Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE RED S EA AND S I N AI
O
nce coveted by Egypt's pharaohs for its reserves of turquoise,
copper and gold, Sinai is now equally prized by tourists for its
white, palm-fringed sands and the limpid waters of the Red
Sea, rich with marine life. Its close association with key episodes from the
Old Testament also makes the Sinai's mountainous interior an area of
deep religious significance for Jews, Muslims and Christians alike.
The Sinai Peninsula forms a triangle
between the gulfs of Aqaba and
Suez, two finger-like extremities of
the Red Sea. Although the whole
of Sinai is Egyptian territory,
Israel and Jordan also have small
stretches of Red Sea coast at Eilat
and Aqaba, respectively.
The word “Sinai” probably
derives from “Sin”, the moon
god worshipped in Egypt
under the pharaohs. But
the region is better known
through the Bible as the “great
and terrible wilderness” negotiated
by Moses and his people in their
epic 40-year journey from Egypt to
the Promised Land. It's here that God
supposedly first spoke to Moses
through the medium of a burning
bush and here, on Mount Sinai, that
Moses received the Ten Command-
ments. The peninsula has been
crossed by countless armies,
including most recently that of
the Israelis, who held the
region from 1967 to 1982
when it was returned to Egypt
under the terms of the Camp
David peace treaty. In the
years since then tourism has
boomed as southern Sinai and
the peninsula's eastern coast
have been developed with all-
inclusive resorts, such as Sharm el-
Sheikh. But the wilderness is far
from tamed. Inland Sinai remains
virtually uninhabited with barren
mountains sheltering hidden oases
such as Feiran, with its thousands of
date palms. More dramatic still are
the underwater landscapes of the
Red Sea, where vast coral reefs
provide a home for more than 1,000
species of marine life, making for
one of the world's richest dive sites.
Divers filming at Eilat's Dolphin Reef
Central Sinai inland of Nuweiba, dramatic but accessible only by four-wheel-drive or camel
