How Bedouin culture is shaping tourism in Egypt’s Sinai desert

Said Khedr is a Bedouin man who grew up in Egypt’s Sinai Desert, dreaming of the ocean. He now lives in Dahab, a coastal town on the Sinai Peninsula.

“The first time I came to Dahab was with my father, in 1983,” he says. “It was my first time seeing the sea. Back home in the desert, I would close my eyes and see the amazing colours of the coral reef, and the blue water stretching all the way to Saudi. Unsurprisingly, when I finished school, I returned to Dahab.”

In the past couple of decades, many Bedouin people have found jobs working in the mass tourism sector, in the hotels and resorts of the Sinai Peninsula, but this line of work didn’t appeal to Said. Instead, he became one of the first Bedouin divemasters in Dahab. He later developed camel diving safaris - a unique experience that involved travelling via camel across the Sinai Desert to reach pristine diving sites rarely (if never) accessed by tourists.

Not only did it appeal to his nomadic spirit, and allow him to employ members of his community, it also attracted tourists looking to experience a more remote, less explored side of Egypt than ordinarily provided by mass market tourism.