What Does A Kid Do For Four Days In The Desert?
What DO you do for four days in the Sinai desert, if you’re an eleven-year-old kid?
You roll down dunes, slide down dunes, swim down dunes, ride stones down dunes, build sandcastles in dunes and run down dunes, yelling “Welcome to Tatooine”…
You scramble up high rocks and leap into the soft, soft sand.
You meet camels, drink gallons of Bedouin tea, and find quartz and fossils in river beds with simply epic echoes.
You go climbing barefoot, smashing soft sandstone rocks in canyons so narrow you can chimney them. After a desert sunset, you watch Venus and Jupiter rise, giving way to a moon that’s bright enough to climb by. Which, of course, you do.
You learn to tie an Arab scarf, to navigate the desert on your own, to find wood in the desert and to build a Bedouin tent.
You hike through a canyon to a palm-fringed oasis, splash in a pool of icy spring water and cuddle a baby goat.
You belt through the desert standing up in the back of a pickup, yelling “Feel the DRIFT! This is GRAND THEFT AUTO, man!”
And, finally, you get your first ever driving lesson from a Bedouin, some of the best off-roaders on earth.
New here? Why not check more stunning pictures of the Sinai desert, learn about sailing a felucca down the Nile, or discover a lost city of the giants in Jordan?
That looks SO fun!
It was excellent fun. I was a bit of a wuss in some of the canyons as I am scared of heights, but Z loved every minute of it…
It’s like the worlds biggest sand based playground, I can’t imagine anything better 😀
I was amazed how much he enjoyed it! He never gets that into sand on a beach, but then there’s not so much of it around…
Z is one fortunate kid. Will you be MY mom? 🙂
Z is quite keen for a new sibling but would like it to be younger. So, unfortunately, no.
OK that even sounded fun for an adult. Z looks like he is in 11-year-old boy heaven. I could just imagine Noah and Z there. I suspect we wouldn’t see them for days, just follow the train of smashed rocks and sandcastles.
I would say it’s thoroughly fun for an adult. I cannot speak highly enough of scampering down sand dunes, because you can run down any slope at all, however sheer, because your feet will always sink in. It’s like flying!
oh my gosh. we need to go. with a white shirt, perhaps, too. i love the tattoine shout, i think we’d do it too. much more fun than hoth, to be honest…
Egyptian laundries rock. Even the white pants (which came with his djellabiya) are now pristine again!
Beautiful photos!
Aww, I love this post! My husband grew up in Egypt and had similar adventures jumping off of and climbing things in the desert. 🙂
Lucky, lucky him!
I want to do exactly this trip! How much fun- and that lamb- so cute!
I really recommend you do it, Jade. If you’re a competent climber, he’ll probably be able to find more challenging climbs for you to do, although, TBH, there’s so much stuff there that’s climbable anyway that it works for all sorts of levels…
Fun fun fun fun!!!! I bet as a 12 year old the desert seems like it has a lot more to offer than it does to old folks! This looks like a great trip, and the pictures are fantastic!
I wish I was an 11-year-old kid in the desert! 🙂
I know, Amanda! I wished I was a kid too…
I so have to do this with my son! He is more a Harry Potter than a Star wars fan though.
Well, for Star Wars, you really need Coober Pedy. Although they filmed Tattooine in Tunisia, not Sinai, for some reason.
Wow this 11year old sure did have fun!!
Thanks for the post Theodora and enjoy your travel 🙂
Wow! Just amazing:)
Xo
Here’s hoping they get the right result in the second round of elections, and it all settles down.
Unfortunately, it’s old regime figure — if he wins, it’s going to be another revolution — versus the official Muslim Brotherhood candidate in the runoff. So, bizarrely, all the liberals are rooting with the Brotherhood.
And, yeah, that’s the best available result right now. Eeek.
Hi Theodora,
Just want to say I love your blog and how you’ve raised Z, which is an inspiration to me and my future ideas of parenting through travel. I came across your site when searching for travelogues about Mt Kinabalu and was absolutely shocked and delighted to see that your nine-year-old (at the time) could summit a mountain which I had a hell of a hard time at 21. I look forward to reading more!
Hi Yuhang!
Thanks for your lovely comment — travel is a great way to parent. And I’ll pass on your congratulations to Z, who’s currently in the UK catching up with his dad. I am currently plotting to do the Everest Base Camp trek, but I don’t think I’ll spring that on him until he gets here….
Theodora
What a fantastic time you both had! And the goats are too cute. Yeah for travelling with kids 🙂
Thanks, Natasha! Travelling with kids rocks 99.9999% of the time.