Sometimes, because it is such an alien landscape, it appears that
a large meteorite must have fallen out of the sky and lodged itself
between Africa and Asia to form the
Sinai. That's really
not what happened. In fact, millions of years ago, the Sinai formed
a part of Africa and Arabia in a land mass we now call the Great
Rift Valley. Over the millenniums however, the continental plates,
volcanic activity and other factors tore the Sinai away from its
neighboring continents, while also thrusting up great rocky
mountains. Its former connection to Africa and Arabia are,
nevertheless, echoed by the terrain in Africa, across
the Gulf of
Suez and in Arabia, across the Gulf of Aquaba.
We tend to think of deserts as vast expanses of sand, sometimes
in the form of rolling sand dunes, almost devoid of any vegetation
and animal life, with the exception of an occasional oasis, snakes,
scorpions and vultures. In reality, even in the Western Desert of
Egypt, a part of the larger Sahara, that is not the case. Here,
there is of course the Great Sand Sea, which fits that description
fairly well, but in other places there is considerable vegetation
and many different
desert animals, including mice, foxes, cats and
others.
But the Sinai, perhaps even more so in its mountainous southern interior, is also a desert. This is a very dry region, which receives almost no rainfall. There is some underground water, that produces the Oasis in the Sinai, but only in low lying regions. Hence, there is some vegetation, particularly in low lying regions, but outside of the oases, it is certainly less prevalent than many places in the Western Desert. Mostly, this vegetation is made up of small Acacia trees and a bit of grass or small weeds. Otherwise, and specifically within the mountains themselves, the landscape is particularly barren.
Visitors to the Sinai
have a difficult time imagining that any form of life could exist
here, at least away from the major oasis, and yet it does, and even
in some of its most desolate regions. Some sources list scores of
reptiles, but there are also ibex and foxes, rodents and, though
possibly extinct now, even panthers, along with a host of other
animals. I was even shocked to find, half way down Mount Sinai the
following day, a house cat, intent on making its living off of
sympathetic tourists. A visitor to the
Sinai is
unlikely to see many of the wild animals, but here and there, one may spot a
wild camel. Perhaps even more surprising though, are the people that
one may encounter, sometimes seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
Outside of major villages, most Bedouins live in very small tribal
communities. Some are nomadic, while others are not. For example,
the tribe of Bedouins who live around Mount Sinai are mostly not
nomadic. Indeed, one finds small communities of Bedouins here and
there who have established some sort of tourist trade,
sometimes
selling trinkets at locations where tours tend to stop.
Nowhere is the geology of the Sinai more dramatic than within its southern interior, and on October 5th, we headed into this part of the Sinai. We would spend this day and part of the next, first exploring and then climbing Mount Sinai, or as it is known to the Egyptians, Mount Moses (Gebel Musa).
As we departed Dahab, the sun was rising over a quite Gulf of Aqaba. However, soon, we made our way over the coastal mountains and very shortly the grand mountains of its interior became visible. What will probably first impress visitors to this part of the Sinai, aside from the majestic mountains themselves, are the colorful veins of rock that flow through these otherwise granite peaks. These formations were created when this part of the Sinai's mountains were pushed up by volcanic action from the seabed.
These formations brought early visitors to the
Sinai. Like so often in
human history, much of the Sinai's exploration took place because of
commercial considerations, mainly to exploit its mineral
wealth.
From almost the earliest times, Egyptians journeyed to the Sinai for
this reason, and later they developed permanent mining communities.
Also, one will frequently see hills and large rock formations that are almost completely covered by sand, creating a spectacular effect of light sand and dark rock. Often, ridges along the tops are all that are visible of the hill below. In other places, vast quantities of sand creeps up the sides of mountains along the bottom of valleys to amazing heights. I have been here many times and yet this part of the Sinai always touches my imagination.
Colors, in the form of various minerals, seem to
cascade down a Sinai Mountain
On this day, we would spend much of the first part of the day
trying to find a good view of the interior mountains, sometimes
climbing smaller mountains ourselves in order to get good
photographic points of those more distant ones. It was an odd morning,
punctuated by driving as far up hills as we could and then climbing
the rest of the way in order to walk along
mountain ridges. At other times, we harassed the occasional wild
camel
that didn't care about having its picture taken along side of the
road. I actually like camels, but I thought at any moment I would be
kicked or at least spit upon.
Our ambitions for this day were not great, as the following day
would be difficult, when I would ascend
Mount Sinai.
We passed by St. Catherine's village without stopping, as we would
return in the afternoon and overnight there (if one wishes to call
getting up at 1:00 the next morning actually overnighting).
Interestingly, soon after St. Catherine's village, we made
a discovery of an error that will have to be corrected on Tour Egypt.
We have mistakenly referred to the monastery, actually convent, west of the Feiran (Pharan in biblical sources) Oasis as
being that of the Seven Girls Monastery. We did so after
much research, but in fact, in revisiting the area, we discovered the
real Seven Girls Monastery on the way to the
Feiran Oasis. It was
in the process of being restored, it seems, and while we were not
allowed to enter, we managed to get some good shots from outside. We
suspect that one day in the near future, this small facility may be
reoccupied, perhaps as another dependency of the St. Catherine's
Monastery. One wonders, in fact, whether the popularity of
St.
Catherine's Monastery has not created a need for expansion.
Actually, it is not all too surprising that we could make such an error. In reality, the area around the Feiran Oasis is littered with ancient churches and perhaps more monasteries than we know. In fact, we ran across one walled enclosure, just about in the middle of nowhere, covering some considerable ground that we could not at all figure out. It may or may not have been a monastery, and we could find any markings are anyone around to inform us. However, it contained very little in the way of structures, mostly protecting only the rock landscape. I personally wonder if it is not a modern monastery in the making.
The alien landscape of the Southern Central Sinai
In fact, this Oasis was once the See of the first Bishopric
of the Sinai Peninsula. The Feiran Oasis, which receives a good number
of tourists,
though not like other sites such as
St. Catherine's
Monastery, is traditionally an important religious site. Here,
it is said, is the location where Moses struck the rock with his
staff to bring forth a spring so his people could drink. It is also
refuted to be the site of Rafadim, the fabled oasis where the
Hebrews camped and battled the Amelecites. Atop a hill here known as
Mount Tahoun, is where Moses supposedly stood to observe the battle.
Not in question is the ancient church built atop the hill, nor is
there any question of this oasis' early importance to Christians.
Valleys and mountains of the central Sinai
We spent a little time at the
Feiran Oasis before
moving on to the Monastery we misnamed as that of the Seven Girls.
This monastery does receive a few visitors, though not too many.
They were a bit surprised when we showed up, as I am sure they
usually receive a bit of advanced warning when tour groups show up.
Once again, this was really not my first visit to the monastery,
though this time we specifically asked its name. At first, we were
told by a gate keeper that it was the
Seven Girls Monastery, but
speaking to one of the nuns, we discovered that its real name is the
Monastery of Moses. It is a quite place; a pretty place with
gardens and atop a nearby hill, the ruins of a more ancient church.
It is not large though.
This is actually a dependency of the larger
St. Catherine's
Monastery (or more correctly, the Monastery of the
Transfiguration). Another error which we will soon correct is that
this is not a Greek Orthodox facility. Rather, St. Catherine's
Monastery and its dependencies
comprise the entire Church of Sinai,
actually an autonomous Orthodox organization headed by an archbishop who is also the abbot of St. Catherine's. The archbishop is
traditionally consecrated by the Patriarch of the Church of
Jerusalem, though he is not the patriarch's subject.
It should be noted that the
Monastery of Moses and the other dependencies of
St. Catherine's
Monastery are not as open to the public as many Coptic
monasteries, such as those at
Wadi el-
Natrun.
Actually, normal tourists to St. Catherine's Monastery are
only allowed into a very small area of the monastery, though the
Monastery of Moses seems more open. Still, no photography is allowed
in any of the old churches like at the Coptic monasteries.
After visiting this ancient monastery, we made some inquires
about others in the area, but soon we headed back to St. Catherine's
village, located at the foot of
Mount Sinai.
We actually made it back there relatively early in the afternoon and
had a pleasant time. A Russian group arrived at
our hotel at about
the same time as us, and they seemed a happy lot, not to mention
that the swimming pool was soon full of bikini clad girls, which did
nothing to harm the spirits of my team. Next door, I noticed that
the four star hotel, the best that St. Catherine's has to offer and
where I stayed on a previous visit, had various spirits for sale,
which surprised me during Ramadan, but perhaps shouldn't have. I
nevertheless abstained, knowing that tomorrow, October 6th, would
almost certainly be my hardest day in Egypt. The view at the top of
Mount Sinai may be rewarding, both photographically and spiritually,
but the journey is not an easy one.
I spent a lot of time on top of one mountain
photographing another during the leg of the survey
See Also:
- Survey to Egypt: Part I: Safety in Egypt
- Survey of Egypt, Part II: Ramadan Kareem
- Survey of Egypt, Part III: Wadi el-Natrun to Tanta
- Survey of Egypt, Part IV: Tanta to Alexandria
- Survey of Egypt, Part V: Alexandria
- Survey of Egypt, Part VI: Alexandria Continued
- Survey of Egypt, Part VII: Alexandria to Port Said
- Survey of Egypt, Part VIII: Port Said to Cairo
- Survey of Egypt, Part XI: Cairo to El-Arish
- Survey of Egypt, Part X: El-Arish to Dahab
- Survey of Egypt, Part XII: Mount Sinai and Sharm el-Sheikh
- Survey of Egypt, Part XIII: The Sinai West Coast
Write (or Read) a Comment on this Story
Last Updated: 11/07/2006