Around Hurghada in the Eastern Desert

The Eastern Desert


You enter a quite different world when you cross the Nile from the sandy Western Desert to the mountainous and rocky Eastern one. Still dry and arid, but this time there are hills, and valleys and wadis, cutting through the whole area from the Red Sea to the Nile River



Monastery of St Anthony


St Anthony (251-356AD) is considered to be one of the founders of Christian monasticism and as such the monastery ranks as the oldest in the world. 320meters above the monastery is the cave where St Anthony lived. Climb the 1158 steps which will take over half and hour to get to the cave. The entrance is tinybut it widens out into the tiny chapel where the monk worshipped. It is hard to imagine living here for forty years- but of such commitment monasteries are built.



Climb Egypt’s highest Peak- Gebel Shayib


Egypt’s highest continental African peak is Gebel Shayib- the overall highest being Gebel Katarina in the Sinai, which is classed as Asia. Gebel Shayib is revered as a mountain of mystical importance to the M’aaza and when one climbs in the early dawn and sees the exquisite rainbow effect of the sun shining through a ‘mist oasis’ one can understand their reverence.