Sleeping out is not necessary on most challenges. Over 12 hours, there is no need to sleep. On the 24 hour challenge, a few hours might be possible but most hikers walk straight through and sleep on their return. At the moderate, 72 hour pace, two nights can be spent in the mountains. Wild camping is an option: it is possible to sleep under the stars, either in the wadis or on a peak. Jebel Katherina also has a stone hut/ hiking shelter which gives a refuge on the summit. Otherwise, Bedouin orchards are the best spots for sleeping. These have wells, stone huts, bamboo canopies, groves of trees and welcoming Bedouin hosts. These orchards once thrived all over the mountains and were an integral part of the local Bedouin culture, but many are in decline today as the Sinai changes in modern times.
Some orchard owners offer accommodation to hikers, diversifying their business to find new income streams. These gardens are the Sinai’s own signature type of hiking lodge, like the tea houses of Nepal, the refuges of Morocco or mountain huts of the Alps. Even if you don’t sleep, Bedouin orchards can be places to stop, shelter, eat and re-fill water bottles. In using them, and putting money in the pockets of the owners who keep them alive today, you’ll help to save a living piece of the Sinai’s history.
Orchards offering accommodation at convenient points are listed below and are also marked on the Trail Map. Contact owners in advance so they can prepare. This can be done through Bedouin guides.
HUSSEIN ABU TARAWA’S GARDEN – Wadi Zawatin, after Jebel Abbas Basha. Stone room for sleeping upto eight people & bamboo shelter for outside sleeping. Pitches for tents among trees. LE50 per person per night. Extra meals LE50-80 per person. Amenities: drinking water from a deep well, composting toilet, fresh fruit in season.
UMM SAAD’S GARDEN – Wadi Zawatin, after Jebel Abbas Basha. Stone room and shelter for upto 12 people. Separate stone rooms further down the wadi can accommodate 30 people if required. LE50 per person per night. Extra meals LE50-80 per person. Amenities: drinking water, fresh fruit in season.
ODA MOHAMMED’S GARDEN – Wadi Shagg, after Jebel Abbas Basha. Stone room for sleeping upto eight people, plus simple bamboo canopies & pitches for tents among trees. LE50 per person per night. Extra meals LE50-80 per person. Amenities: drinking water, composting toilet, fresh fruit in season.
RAMADAN’S GARDEN – Wadi el Arbain, first after Jebel Katherina. Stone rooms & shelters for upto 80 people & pitches among trees at LE50 per person per night. Furnished stone room sleeping 4 people per night. Extra meals LE50-80 per person. Amenities: drinking water, composting toilet, fresh fruit in season.
