By THE ADVENTURE COMPANY
I have always had an interest in Egypt and the impressive ancient culture and spectacular architecture it produced. I jumped at the chance to take a trip to this exciting country and see the pyramids whilst enjoying the desert experience. I decided to try one of the trekking holidays from the Cairo pyramids to Dahab.
Solo travel is a great way of meeting other budding travellers and I was pleased when I found out that there would be 12 of us in the group. All of us were relatively young and fit with an interest in culture and trekking. I enjoy walking holidays and have been on a number of solo holidays previously, so this trip gave me a great group to go with. It was amazing to visit Cairo as I found this city to be an exciting assault on the senses in many ways; with 15 million people living there, it’s an animated, vivacious city that is fantastic if you can avoid the cars spiralling past you! The Khan El- Khalili Market is particularly beautiful at night when lit up; we took our time sipping the aromatic sweet mint tea whilst enjoying the atmosphere.
The next day we took a trip to Giza to see the Pyramids. Nothing can prepare you for the sight of these overwhelming pyramids that dominate the landscape. The view from a distance is best as up close it is more difficult to appreciate the tremendous nature of these giant structures. There were a huge number of interesting artefacts in the Egyptian Museum, it surely helped to have a guide that could give me all the information I could want. The highlight of the museum was the Tutankhamen collection which featured many of the treasures I remember reading about as a child.
Our next adventure was to the Sinai Desert. Here we took a hike up Mount Sinai (2285 m). The hike started at 12.30 am which certainly added to the challenge! The trek itself made up for it with one of the most spectacular sunrises I have seen. Things did get a bit chilly as we reached the summit; so I was glad I had brought layers. After we went to see the famous St Catherine’s Monastery before continuing on to the desert resort of Dahab.
Dahab was fantastic for its superb snorkelling with stunning offshore corals. The gorgeous warm waters were incredible for unwinding and seeing the magnificent multi-coloured fish. Next on the trip was a spot of camel trekking where we had to contend with bad-mannered camels that seemed to take pleasure in their own grumpiness. This activity led to much hilarity in our group. This town had a relaxed bohemian feel that made an idyllic end to the trip. By the time we had to start thinking about getting back home, I was sad to part with the rest of the group; this was a great adventure and one which I will always remember.
This guest post was authored by Frank from The Adventure Company, an adventure holidays provider.