Sea so unique is that the sun sets on the side. [The] Dead Sea is renowned as the largest natural spa on earth. It’s known for the medical properties of its waters and mud and the curative powers of its salty water. The high concentration level of oxygen in the Dead Sea area makes it an ideal cure for patients with asthma or chest problem[s]. Dead Sea products are known worldwide and are used for beauty and cosmetics. Close to the Dead Sea is Main Hot Springs, which is known for its thermal powers. King Herod and Queen Kilopetra discovered the secrets of the Dead Sea and the Main Hot Springs centuries ago.
eTN: If a traveler wants to come completely for the purpose of treatment, like retired people who have lot of time, how much time do you think it takes someone to have treatments?
Nayef Al Fayez: Jordan has a large number of Germans who come to Jordan for the purpose of leisure, while others [come] for treatment, which can last between 4 to 6 weeks. Some insurance companies in Germany and Austria send their clients [to] Jordan for treatment at the Dead Sea, as they found it more reasonably priced and more effective than chemical treatments that might have some side effects.
eTN: Are there any special arrangements for long stays, and what value for the money do visitors receive?
Nayef Al Fayez: Value for money is what all visitors are looking for when planning their trips, and Jordan has a lot to offer in terms of special prices and packages.
eTN: What about foreign investments in Jordan, in particular in hotels and resorts? Do you believe there is still a good opportunity for investors, and is investing open to all nationalities?
Nayef Al Fayez: We are noticing that there is a particular interest in [the] development of hotels in Aqaba and [the] Dead Sea and some projects in Amman and Petra. For more information about investment opportunities and regulations, please visit the Jordan Investment Board www.Jordaninvestment.com .
eTN: Are most visitors from regional tourism destinations or European?
Nayef Al Fayez: Our main market is the regional market, where we have guests from the GCC countries coming to Jordan for the summer; its mainly family tourism. Other markets are the European (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and others) and North American markets.
eTN: Our readers from North America are very sensitive to safety issues; it’s always a hot item when traveling.
Nayef Al Fayez: Jordan is a safe and secured destination and enjoys very good relationships on the regional and international fronts alike. We don’t even mention the element of safety when it comes to Jordan. We always get comments from visitors saying that “Jordan is actually safer than home.”
eTN: When you have a foreign tourist, a non-Arabic speaking tourist, coming to Jordan, would they have to be concerned about traveling on their own, such as when renting cars or what we call fly-drive, or would you recommend that they go with groups?
Nayef Al Fayez: Well-connected roads with clear English touristic signage [are] available in Jordan. Jordanians are very friendly, hospitable, and take pride in showing their country around. Tour operators can also offer organized trips to all sites in Jordan.
eTN: Part of the fun of visiting a foreign country is to bring something back, buy a souvenir, or buy something that will make you remember something about your trip. What are the best items someone should think about bringing home from Jordan?
Nayef Al Fayez: Jordan is well known for its mosaics. Madaba is the home of the oldest mosaic map of the Holy Land, and within Madaba itself, there are some shops that teach people how to make mosaics, and they make a perfect gift. What is so special about such gifts is the involvement the local community [has] in such projects. Other options include the sand bottles, rugs, Ostrich eggs, silverware, and many others.
eTN: The global tourism industry is facing a world-wide financial crises and swine flu diseases. How does this affect your destination and your vision of the tourism industry in general?
Nayef Al Fayez: Jordan has always followed a moderate and cautious financial policy, which put[s] it in a good position to deal with the economic crisis. With regards [to] tourist arrivals, while we have seen a drop from some of our traditional sources of visitors in Europe, overall we have seen an increase in the number of tourist arrivals in 2009.
eTN: Another issue that has been very hard in the WTM is the UK departure tax for international flights that affect any destination receiving UK tourists. I understand that UNWTO and New Zealand have made a very strong statement to the UK government. What is the position in Jordan, as you mentioned that UK tourists are number one in European visitors to Jordan?
Nayef Al Fayez: Tourism has a major impact on the economy and employment globally. Any taxes enforced during such will have a major effect on outbound travel . We believe that should be studied carefully. Still, we respect the fact that each country has the right to do whatever it sees necessary.
eTN: A great history for your country is Royal Jordanian, but not everyone is familiar with this, especially in North America. Can you tell us more about Royal Jordanian?
Nayef Al Fayez: Royal Jordanian has an excellent[history, which] has been growing tremendously fast. It’s now considered the best Levant connection within the region. It’s also part of the One World Alliance, which includes American Airlines and many others.
eTN: I know that the Jordanian Travel Mart (JTM) was being held at the Dead Sea in Jordan for North and South America. How is this working, and do you feel that the event increases arrivals from the Americas market?
Nayef Al Fayez: Jordan Travel Mart proved to be a major success, and our local partners are very happy with the results for the previous years. We are noticing an increase in [the] number of participants every year, and we are looking forward for more tour operators and travel professionals to participate and start selling Jordan as a destination from Canada, North America, Mexico, and South America. Jordan Travel Mart was successful for both buyers and suppliers; [we] are very happy with the results. JTM will take place at the Dead Sea at the King Hussein Convention Center, where buyers can stay in the luxurious hotels and spas at the Dead Sea and enjoy business and leisure in the largest spa on Earth, which is nominated to be one of the seven natural seven wonders in the world.
eTN: What about food in Jordan? Few countries around the world consider food as an attraction, but people and travelers consider food as a main issue when choosing their destination.
Nayef Al Fayez: Jordanian cuisine is very unique and is part of the Arabic Culinary Heritage. Food is of particular interest and importance to all travelers to Jordan. Jordan is also known for the hospitality of its people, who would offer guests of Jordan, coffee and food full heartedly.
Source: eTN (http://www.eturbonews.com/12940/petra-gateway-many-jordan-s-treasures)
Dead Sea needs world help to stay alive
Posted by: | CommentsThe Dead Sea may soon shrink to a lifeless pond as Middle East political strife blocks vital measures needed to halt the decay of the world’s lowest and saltiest body of water, experts say.
The surface level is plunging by a metre (three feet) a year and nothing has yet been done to reverse the decline because of a lack of political cooperation as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The shoreline has receded by more than a kilometre (around a mile) in some places and the world-famous lake, a key tourism destination renowned for the beneficial effect of its minerals, could dry out by 2050, according to some calculations.
“It might be confined into a small pond. It is likely to happen and this is extremely serious. Nobody is doing anything now to save it,” said water expert Dureid Mahasneh, a former Jordan Valley Authority chief.
“Saving the Dead Sea is a regional issue, and if you take the heritage, environmental and historical importance, or even the geographical importance, it is an international issue.”
Landlocked between Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, the Dead Sea is rapidly vanishing because water which previously flowed into the lake is being diverted and also extracted to service industry and agriculture.
Jordan decided in September to go it alone and build a two-billion-dollar pipeline from the Red Sea to start refilling the Dead Sea without help from proposed partners Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
However, that project is controversial and Mahasneh stressed that Jordan alone is not capable of solving the Dead Sea’s problems.
The degradation began in the 1960s when Israel, Jordan and Syria began to divert water from the Jordan River, the Dead Sea’s main supplier.
For decades, the three neighbouring countries have taken around 95 percent of the river’s flow for agricultural and industrial use. Israel alone diverts more than 60 percent of the river.
The impact on the Dead Sea has been compounded by a drop in groundwater levels as rain water from surrounding mountains dissolved salt deposits that had previously plugged access to underground caverns.
Industrial operations around the shores of the lake also contribute to its problems.
Both Israel and Jordan have set up massive evaporation pools to vaporise Dead Sea water for the production of phosphate, while five-star hotels have sprung up along its shores, where tourists flock for the curative powers of the sea mud and minerals.
The salty lake is currently 67 kilometres (42 miles) long and 18 kilometres (11 miles) wide.
The top of the water was already 395 metres (1,303 feet) under global sea level in the 1960s but the drying out has lowered the surface further to minus 422 metres (1,392 feet), according to Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME).
Mahasneh says climate change is aggravating the crisis. “Climate change affected everything,” he said. “It’s an umbrella for many problems, including short rainfall.
“Nothing is being seriously done to tackle climate change. Sustainable and integrated solutions are needed.”
The World Bank has funded a two-year study of the plan for a pipeline from the Red Sea to replenish the Dead Sea.
The project, agreed in outline by Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan in 2005, aims to channel two billion cubic metres (70 billion cubic feet) of water a year via a 200-kilometre (120-mile) canal to produce fresh water and generate electricity as well as raise the Dead Sea.
But some environmentalists say the scheme could harm the Dead Sea further by changing its unique chemistry by introducing Red Sea water.
“We are dealing with at least two sensitive and different ecosystems: the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. We also need to keep an open mind about other possible alternatives,” said Munqeth Mehyar, FoEME chair.
Mahasneh supports the plan, saying: “The Dead-Red project is like a salvage plan — there is no other option. But it won’t be an easy task for political and economic reasons.”
Jordan’s Environment Minister Khaled Irani said: “Let’s wait and see the results of the study of the environmental impact.”
“We might not go ahead with the project if it is going to create a major mess with the ecosystem, but if we can bring water to the Dead Sea and maintain the same ecological quality of the Dead Sea, why not?”
Friends of the Earth’s Mehyar believes saving the Jordan River is key to the Dead Sea.
The waterway is under severe ecological strain because large amounts of raw sewage gush untreated at various locations into the relative trickle left after the diversion of most of the Jordan River.
During the past 50 years, the river’s annual flow has dropped from more than 1.3 billion cubic metres (46 billion cubic feet) to around 70 million cubic metres (around 2.5 billion cubic feet), according to FoEME.
“We are working hard to push for rehabilitating the Jordan River by increasing and maintaining its flow in order to save it and save the Dead Sea,” Mehyar said.
“The Dead Sea is in danger and that’s for sure. I can’t claim that we can prevent the level of the Dead Sea from dropping more, but I think we can control the problem and cooperation from all sides is a must.”
Most of the springs in the Jordan Valley which flow directly into the Dead Sea are currently dammed, according to water experts.
Jordan, where the population of around six million is expanding by 3.5 percent a year, is a largely desert country that depends greatly on rainfall. It needs every drop of water to meet domestic, agricultural and industrial requirements.
The tiny kingdom, which forecasts it will need 1.6 billion cubic metres (56 billion cubic metres) of water a year by 2015, is one of the 10 driest countries in the world, with desert covering 92 percent of its territory.
“We need to make sure that there is always running water flowing into the Dead Sea,” Irani said.
“The Dead Sea is unique in many aspects, not only for Jordan, but also for the Israelis and Palestinians.”
One side effect of the lake’s falling water volumes is the appearance of large sinkholes along its shores, creating serious problems for farmers and businesses.
“A sinkhole destroyed my farm 10 years ago and forced me to move and work for other farmers,” said Izzat Khanazreh, 42, as he puffed on a cigarette, his face tanned by working long hours under a hot sun.
He used to grow vegetables in his farm in Ghor Haditha in the southern Jordan Valley, a bare and sun-baked area around the Dead Sea.
“Nobody compensated me for my loss. My land was full of cracks and it was impossible to do anything about it,” said Khanazreh, standing beside a sinkhole about 20 metres (65 feet) wide and 40 metres (130 feet) deep.
There are an estimated 100 sinkholes in Ghor Haditha alone. They can open up at any time and swallow up everything above ground like a devastating earthquake.
“These sinkholes are time bombs. They can appear any time and eat everything up,” said Fathi Huweimer, a field researcher with FoEME.
“Farmers do not feel secure and are anticipating more trouble. This problem is because of the degradation of the Dead Sea.”
A factory for Dead Sea products in the area has had to relocate after a large sinkhole appeared beneath it, threatening the lives of more than 60 workers, Huweimer said.
Irani said Jordan will highlight the Dead Sea’s problems at the Copenhagen summit on climate change next month.
“We will raise those issues in Copenhagen and say that Jordan is heavily affected and urge developed countries to allocate more resources to contribute to saving the Dead Sea,” he said. (By Ahmad Khatib/ AFP)
Source: MySinchew
A Newly Stylish Amman Asserts Itself
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Sunset on the terrace of Books@Cafe, a combination bookstore, cafe and restaurant in the Jabal Amman district.
“AREN’T you going to check out the terrace?” Madian al-Jazerah said to me.
It was just after sunset on a summer Thursday evening, and we were standing on the sprawling front deck of Books@Cafe, the combination bookstore, cafe and restaurant that Mr. Jazerah owns in the historic neighborhood of Jabal Amman in Jordan’s capital.
“I thought we were on it,” I replied.
Wordlessly he pointed to a door at the back of the cafe, set in a renovated villa just off Rainbow Street. Soon I was making my way through a series of cavernous rooms, all seemingly decorated in the year 1972 with orange, yellow and brown optic stripes or Pop Art flower motifs.
As it turns out, the real terrace was about five times the size of the front deck and populated with about 20 times as many chic young Jordanians lounging under the darkening sky. Giant red lanterns bobbed in the breeze and a sea of tables spread out beneath a canopy of pines. Waiters shuttled cocktails and coffees and tended to the “hubbly bubblies” — nargiles, or water pipes with flavored tobacco — that were being summoned to the tables as the evening wore on.
The moment was an apt metaphor for Amman: if you like what you first see, look a little further and you might get more.
Sadly, many visitors don’t bother to look for much at all. With a host of natural marvels like the Dead Sea and the desert of Wadi Rum, certified wonders of the world like Petra and biblical sites galore, the country’s bustling capital, home to somewhat more than two million residents, is often overlooked.
But treat Amman as a mere way station between destinations and you miss discovering what is perhaps the most pleasant city in the Middle East. Calling a place “pleasant” may seem like faint praise, but in Amman pleasant covers areas like religious tolerance, personal safety, an agreeable climate (at more than 3,000 feet above sea level, Amman is delightful spring, summer and fall) and the availability of French Champagne and excellent sushi. In this strife-torn region, pleasant is no small shakes.
Now, with an influx of wealthy immigrants from Iraq and other Persian Gulf countries and the return of Jordanian expats, it seems the Champagne is just starting to flow. The city’s culinary scene has expanded from its famous shwarma stands and falafel joints (though thankfully the best of these remain) to embrace a host of swank Asian fusion restaurants, intimate French bistros and authentic Italian trattorias. The night-life scene evolves so quickly that hot spots open and close almost before their fabulousness can make it into print in magazines or guidebooks.
“A lot of Jordanians go abroad to study in Europe, the U.K., U.S. and Canada,” said Fadi Jaber, a Jordanian who went to boarding school and college in the United States. “When they come back, they want to recreate the lifestyle they enjoyed abroad. The places now opening would be right at home in London or New York or Montreal because that’s where these kids hung out.”
Mr. Jaber should know. His American-style bakery Sugar Daddy’s, which opened in 2006, has become a Middle East phenomenon, expanding to Beirut and Dubai.
For one of the world’s oldest cities, Amman is surprisingly modern. After millenniums of being inhabited by Ammonites, Assyrians, Nabateans, Romans, Umayyads and Ottomans, the city was virtually deserted except for Bedouin nomads in the 1800s. Revitalization came with the railroad that passed through Amman on the route linking Damascus and Mecca. But the city really took shape between the 1920s and 1940s as the Kingdom of Jordan became an independent country with Amman as its capital.
So with an architectural legacy that is more Bauhaus than Byzantine, Amman is delightfully unencumbered by the weight of history.
Modern-day Ammanis tend to rank ancient monuments well below air-conditioned cineplexes on their lists of favorite leisure activities. The 6,000-seat Roman theater shares its downtown site with two faded but charming museums displaying Ottoman and Bedouin folk customs. The Archeology Museum in the Citadel is like an Indiana Jones field station, with handwritten labels and portable brass display cabinets.
“You know, visitors mention those museums, but I don’t think people from here ever go to them,” said Rima Mallalah, an artist who runs an offbeat gallery called Love on a Bike.
Ammanis prefer contemporary Jordanian and Arab culture shown at places like Darat al-Funun, a complex of several villas that have been converted into galleries and is run by the charitable Khalid Shoman Foundation. Cutting-edge video installations, photography displays, outdoor films and live performances draw the city’s cultured set.
Spread out over seven hills (the greater Amman area now covers nearly 20), it’s not a walking city but taxis are abundant, inexpensive and will take you almost anywhere — even to Petra, about three hours away — for a negotiated price.
Most of the action is in West Amman, and more important than the seven hills are the eight circles — huge traffic roundabouts that stretch along Zahran Street, the principal east-west artery, and serve as landmarks or virtual addresses for anything near them.
Rainbow Street, just off First Circle, is the nexus of urban cool with art galleries, cafes and the fun Friday flea market called Jara Souk. Nearby is Wild Jordan, the showroom and lively cafe of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, selling products like olive oil soap and silver jewelry made (mostly by women) on the society’s nature reserves.
On your first night in town, Ammanis will send you to Fakhr el-Din to sample a nearly encyclopedic menu of Levantine cuisine. Cross the street for a nightcap in the garden at Grappa, an Italian restaurant in what at first seems to be a private villa, until you discover that spilling down the hillside in the same building are two clubs, Salute and Canvas, with dancing and shots being poured in abundance. The upside of the city’s hilly topography and sugar-cube architecture are the myriad roof terraces with wide-open vistas.
On your second night, Ammanis will start talking sushi. With an elegantly sleek décor and (surprise) huge terrace, the new pan-Asian Yoshi has been a hot spot, serving updated versions of classics like crab Rangoon alongside the futomaki and other artfully prepared sushi.
Abdoun Circle (not one of the eight) is the heart of the city’s thriving night life where the chicest clubs maintain a strict “couples only” policy, meaning no unescorted men. One of the trendiest clubs of the moment is Flow, which puts some extra groove on its dance floor with a mix of hip-hop and R&B. The busiest nights are Thursdays and don’t bother going before midnight.
Daytime fun, especially if you brought the children, can be found at the King Hussein Park where the late king’s impressive car collection is on view, ranging from sleek Ferraris to the armored Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost used by Lawrence of Arabia. Next door, the Children’s Museum has flight simulators and a sandbox filled with mock archaeological finds. (Both attractions are open on Fridays — a day of rest in mostly Muslim Jordan — when many other sites are not.)
These days Amman itself is a bit like a sandbox. As Mr. Jazerah of Books@Cafe points out: “If you’re willing to dig around and let this city surprise you, it will.”
Source: New York Times (http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/travel/22next.html)
Silent witness in the Sinai
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Join a strange safari in the desert hunting, not rare animals, but an equally endangered prize – absolute silence
A morning walk in the emptiness of the Sinai.
Several times each night I wake up. My first thought is usually that I am getting too old to sleep out, even in a proper sleeping bag and with a long padded Bedouin cushion between me and the ground.
Then, during the awkward wriggling necessary to turn over, my eyes open – and above me there are the desert stars. They are enormous, bright, innumerable. The filmy drift of the Milky Way does not hide the stars behind it. Occasionally one detaches itself and shoots across the sky. According to the Yale Bright Star Catalogue, there are just over 9,000 stars visible to the naked eye and no one can see more than half of these on any given night (the rest are shining in the skies of the other hemisphere); and not all of those at the same time. Here I stop believing this. There are more stars than that; there must be. There is so much joy in their silent dancing.
I wake again later as the stars are fading; I can see the 10 black hump shapes – the sleeping bags of my companions, spread out across the now pale sand. Gradually the light increases; the enormous bulk of the sandstone scarp which soars above the camp begins to take on detail. Across the wadi the sun touches the top of another bulk of rock and turns it suddenly gold. There is the beginning of quiet movement as sleepers shift, clamber out of their sleeping bags and prepare for the day. Then I hear the quiet but welcome roar of the flame-thrower that means the kettle is heating and the sharp, clean tasting Bedu tea is on its way. It is morning in the Sinai desert. We gather for breakfast quietly.
We are here on a strange safari – we are hunting silence, elusive and endangered in Europe and threatened even here. Although most of us on this trip are quite experienced silence hunters, the desert is – as Everest is to climbers and solo round the Cape is to sailors – the ultimate silence challenge.
There are good reasons deserts are so silent. Some are obvious: they are empty of people; there is usually not much wind – and little for it to move if it does blow. Some are more subtle: the hotter and dryer the air is, the more it absorbs the energy of sound waves, so noises do not travel so far or so loudly. There are cultural reasons too – the Sinai desert in particular is resonant with a history of silence and awe. Here Moses alone on the mountain received the tablets of the law.
Here, Elijah heard God speak in the “sound of sheer silence” (a better translation of the “still small voice” of the Hebrew scriptures.) Here, the third-century Christian hermits worked out a new silent relationship with their God and here, the monastery of St Catherine, the oldest continuing site of Christian worship in the world, still maintains the ancient tradition.
We spent a week in our simple camp, sleeping under the stars and eating surprisingly good food cooked on a wood fire. We arrived by plane in Sharm el-Sheikh, and travelled on by minibus north along the Gulf of Aqaba towards Nuweiba until we turned off on the road to St Catherine’s itself. Eventually we left the tarmac and, jolting slightly alarmingly, took to a vague track across sand and rock, into the coming night, and arrived at our campsite in the dark.
It was only the next morning that we could see where we were. The Sinai is not a flat sand-dune desert; it is a rocky mountainous terrain, ferociously hot and ferociously beautiful; part sandstone and part broken granite, with enormous views of vast harsh emptiness. Once the whole area was a warm shallow sea, hence the Gaudi-esque contours of the sandstone. The same tectonic shift that lifted and folded the Alps elevated and tipped the Sinai peninsula so the water drained away, leaving what was once a seabed.
The Bedouin in the region, which was part of Israel and is now in Egypt, continue their marginalised, nomadic existence and it is not clear whether their new accessibility will succour or destroy their lifestyle. Wind Sand and Stars, the tour firm which organised this trip, has a long relationship with the local Bedouin and is proud of its ecological and social commitment. That first morning the Sheikh came to welcome us, and his tribesmen staffed the camp.
We were wonderfully well looked after, with a British desert leader and an Egyptian guide, both knowledgeable, kind and clear. We had endless clean water, good communications and a sturdy sense that the logistics were in place. And still it was challenging. The desert strips you down – the heat, the harshness and the infinite silence. You are vulnerable to the place; you are vulnerable to each other too, stripped of the normal social gabble, which can cover up as much as it exposes. You are vulnerable to yourself and there feels little chance of escape.
If you go hunting silence, you must lay your bait carefully. Wind Sand and Stars had invited me to be a “silence expert” because in A Book of Silence, (Granta, 2008) I wrote about my previous visit to Sinai (nearly 10 years ago). So each morning we gathered and I talked about silence, its science and its history: what people had used it for and how you can focus on it. Then we all spread out, each finding a “cleft in the rock”, and sitting there, listening to the silence, open to what might happen, each (I hope) exploring their own inner territory in relation to the harsh beauty of the desert.
Each day we had an activity – a silent walk, sweetest in the bright dawn, most glamorous at sunset; a camel trek – crossing the land which is always different and always the same, to the strange rocking motion of those “ships of the desert”; exploration of a sandstone cave; a lecture on Bedouin life or the ancient Christianity of St Catherine’s Monastery. Each evening we gathered again to debrief and consider the day and its enormous silence. The desert is not “dead”. There were occasional birds, including ravens and a slim falcon; some very annoying flies; and, unexpectedly one lunchtime, a dragonfly.
There were traces in the sand, tiny footprints running out from the cover of a rock, larger prints of something passing unseen in the night, a long slither of a snake. There were strange scrubby plants, somehow courageous. We all seemed to become aware of these fragile life forms and even of the slower geological processes which had carved the rock and ground the white sand.
On the final day we went to St Catherine’s Monastery itself and then down to the coast to look (through a glass-bottomed boat, although Nuweiba is scuba divers’ heaven) at the coral reef – a very different but equally silent world.
It doesn’t sound like much. Silence is outwith language and hard therefore to pin down in words. But it was beautiful, awesome, challenging and rewarding – a real adventure. I’ll be back.
Source: The Guardian
December getaways to Egypt from just 229GBP per person
Posted by: | CommentsWe’ve found some of the best ever deals to Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt’s most popular resort for December. These late departures give the opportunity for a bit of winter sun just before Christmas and the prices are incredibly low. Don’t miss out on these amazing prices, book now !!! They can only be booked online at http://www.explorerdirect.co.uk
Flight…
