Sinai Trail leads to new tourism experience in Egypt
To boost tourism, eight South Sinai tribes have joined together to create a long-distance hiking trail that crosses South Sinai.
The Towarah Alliance, a union of all South Sinai tribes, used to escort Muslims from North Africa crossing the Sinai Peninsula on their way to Mecca as well as Christians traveling between Cairo, the Saint Catherine Monastery and Jerusalem. The alliance gradually faded with the arrival of motor vehicles.
Now, a century later, the eight South Sinai tribes will unite again in a new tourist initiative: a 550-kilometer (342-mile) hiking trail across South Sinai that takes 42 days to complete. Hikers will be escorted by each of the tribes as they go through their territory. The so-called Sinai Trail will formally open May 11-12 in a ceremony held in Serabit el-Khadem.
The idea was first introduced in 2015 as a shorter route that crossed the territory of the Tarabin, Muzeina and Jebeleya tribes.
Tourism in Sinai has declined amid the instability that has plagued Egypt since 2011, the major problems in the north since 2013 and the downing of a Russian plane in October 2015 that killed 224 people. The industry has sunk to the point of collapse.
