Charafantah's Cave

إنى أتنفس تحت الماء…..بس غريبة قوى, أنا مش بأغرق

That’s how i felt on my first dive, no matter what i say, there is no way i could describe the feeling of diving.

You’re almost flying, surrounded by water from everywhere, sound, vision, colors and motion are all different. Fish and coral reefs around you everywhere, marvelous colors wherever you look. It’s like a dream, it’s a different world.

I’ve been dieing to dive long time ago, but i never had the time\chance, but now i have it i finished my OpenWater course, which is the first basic level of diving, and it was more than perfect.

I heard that people’s opinion about diving comes from their first dive, either they don’t like it and never dive again, or they become addicted. I think i am the latest.

So, here i am going this weekend to Tiran island on a boat-diving-trip, hopefully it will be amazing.

Diving is quite simple, not hard as i thought it would be, actually, it’s very simple even a 12 year old kid would understand how it works and could dive. It is very safe too, not dangerous as i thought it would be, everything is thought of, there is a huge safety margin in everything you do.

Go dive, you will NOT regret it.

Before I go to Ras Mohammed, i tried to plan my trip before i go from online resources, as I usually do. Only to be surprised by the lack of information! there is NOTHING useful whatsoever about going to Ras Mohammed protectorate or on camping there.

So now after i came back, i decided to write this “homage” post explaining every thing you might need to know about camping in Ras Mohammed.

Here’s a summary followed by full details:

• Camping allowed: Yes
• Entrance time: 8:00am to 6:00pm
• Cost: 5LE entrance fee
• No permissions needed (everything done by the rangers at the gate)
• Mobile signal: everywhere
• Electricity: no
• Non salty water: at the gates (not available after 6:00pm)
• Distance from Sharm El Sheikh: 20km
• Toilets: not recommended
• Places to visit: Mangroove channel, Earthquake crack, Yolanda beach (diving), Main beach (snorkeling), Observatory beach (EXCELLENT scenery)
• Recommended Camping time: 3days 2 nights

Before i go, i called the protectorate on these numbers: (069)366-0668/0559 they are available from early in the morning (7:00am) to noon. I asked about permissions and entrance fees and time, they told me that i could enter from sunrise (i asked if 6:00am was ok, they said yes….but in real life it was no )

We arrived early, you’ll know you’re there when you see the huge statues at the gates shown in the picture below, you’ll also be around 20KM away from Sharm. We had to stay until 8:00am for the rangers to come
.

As soon as they came, they were very friendly, they checked our ID’s gave us the tickets, each ticket is 5LE + 5LE for the car. They asked if we will camp, and asked for how many days. They gave us a few information about the place and on where to camp.

We had a map of the protectorate and a GPS device (i’ll put the coordinates soon).

As soon as we entered, we headed to the Visitors center, there was only us there, we met one of the workers, he showed us a 20mins movie about the protectorate in the video room(it was nice, but it seemed rather old and boring).

We then had a glance at the museum in the visitors center, nothing really interesting there, but you’re not going to spend more than 15mins there anyway.

We then headed to the camping area, it’s just next to the laboratories building, it’s guarded by borders guards, they asked the same questions we got asked at the gates and let us in.

There are 3 main places to camp, each separated by a small hill which makes it private. The best one is the one in the middle, the beach is sandy and not full of rocks like the others, it’s nice if you have kids or don’t have your swimming shoes. Though the corals there are not as good the main beach or Yolanda beach, it’s nice if you’re too lazy to go anywhere else while camping.

We chose a place for our tent, unloaded our stuff and left them there. We then headed to the Mangroove channel (المنجروف). It’s nice to see all these trees growing from the salty water, it was a little bit crowded then, there was like 3 buses full of Italian visitors

We then headed to the earthquake crack(شق الزلزال), which is a huge crack in the land that was done by an earthquake, and the water started to flow in the crack.

Right next to it, there is the Magic Bay (الخليج المسحور), the water magically disappear and then reappears later in the same day!!! (i couldn’t see it happen, but a friend of mine did)

We then headed to the Observatory beach, where you climb a small mountain (hill), well, actually you don’t really climb, there are stairs. On the top of it, there is a telescope (?) and there is the MOST AMAZING VIEW YOU COULD EVER SEE. You’d see Aqaba bay and Suez bay at the same time, a lot of yachts, corals, turquoise water and a lot of birds and falcons.

We then tried to snorkel at the main beach, but it was too windy on that day and were cold and tired, so we headed back to the camp.

Here is a list of the stuff you need to bring with you:

• Sleeping bags (very important)
• A tent (to sleep in with the sleeping bag, not REALLY important, but it will help a lot with the ants, bees and flies)
• Swiss Knife (very handy)
• A butane stove (unless you want to eat raw, cold and tasteless food)
  
• Canned food, bread etc (you could also have some BBQ if you have an ice box)
• Ice box (if you have one, not really necessary)
• Water and drinks
• Candles (you could use empty bottles to put the candles in, use the swiss knife to cut them in halves)
• Flash light
• Camera + batteries
• GPS (if you have one)
• Hammock (if you have one )
• Music + book + entertainment stuff (a.k.a Games)
• Wood & coal to make camp fire (there is wood in the protectorate, right after the the camping area entrance, on the left, there is a huge pile of unused stuff, you can take wood from there, but it’s not guaranteed to fulfill all your needs, or to be there when you go )
• Matches & lighter
• Marshmallows (for camp fire )
• Waste bags
• Snorkeling gear (or diving gear)
• Swimming shoes (you don’t want to walk on the rocks\corals with bare foot)
• Insect repellent (OFF!) and insects killer (New Pyrosol, ra7et el zanna )
• First aid kit (didn’t use it, but could be handy)
• Plastic plates, cups, forks etc
• Toilet paper & Tissues
• Binoculars (if you have one)
• Jacket (could be a bit chilli)

You are not allowed to go outside the camping area or use your car after 6:00pm until 8:00am, but you can have a walk on the beach around the camping area.
There is nothing to do at night, except watching the stars, walking on the beach, listening to the waves, sitting around the camp fire, playing games, talking with friends, listening to music, reading a book, eating marshmallows, cooking tea on the camp fire.

You have to watch out from the ants and insects, they will attack as soon as they smell food and they are very persistent.

Do not worry about seeing flashing lights in the sky, it’s not UFOs, it’s the discotheques in Sharm El Sheikh.

Here is a map of the protectorate from Parks Egypt

It’s a great experience, you have to try it, it’s one of the most amazing places in the world, it’s really fun and you’ll never forget the adventure of camping there.

Am going to Ras Mohammed protectorate today i’ll be camping there for 2 days.

With nothing but 3 of my friends, sleeping bags and canned food….we’ll see if we’ll survive

Pictures by Anel Van Veelen

Expect new stories to tell when am back

كان الكلام من فضة….دلوقتى أصبح دهب البرنامج دة كان رخم أوى و طارق علام إنسان مستفز و بيتريق على الناس مع أنو حمار
Anyway, that is not our topic, am talking about Dahab, the City.

Arriving to Dahab at 5:30am, i found an hotel back in Cairo that had a nice website, it’s called “Alf Leila” off course, no one was at the reception, so i went to the bakery attached to the hotel, it’s a German bakery, runned by Ralph… i did not have a reservation, but i made a phone call the day before and i checked the hotel was not fully booked so i could take a room on the spot.

The hotel is very well decorated, it’s small, but it makes you feel like you’re in Morocco or something, we got a double room with 2 small beds with a bathroom attached it costs 190LE\night, there was a free WiFi in the hotel and the room had clean towels, shampoo and shower gel.

We woke up 4 hours later, went to the bakery, Ralph had some freshly baked croissants and cheesecakes, i had some with a cappuccino in the hotel garden in the fresh breeze, it was the best breakfast ever, the hotel does not have a sea view, the sea is only 3mins walking, but other buildings are blocking the view. Instead, the hotel have a great mountain view

Do not ask me how i got this energy, i haven’t slept more than 4 hours after all this driving and partying, but i was refreshed and relaxed, i think this is because of the weather and the view. The weather in Sinai now is amazingly excellent… Its sunny, but not hot in the day, its not cold at night, and there is always a nice breeze of air day or night.

We then headed to the beach in Dahab, Dahab is a place for divers and snorkelers, but it’s not really friendly for kids or a walk on the beach and stuff, there is no sand, it’s rocks on the shore…
Anyway, there are a lor of cafeterias and dive centers on the beach, we stayed in one of the cafeterias, had an ice cream and relaxed on the beach a bit, watching people diving near us. Dahab is full with english speaking foreigners, mostly British and Germans, not like Sharm where it’s mostly Russians, or Taba where it’s mostly Israelis.

We then took a walk in the city, a guy there tried to offer us a trip to the Blue Hole for 100le. Which we thought was a rip-off…and it was.
We took my poor car, and drove to the Blue Hole, its 5 KM away from Dahab, after the main road ended after 2km, it was difficult to go with the car, so we found people in Jeeps, trying to get us to go with them, for 60LE…then one of the bedouins told us they are trying to rip us off, so we proceeded with the car. it’s not so bad, you just have to go very slowly, and watch out for the rocks on your way. It went with no damage thank God, you then arrive 200 meters before the blue hole and a normal car cannot proceed, so you can either walk, or hitch hike like we did

The Blue Hole is amazing, it’s very busy and filled with tourists diving and snorkeling, a few shops renting diving and snorkeling equipments, and a few cafeterias.

The snorkeling equipment cost 20le\person, for the mask, fins and that breathing pipe i don’t know the name for.
The place is just like what you see in Animal Planet, or if you remember Dr. Gohar, from 3alam el be7ar…hundreds of fishes surrounding you, with bright colors it was marvelous.

We finished in the Blue Hole, went back to the hotel, had our shower, i had a cheese cake from the bakery, it was the best cheese cake i ever tasted, you must try if you ever go Dahab.
Then we headed to Rush…..Rush is located on the beach, next to Tota’s (the discotheque) …the place have a small garden, a few tables, a small swimming pool next to the bar. a Dance floor, and plays some very nice Chill Out music.

I heard that the food there was excellent, and that they had a new chef.

But they were wrong, it’s more than excellent, i can say that this is one of the BEST meals i ever had in my life…the chef is from Holland, the waitress too… They served a garlic and butter with bread as appetizer, followed by a green salad with mayonnaise…my main dish was Fried Shrimps with Fruits, it may sound funny, but trust me, its like you never tasted before, the dish is served with baked potatos, and i chose a Calamari salad which was excellent too, and a drink…the food came a bit late, but that because it was the first day for the waitress at work, she made a mistake and 3 different persons came and apologized for the food being late, which is a behavior i never seen in any Egyptian restaurant before.

After the meal, we had a tea with mint (the mint was not fresh they used ISIS, el 7ayah ba2et organic) i tried a Shisha mooz (banana), it was not as bad as i expected, the shisha itself was great, the flavor of banana is acceptable. All this costs 100LE, which i paid happily.

It was around 10:00pm, and there was a party starting at midnight for 35LE , everyone recommended it, so we decided to hang around in the city a bit, go pack our stuff at the hotel, checkout, attend the party then head to Taba.

Well, long story short, we fell asleep while packing and we missed the party, i woke up at 5:30am, trying to wake up my friend who was like a dead zombie, refusing to wakeup.

I take my shower and have a freshly baked Cinnamon roll with nescafe at the bakery (i just love that bakery, Leila’s bakery its called – they also have a Sushi party every week or so, it was on Sunday this week and i couldn’t attend it) we then headed to Taba.

To be continued….