Short of befriending some Bedouin and tagging along with them, the Red Sea Mountains are most easily accessible via day excursions from Hurghada . The basic scenario is a half-day camel or jeep safari, timed for sundown if you want to have a barbecue with Bedouin entertainments, which will set you back around US$35. Prince Safari Trips (tel 065/549-882), at the Four Seasons hotel, offers a sunset "safari" (£E60), which entails a half-hour journey by Landcruiser to a Bedouin village for a camel ride, followed by tea and some Bedouin music. If you haven't been to the desert before, this can be a good introduction to the Bedouin and the majestic landscape they live in - old desert hands can probably give it a miss. It also runs longer desert camping trips (£E180 per person per day, minimum five people) for the more adventurous.

 

Our accounts go somewhat further, to give an idea of what the mountains hold in store for travellers with the determination to embark on a trek through the region. The government is currently trying to promote adventure tourism in the Eastern Desert, so the opportunities for organized treks or mountain-climbing are improving. So far, the only company to offer extensive trips is the excellent Geographic Adventures (5 Abbas Helmy St, Heliopolis, Cairo; tel & fax 02/418-4821, geo-adv@intouch.com), run by safari experts Walid Ramadan and Sherif Abu Pasha.

As far as Europeans are concerned, the Red Sea Mountains were first climbed in the 1920s and 30s, and have hardly been scaled since; as Sinai becomes increasingly commercialized, this may become the next wilderness to attract tourists