Friday March 29th, 2024
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‘Live Tribal’ With This Wild Guanabana Hike Along the Sinai Trail

From the Gulf of Aqaba to the mountains of St. Catherine, from the ghost town of Um Bogma to the palm trees of Wadi Baabaa, ‘Live Tribal’ hikes up the Sinai trail to explore Bedouin culture with WILD GUANABANA in our first #exploreEGYPT spotlight.

Staff Writer

‘Live Tribal’ With This Wild Guanabana Hike Along the Sinai Trail

As part of a new series, #CairoScene will be weekly spotlighting a recommended trip, tour or experience that will inspire you to #exploreEGYPT. We’ll do all the research and hard work curating the best packages so you only need click and book. And who better to help kick-start this new adventure than the region’s pioneering purveyors of sustainable adventure travel, WILD GUANABANA, founded by famed Egyptian mountaineer @omarsamra.


Nestled in between the ethereal mountains and desert landscapes of Sinai and managed by Bedouin tribes is the 550-km long Sinai trail. Starting at the Gulf of Aqaba and extending all the way to the mountains of St. Catherine, the trail has propelled sustainable tourism by supporting local marginalized Bedouin communities. Wild Guanabana has created truly immersive hiking experiences along the trail dubbed ‘Live Tribal’.


Our favourite ' Live Tribal' hike explores the ghost town of Um Bogma, which dates back to the time of the British mandate. As legend has it, a Bedouin man found manganese in the area and gave it to a British man. A group of engineers returned from the UK and built the town to find more. Described by visitors as post-apocalyptic, the space is filled with deep gorges that cut through granite among oases of palm trees.


The trip invites hikers to immerse themselves in Sinai’s endlessly rich cultural heritage, eating local Bedouin food, meeting its people, and learning basic camping skills. The five-day trip will see hikers climb to Wadi Sahow and stay near a village of the Hamada tribe, reach Um Bogma to check out the English mine, and explore the lush palms trees of Wadi Baabaa.


The trip is priced at EGP 4400 to EGP 5000 per person including VAT based on 8 pax including meals, round trip from Cairo to Serabit El-Khadem, Sinai. All accommodation is done on a double basis (tents and ecolodges) with local guides trained in first aid. Booking is available via https://wildguanabana.com/trip/live-tribal-64-77, where you can reserve the dates that best suit you. This trip is designed for intermediate hikers who can manage a 5-to-7-hour trek a day.