Tuesday last week, 6 am, we left Sunrise Lodge in Ahmed’s capable hands and headed off into deepest Sinai to find the pharaonic turquoise mines at Serabit al Khadem. Although they’re not hugely far from El Tor, the capital of Sinai which lies roughly three hours’ drive from Dahab, we weren’t expecting to reach them until the next day. The rough outline for the trip was a day’s driving into the desert, overnighting somewhere or other, driving a little further to reach our destination, followed by another night in the desert and then making our way back to Dahab. Our destination was not only the turquoise mines but the temple of Hathor, situated at the top of a mountain range, the same mountain range pockmarked with the scars of ancient mines. In the end, of course, the journey was probably more significant than the destination, even though that was absolutely incredible. I’m now thinking about revisiting the “Ancient Egyptians were aliens” theories as that may actually bend my mind less than the reality of how they managed to build a temple at the top of a mountain.
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Far from barren - the desert bloom was beautiful, colourful and abundant
- Lunch cooking on day one, plus some company from a nearby village
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The "forest of pillars". It's one of the strangest things I've ever seen - something very hot indeed once bubbled up through the earth and made little tubes, different layers with different minerals. I have no other way to describe it - and no other info about it! Any help would be appreciated!
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Isis wings on a stela at Hathor temple, up in the mountains =)
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The temple
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A mined out pharaonic turquoise mine
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Playing in the desert sand
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A wadi of acacia trees
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A beautiful view... 'nuff said.
- Desert night begins… if only we could have taken pictures of the stars
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Our 5* Bedouin Tent, night two. We were separated from the goats by sacking. Nowt but authentic. Fab.
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- Our last lunch spot