PLEASE PRINT THIS INFO AND KEEP IT WITH YOU. ALSO PRINT THE FOLLOWING MAP:<br>
http://ecolodges.saharasafaris.org/alkarm/karmmapsat.jpg<br>
<br>
AlKarm is not just the 6 Bedouin houses (rooms) and their kitchen and facilities 
only, it's the whole valley and garden attached to it. In daytime, you don't 
stay in the room or just walk in between the houses (rooms), but you take walks 
around some of the most spectacular landscape loaded with millenia of human 
heritage and eons of geological wonders. This and in near place is where some of 
the best hikes in the world will be waiting for you under the Sun. And the most 
memorable star-lit sessions to chat with friends around the fire by night. The 
Bedouins won't be just your hosts, but your guides to the trails and enjoying 
the landscape.<br>
<br>
HIKING<br>
======<br>
Here are some recommended walks/treks/hikes (excluding the 'entering' walk of 
Nagb Haawa). They all need a guide and are ordered in difficulty from easy to 
harder:<br>
<br>
-ELSADDA: nice and easy hike that is shhort and fit some afternoon for just 
couple of hours in wadi elGharba (same wadi that has AlKarm). It could be done 
if you've just checked in and wish to start in enthusiasm some exploration.<br>
<br>
-ELKHARAZA at the feet of the 'whitish' GEBEL ELBANAT: specially nice is the 
easy walk on the steep sides of the smallish mountains before Mt elBanat. It 
gets rough if you wish to get further in elNogra.<br>
<br>
-GRAA EL-SAF7A: couple of hours of walkk across humped hills lined by wall-like 
dark basaltic dikes. You reach the c. 2000 Nabatean village at the feet of a 
rocky hill in Wadi elSaf7a. WARNING: DON'T MOVE A PARTICLE IN THE PLACE.<br>
<br>
-WADI ITLA7: Narrow-bottomed wadis withh amazing huge house-sized boulders 
spotting the sides and bottom of the wadis. You can start from Nagb Haawa and 
end in Seil elTal3a.<br>
<br>
-GEBEL ELBANAT: tough hike that needs aa long day to do. You can do it in one 
day if you're in winter and start no later than 8pm.<br>
<br>
-GEBEL TARBUSH: tough one that takes frrom early dawn to evening. Needs some 
preparations and to reach the top you might need some skills and ropes. Might be 
very cold up there during winter. Could fit in 2 days hike spending the night at 
the Gebel.<br>
<br>
There should be much more, when you get to know the place. All must be guided 
with approx LE50 per day for the guide (if you're five together it's LE10 each) 
plus tips. For tough hikes you pay 50%-100% more for the guide.<br>
<br>
<br>
FOUR-WHEELING<br>
==============<br>
If you have your 4x4 and can handle sand and gravel, hire a guide from Jameel's 
family in the Ecolodge to:<br>
<br>
-the Nabatean archaeological site in WAADI SAF7A: same builders who once reined 
from town of Petra in Jordan. Notice how they had very low doors, narrow and 
high windows and interestingly high walls and ceilings. Notice also the fixtures 
in the walls from the inside for niches, racks and how rectangular are the walls 
in plan and how the bricks are arranged to build a wall without mortar. See any 
similarity to the bedouin ecolodge?<br>
<br>
-NAWAMIS of Wadi Slaf: 5000+ years old buildings that predates the Egyptian 
pyramids. First domed ceilings structures in history. Why they were built by 
StoneAge man, nobody is really sure. They exist mysteriously in so many places 
around Sinai. This is one of the least known sites in an archaeological sense.<br>
<br>
<br>
All above landscapes are typical igneous mountains with non-flat peaks and 
tower-like forms (in contrast to flat-topped canyons-engraved sedimentary 
landscapes)<br>
<br>
If you wish to stay and relax, go sit in shades between rooms, behind reception 
at restaurant, at the orchard or downhill around the ecolodge in the Wadi 
elGharba (don't sit in the sun, too strong). Ask for tea with mountains mint 
(7abag from ecolodges orchard) or &quot;rabel&quot; herbal drink to be brought to you 
every now and then! :) Meditate, chat with a friend, read a book, or just have a 
nap. The weather will be just fantastic and bit 'cold' when in shade.<br>
<br>
PRICING (always check with AlKarm)<br>
==================================<br>
-LE50 one night per person<br>
-LE15 breakafast<br>
-LE25 dinner<br>
-LE5-10 light lunch<br>
-LE2.5 mineral water bottles<br>
-LE60 guide per day<br>
-check with AlKarm for other items<br>
(thanks Khaled Reda)<br>
<br>
<br>
SaharaSafaris TRADITION IS TO SHARE EXPERIENCES. DON'T BE SHY TO MENTION BRIEFLY 
WHAT COULD BE ENJOYED MORE THAT OTHERS MIGHT HAVE MISSED.<br>
<br>
Salaam,<br>
Mohamed Mabrouk<br>
desertmoh@yahoo.com<br>
2006 May<p>http://ecolodges.saharasafaris.org/alkarm/<br>
-----------------</p>