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Canyoning in Sinai

A Bedouin rumour concerning a secret canyon located in southern Sinai reaches our ears in Cairo. Abu Khushayb canyon was reportedly explored in the 1970s. Apparently there are multiple drops, including one as high as 50m, and, in winter, descents into water pools. The Scottish adventurer and outdoor enthusiast Hamish Matheson accompanies me on a trip to Sinai to find out more. At last we roll up Wadi Feiran, past the convent and the extensive remains of a bishopric on the right. The sun is setting as we pass through the largest palm grove in Sinai. There is a red glow over Gebel Serbal, accepted by some historians to be the ‘Mountain of Law’ for several centuries prior to pilgrimages heading towards Gebel Musa. Climbing steadily we pass several police check points. Then we turn right and south towards St Katherine’s village, past the tomb of Nabi Salah where all the Bedouin tribes of Sinai gather each year, after the dates have ripened, for a moulid – with dancing and camel racing. The long and tiring journey of 240 miles draws to an end. I am later consoled that Major Jarvis, Governor of Sinai, took 13 hours, to complete this journey in the 1920s, and likely experienced mechanical difficulties.

Clan meeting at Fox camp. From left to right: Hamish, Mussallem, Faraj, Ahmed, Medhat, Dave. We are greeted at Desert Fox camp by Dave Lucas who is wearing a big grin and offers a bone crushing handshake. Dave will be leading our trip. He is an expert

mountaineer and professional guide, and has immersed himself in Sinai: training Bedouins in mountain rescue techniques and staking out new climbing and hiking routes as part of the Sheikh Sinai project (www.sheikhsina.com). I first met Dave at a climbing trip which he hosted at Umm Hashur last September. I greet Mussallem from the Tarab’een tribe, whom I have known for 3 years, and travelled with to remote and beautiful places in the Sinai Peninsula. Mussallem has journeyed cross-country westward from Nuweiba to join us. He possesses an extensive knowledge of the plants that inhabit Sinai – every one has a use to a Bedouin. The irascible but good-hearted Farag Mahmoud, runs ‘Fox’. I remind him of the bike trip he set-up two years ago that took us off-road from St Katherine’s to Dahab. Farag will drive us in the reverse direction, to the head of Abu Khushayb canyon, tomorrow morning. Farag is a member of the Gebilaya tribe who occupy these hills and are descendants of slaves sent from Walachia (now Southern Romania) by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian to protect St Katherine’s monastery in the 6th century.

Journey from St Katherine’s village to Abu Khushayb canyon. We sit cross-legged on mats in a cool open-walled straw-roofed hut and are offered tea. The refusal of Bedouin hospitality without good cause is a serious offence, and there is important etiquette concerning the order in who makes the tea, who pours the tea, and who first drinks the tea; and if violated can incur financial penalties from the local Sheikh. Incidentally Bedouin tea with ‘no sugar’ means with only one handful. The dinner conversation takes us back in time and around Sinai: the ill-fated expedition by Professor Palmer and his murder for gold

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sovereigns, the likely pilgrim’s route taken by Lawrence, the entertaining account of life in Sinai in the 1920s by Major C.S. Jarvis who describes the bisha’ truth test that involves placing a hot spoon on the defendant’s tongue. Dave and Mussallem describe their recent canyoning escapade near Wadi Wish Washi. Naturally talk turns towards our canyon trip. Farag recalls people visiting Abu Khushayb in the 1970s, and offers to drive us to the start of our adventure, via the Wadi Nasb Pass, tomorrow morning. The high altitude (1600m) at St Katherine’s keeps the temperature manageable during the night and I sleep soundly. In the early morning we divvy out the climbing gear, ropes, cooking equipment, and food. We are taking two 60m ropes and another old one that can be cut up for securing abseil anchors. Lastly and perhaps most importantly we pack water: 10 x 1.5 litre bottles each. It is mid-June and it will be scorching hot at the lower altitude of the canyon. Due to the excessive fluid weight we must cut back to bare essentials. For sleeping I take only a silk liner – no tent, no mat. We set-off in a fully laden Land Cruiser that takes us through the Wattiyah pass east across central Sinai, which affords great views – cutting through ancient red granite rocks, Nubian sandstone, and more recent lake deposits. Farag laments the building of this road within what was once a pristine wadi, rich in acacia trees, through which he travelled with his father by camel to Dahab. It is thought that the Sinai has slowly been deforested ever since the arrival of man and this accelerated with the introduction of goats. However the Bedouin have a great respect for trees and there is at least one tree revered in each wadi that cannot be felled. And if someone leaves property hanging from a tree then it should not be touched. We turn right and go off-road just 10km shy of Dahab bearing back west and along the winding Wadi Nasb. We drive past some areas fenced off that may still have live landmines. Wadi Nasb reportedly has many stone inscriptions, some dating to when Nabateans inhabited Sinai. However we do not have time to search for petroglyphs today. After 10km going back uphill in a northwest direction, we have a chance meeting with a baby camel

Three Nubian ibex. learning to walk with its mother. We pass over into Wadi Shalal, which in contrast is straight and strikes west southwest, parallel to the Aqaba transform. Suddenly the jeep comes to a halt. Mussallem’s keen eyes have sighted some Nubian Ibex. We clamber out excitedly, by which time these tremendously agile creatures have scampered up an impossibly steep slope and soon enough fade to mere silhouettes on the horizon. Ibex venture down from their mountain hideaways in the summer to drink from oases, where unfortunately they can provide easy game for Bedouin sharp shooters.

Farag explains the directions to the canyon as we set-off We continue and finally turn left into a small almost hidden wadi and climb up slowly until the car can advance no further. It is midday and the sun is relentless. We bid Farag and the driver farewell. With our 40kg packs we ascend a gradual slope. After only one hour Mussallem’s Bedouin wisdom is to stop and rest by some granite boulders that offer just enough shade for four bodies. Here we take respite until it becomes cooler. We pass the time with stone throwing competitions. Mussallem’s eyesight is remarkable for this, and also because he spots some fruit on a tree

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Waiting in the shade some two hundred metres away. Lasaf (Capparis sinaica) has a green skin that encloses a milky white pith, and is not to be confused with lasouf (Capparis aegyptia). When converted to a paste it tastes remarkably like Horse Radish sauce. We gather some twigs for a fire. Dry tamarisk wood is readily available in Sinai, and incidentally its sap is thought by some to be the ‘Manna from heaven’ referred to in biblical scriptures. Mussallem proceeds to knead dough and bake lebba bread. The secret to making good lebba is the quality of the fire and the resulting embers. The lasaf sauce provides a tasty dip. The remaining bread is stuffed into our pockets for snacks to be consumed later on.

Mussallem baking lebba bread in the embers. Notice the green lasaf fruits. It is now 3pm and we start to clamber up the steep ascent to Gebel Abu Khushayb. The blistering heat makes it slow going and I languish behind. We stop every 30 minutes or so to rest and drink copious amounts of water. Already I am thinking

about the remaining amount of water with possibly two more days ahead.

Hamish sets off on the afternoon climb up Gebel Abu Khushayb. Eventually we top out at an altitude of 1300m. We orient ourselves using the British map from the 1930s, arguably still the best available, and then descend down 200m or so into a small farsh.

Dave gazes out from the top of Gebel Abu Khushayb back in the direction we came. We set-up our camp near a small hollow. Mussallem has already disappeared to forage for fire wood. Interestingly ‘Abu Khushayb’ when translated literally means ‘Father of Wood’. This time Dave turns his hand to making lebba bread. We eat a hearty stew together with hummus, baked

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potatoes, and drink water, though now more conservatively.

The ever resourceful Mussallem looking gathering wood for the camp fire. Dave informs us that he has spent more nights camping during the past month than sleeping at ‘home’. Dave must experience a culture shock when he visits the ‘outside world’ and I envisage that he insists sleeping on the floor in hotels, just like Crocodile Dundee. As the light disappears we turn our heads out towards the celestial sphere. Sinai is surely one of the finest places to gaze at the stars, particularly when there is a new moon like tonight. Dave and Hamish identify some constellations. Mussallem, was born in the wild, as were many Sinai Bedus of his age (35) or older, and in turn explains how some stars can be used to signify the change in seasons and the planting or reaping of crops.

Mussallem tending to the cooking pot. I did not sleep at all during the night as I was too cold with only a liner. Besides it was uncomfortable with so many rocks poking into my body. Mussallem informs me that the clicking-scratching noises we heard during the night emanated from a scorpion. We make tea, eat some breakfast, and set-off.

British Sinai map from 1930s showing Abu Khushayb canyon (blue dashed line).

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Squeezing through the narrow slot canyon. Soon enough we encounter the first dry waterfall. It is 10-15m high. We don our helmets and harnesses, attach a karabiner, and clip in our abseil devices. Many novices enjoy the experience of abseiling at outdoor centres. However rock climbers feel uneasy with its potential seriousness.

Dave and Mussallem setting up an abseil anchor around a large boulder. Dave rigs up a retrievable abseil comprising two anchors. The rope is then

coiled and carefully thrown down. Dave abseils down first, as he is the heaviest and therefore the best load test of the system, using an auto bloc device. We then set up a rappel to slide the back packs down as they are quite unwieldy and would make abseiling trickier. It is not difficult to turn upside down and become stranded.

Rappelling the backpacks down. Mussallem, followed by myself, and finally Hamish, with an additional safety prussic knot, abb down. We pull the rope through vigorously, coil it up and then we find our way along the sinuous narrow steep-walled canyon floor over gravel beds and large boulders until the next drop. We continue in this manner abseiling down sections 10-25m high, followed by scrambling and squeezing along flatter sections.

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Mussallem abseiling down. There are no bolts drilled into the rock as you might find on a commercial canyoning trip. We generally find natural abseil anchor points – chock stones, flakes, and boulders. In places we discover old bits of sun-bleached rope – where people have been before and use these as principal anchors, together with removable back-ups that can be retrieved by the last person to abseil down. At one abseil there are no natural anchor points and Dave employs some nuts.

Dave showing us how to abseil in style. It is hot and we do not know what lies ahead, and ultimately how long it will take to reach the foot of the canyon. There is no way back either – it would be impossible to climb back out - even for

Dave. We are in a one-way chute and the only direction is along and down. The rescue index is nearly zero. In the interests of time coupled with the finite amount of water Dave decides that hereon we abseil with our packs on.

I abseil past an overhang before getting my hand caught under the rope. We rappel past several overhangs that require special attention. Hamish manages to invert himself, and I carelessly trap my hand under a tensioned rope. We manage to right ourselves thus avoiding the need for Dave to jumar up the abseil rope and assist. We progress through about 10 abbs and eventually find ourselves near an arched rock. Within a shaded almost cavernous section of the canyon we stop and brew tea, which I find more thirst quenching than the water which I seem to sweat out immediately. I wish I had hydrated properly - starting several days before the trip. We nibble on some bread and biscuits.

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Hamish is the last to abseil down a long 64m pitch. We still have not encountered any really big drops. However soon enough we turn a corner and are confronted with an impressive 40m sheer drop. Now the real fun begins. After rappelling to the bottom I take a photo but find it impossible to fit the whole face into the camera view finder.

Hamish halfway down the long descent. By now Dave can see that we are all becoming quite fatigued and decides to stop, and make a bottle of lemon juice using fresh fruits, sugar, and water. It tastes delicious and feeling slightly

invigorated we proceed and negotiate several more medium sized abseils. At one point we stumble upon an old bottle containing water. Surely this cannot be 30 years old! Has someone been here more recently? This seems at odds with the old rope fragments we have found. We test the water – it will be good enough for an evening brew. Further along we proceed to disappear through what seems like a hole in the canyon floor and proceed to crawl between some boulders before being confronted by an abyss.

Waiting anxiously at the top of the abseil to hear from Dave who is down below. We cannot see the bottom. One of the biggest abseiling dangers is the rope becoming stuck when throwing down or pulling through. For this reason Dave does not tie a knot at the end of the rope. However this means we have to be careful on a long descent to stop before the rope end passes through the abseil device. Dave disappears over the edge to check it out. There is a long eerie silence before we hear him shout out. Initially we cannot understand what he is saying however we are relieved to establish that he has made it to the bottom. I take a gulp and abseil down. After the first 10m I find myself going over an overhang and descending in mid-air for 15m. Ten minutes later as I approach the bottom I can see Dave. It transpires that the 60m rope is not long enough for this abseil and the last 4m has to be down-climbed. This pitch is roughly equivalent to the height of an 18 storey building.

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A large boulder trapped in the canyon walls. The next abseil is even larger - perhaps 80m. However this time there is a slot half-way down, that provides a recess and naturally splits the descent, where an impressive boulder lies trapped in the jaws of the canyon, and which provides a perfect anchor point for the final abseil of the day. We have not reached the end of the canyon and do not know how many more lie ahead. From the altimeter reading I estimate a worst case scenario that would entail another 15 drops. Periodically there is a warm gust of wind that sails up the canyon and I wonder if that is a good sign. However for now we must spend another night in the canyon. Water is rather low, and Dave sensibly decides to share out the remaining quantity: one litre each. We are all now feeling extremely parched but must watch how much we drink. Mussallem is in good spirits, as always, and makes a brew and I find again that the tea helps to stave off the thirst. We eat the remaining food: baked potatoes, feta cheese, roasted peppers, lemons and some halva – in

order of least dryness. We then rest for the night. I stare around at the steep sided canyon walls. One advantage of taking this trip in summer is that a downpour is much less likely. Narrow gullies like this will focus any rain that falls within the vicinity and produce powerful flash floods. Over a long period of time torrential water has cut into the ancient granite basement. This can manifest the development and preservation of gold deposits, in their bottom sediments. Indeed the word Dahab means gold, and that is where we hope to finish tomorrow. Again it is impossible for me to sleep - however this time it is too hot, and perhaps I am a bit anxious. I take a sip of water every thirty minutes or so. At breakfast we dig out the remaining baked potatoes that skirt the now extinct fire. At least they provide some moisture. We are all out of water. We set-off slowly and carefully tackle three more challenging abseils making a total of 20. Mussallem then notices what appears to be a watering place for donkeys or camels. There can be no more abseils in front and there is a great sense of relief and accomplishment amongst the party. After a few kilometres scrambling we are spat out at the mouth of the canyon and into a wider valley where we recuperate and take a bearing for the Dahab-Sharm road.

Walking out to meet the road. A two hour walk, which seems like an interminable slog, follows. Eventually we spot a big truck turning into a jeep trail which Dave and Mussallem hail down. The driver throws down a big plastic container of water which, several rinses prior, likely contained benzene. Nevertheless it tastes extremely refreshing

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to our dry mouths. We rest for an hour until Salama, a brother of Mussallem, arrives and provides us with fresh water and passage to Dahab, where we are greeted by Dave’s girlfriend Maiju and several of her friends. We wade into the turquoise Gulf of Aqaba for a post-canyon swim and return to the beach, where the sounds of Bob Marley are piped out over the ensemble of wannabe hippies. It is the

1970s! It is another world from Abu Khushayb, in the land of Sinai, where great adventures await. [A story about a canyoning trip that took place in Sinai between 13-16th June 2008 written by Tim Pointer. Photos provided by Hamish Matheson and Tim Pointer timpointer@hotmail.com. © 2008]