• Home • About Us • Private Trips • Contact Us •  

Traveling with group leader Doug Baum provides an insight into the local culture that is just not available otherwise. Baum's relationships among the Bedouin with whom you'll stay in the Sinai started out not as a business venture, but as a cultural connection he was seeking. Doug, a camel trek guide in Texas since 1999, longed for more knowledge about the camel and its role in the lives of nomads and semi-nomadic peoples.

 

After much searching, Doug was "connected" with Saleh bin Suleiman of the Muzeina Bedouin tribe in South Sinai. The bond forged between the two transcends commerce. Baum is welcomed and accepted as family into the homes and tents of Saleh and his extended relations and, by association, so are the guests who accompany him. 

 

Doug made numerous visits before the idea to guide trips in Egypt was ever thought of. In fact, Baum feared that exploiting these very relationships might ruin what he loved so much. The economic impact that is left on Saleh's family is key in Doug's mind, to his reconciling bringing guests into what was, in the beginning, a very private journey for him. It is with the utmost responsibility and sensitivity that Doug operates his trips to maintain this credibility.

 

Bedouin children come running from the village at Wadi Samghi when they hear that "Doo-glas" is approaching. The silly magic tricks he's taught them are mimicked by the kids visit after visit. Ask Baum, though, and he'll tell you he's received far more from the Bedouin than they've ever received from him. Doug is honored to share these relationships and knows that far after your memory of the Pyramids and the sight, sounds and smells of the souks fade, it will be these bonds that you recall when remembering your trip to Egypt and Sinai. 

Day one: Your Cairo arrival. Overnight in the home of an Egyptian family.

Day two: Cairo sightseeing: camel market of Birqash and
Sphinx/Pyramids of Giza. Dervish dancing in the evening. Return to
your Egyptian family's home.

Day three: Private transfer to Sinai. Overnight in 3 or 4 star
accommodations on Red Sea.

Day four: Take van/bus to port of Taba, Egypt for ferry to Aqaba,
Jordan, then bus to Petra and back, with lunch. Ferry back to Taba,
then van/bus back to 3 or 4 star accommodations on the Red Sea that night.

Day five: Half-day snorkel in Red Sea (optional, at additional cost),
then transfer to desert and camels at village of Wadi Samghi. Camel
trek to area called Wadi Arwaybayya. Overnight in Bedouin goat-hair
tent.

Day six: Trek from Arwaybayya to oasis of Ain Khudra. Side hike
(optional) along the way into place called Closed Canyon. Overnight at oasis in palm-thatched hut.

Day seven: Trek from Ain Khudra past Maktoub, an Inscription Rock
(Nabataean, Greek, Arabic inscriptions), to area in open desert called Burgaa. Overnight in open desert.

Day eight: Trek from Burgaa to area near Bir Safra ("yellow well").
Overnight in open desert.

Day nine: Trek from Bir Safra to area called Wadi Nawamis, home to
4,500-year old, stone tombs. After lunch, short ride to meet vehicle,
then transfer to town of St. Catherine, near Mt. Sinai. Overnight in
Monastery Guest House.

Day ten: Early morning hike (optional) up Mt. Sinai, returning by 9
for breakfast, then tour Christian monastery of St. Catherine (1,600
years old). Afternoon transfer back to Cairo. Return to our Cairo
host's home.

Day eleven: Cairo sightseeing - Citadel (seat of Egyptian government for over 600 years), Gayer-Anderson Museum (two 16th/17th century homes, joined by a British officer, serving in Cairo in the 1930's), Ibn Tulun mosque (one of the largest and oldest in Egypt; unique for its minaret, patterned after one in Samarra, Iraq) and Khan el Khalili market (medieval bazaar, portions of which date to 1382). Dinner and overnight in our Egyptian host's home.

Day twelve: Cairo sightseeing - morning at Egyptian Museum. Afternoon open for free time. Dinner and overnight in our Egyptian host's home.

Day thirteen: Depart home or connect to your next destination.