The desert can be harsh, unforgiving, mysterious, silently dazzling. But it can also generate emotions that last a lifetime. It can be outstandingly beautiful, with its dense silence, the million-star sky, the other-worldly sights. A walk on the moon, if you like. And a way to discover the hidden heart of Egypt, if you are lucky enough to get to know the original tribes who roam the vast expanses of apparent nothingness since centuries. One of the best places in the Red Sea Riviera to come close to desert “perfection” is the Wadi el Gemal National Park, in the Deep South some 40km after Marsa Alam. The park is a protected area which covers nearly 100km of coastal blissness (tropical palm groves, mangrove bays, paradisiacal white-sand beaches), and a 60km-deep wadi, or dried riverbed, well into the Eastern Desert. The area is protected due to its peculiar biodiversity and the wealth of greenery. It comprises, besides the aforementioned coastal area, the vast wadi itself, and a mountain range of impressive colours and geological importance. In the heart of the park there is, since May 2005, the very first private eco-lodge following exacting standards of environment conservation in Egypt, and the first tented camp to be set up in one of Egypt’s national parks. The Fustat Wadi el Gemal Eco-lodge is a tented lodge located 6km inland from the EEAA office at Wadi el Gemal National Park. The name “Fustat” denotes in Arabic “tented camp”. It is an eco-tourism project intended to expose the beauty of the National Park by educating and informing its tourists about the ecology, geology, geography and history of Wadi el Gemal and the surrounding areas. The employees of the lodge are mainly indigenous inhabitants of Wadi el Gemal, belonging to the Ababda tribes. They constitute one of four branches of the Beja tribes, known historically as the Blemmyes who were in constant war with the Romans, until they were finally subsidized by the conquerors. The Ababda are nomadic pastoralists, who graze their herds on the vegetation found in the wadi. They are very superstitious and are indifferent toward material things, have a deep respect for nature, are self-sufficient, hospitable and have great tribal solidarity. The park organises regular guided tours of different lengths and types, to best suit the interests and time of the visitors. All are guided by a highly professional specialist guide as well as a local Beja guide. The two complement each other with the type of information they give you on the tour with topics ranging from ecology and geology to history and traditional knowledge of the Beja tribes. |