A brief excursion with the family

I have just returned from an absolutely fantastic break away from work with my spirits refreshed and my outlook on Cairo revitalised.  Ithink it was a wise person who said that laughter is the best medicine and it is safe to say that I have done a lot of that during the past 7 days.

I have come to the conclusion in my time here so far that the easiest way for me, at least, to deal with the sometimes incomparable differences between Egyptian and British life, and the inevitable culture shock that I have suffered and continue to suffer from, is to look at all the events which unfold with a good sense of humour. Nothing has allowed me to do this more than the timely arrival of my sister and her boyfriend, who both tend to see the funny side of everything and so encourage me to do the same; and hence we indulge in relentless witty banter whenever we get together.

Reunited with my sibling after a four month separation, we took to the road in a night bus almost immediately after their arrival in order to get to Sharm El Sheikh where she – a hardcore fish fan–was going to put her new diving certification to use in her first ever open water dive.

A little note here about the safety of the coach journey, as I know that there have been a number of recent and historic incidents in the local news about bus crashes and tourist deaths in the desert. In fact, even on my return from holiday today I have been informed by a colleague that local news had reported a fatal crash whilst I was away and at the same time as I was travelling; which was a little unnerving to say the least.All I can say is yes, there is a risk when travelling by bus and this can’t be escaped. I have talked about the apparent lack of road rule adherence and enforcement in Cairo in a previous blog and to be honest the same carelessness definitely seems to apply even in the tourist areas and, by comparison to the UK at least I have good reason to suspect that there is a very high accident rate on the roads. However, in the defence of the coach companies the news reports of the road accidents that have happened in recent months should be looked at in context. Dozens of coaches make their way from Cairo to Sharm(and all around the area) both night and day, on a daily basis, reinforcing the fact that you can definitely get to Cairo from Sharm in one piece!If you are a little perturbed by the thought of travelling long distance by local bus then the best way to go would be via domestic flight. These range from between 300 to 800 LE and are frequently departing from Cairo International airport.

With the coach journey survived, we took a cab to the basic yet perfectly adequate and quite pretty self-catering holiday resort called Delta Sharm. Sharm El Sheikh is quite simply a long strip of touristic resorts and beaches, broken up by expanses of desert. The area itself, the Red Sea, is most famous for its coral reef, which is quite probably being over-exploited by the tourist industry and which has almost certainly benefited from the acute lack of tourism that the area has seen in the last 12 months, due to the effects of the revolution.

Nevertheless, the Sharm coral is one of the only winners of this particular era (and Red Sea conservation is another whole topic). The unfortunate side-effect of the Egyptian Revolution is that the tourist industry in the country has plummeted and many, many people have lost their jobs and businesses in the aftermath.

When I first started my Egyptian adventure 12 months ago to the day, it was simply with a holiday with a friend to a fantastic little hotel called the Royal Albatross. At this time Egypt and its rioting was in international news almost daily and as a direct result the Red Sea area was like the Mary Celeste; totally abandoned, despite being 7 hours away from the violence and completely unaffected.

In June last year, on my second Sharm holiday, we still saw very little by way of tourism and workers seemed grateful for our custom. However, one year on and it is safe to say that small glimmers of life are beginning to reappear which is very good news for locals whose livelihoods are this industry. This time around I saw many Egyptians holidaying with us and taking advantage of the off peak season, but I also saw a  fair amount of foreigners taking their chances despite any bad press that Sinai and its surrounds has had.

I must admit even I had been having my reservations about the mini-break after hearing the news of the multiple kidnappings. However I did my research and went to a tour company owned by a friend who I trusted for adviceand to book all of the trips so we remained safe and felt very well looked after during our stay. We even ventured into the desert and into a Bedouin tent on a fantastic quad bike safari! I personally erred on the side of caution still, and opted not to bookany of the long desert trips that are on offeron the recommendation of the tour company. These trips take you to remote areas that are not as well policed,which is not really a good idea at present. In fact, even the British Embassy site itself recommends only essential travel to these parts of the country at the moment.I am sure that will change in due course.

Diving and snorkeling, beach fun and the nightlife are all still happening and we took advantage of them all! I cannot wait to take another trip in the height of the holiday season, when more people are filling the resorts and the bars and bringing the buzz back to the area.

Back in Cairo we also saw signs of tourism still happening as people from all nationalities, including Egyptians,enjoyed the famous landmarks and tourist attraction alongside us. It was a positive sign but there is still a long way to go until the industry is restored back to full health. The presidential elections are this year and so the topic of tourism will hopefully be a priority for the newly instated government. One can only hope so, as without tourism a very large chunk of Egypt’s workforce will continue to remain unemployed and spiraling into poverty. IH Cairo ILI is still working hard to send students off to experience the sights and sounds of the city and hopefully our work and the work of other companies like ours will help to slowly bring this brilliant holiday destination back to its former heyday.

The museum of Egypt