Although the provision of schools, medical posts and water tanks has enticed many Bedouin to forsake nomadic lives, others still roam the desert with their flocks. From the El-Arish road you can glimpse black-garbed women in veils or leather masks spangled with coins, girls in peacock robes with hennaed tresses, aloof boys and men, or a black tent pitched in the desert. Women are responsible for weaving the goat-hair beit shaar ("house of hair") and striking, packing, unloading and erecting them whenever the family moves on; in Bedouin divorces the husband gets the domestic animals while the woman keeps the tent. The colour of the cross-stitched embroidery on a woman's robe and hood indicates whether she's married (red) or not (blue).

 

The Bedouin are keen observers of the Sinai's furtive wildlife . Hares and foxes can lead them to water holes; desert sandgrouse, gazelles and the rare mountain ibex ( bedan) make good hunting; and flocks must be guarded against the depredations of the jackal ( taaleb), wolf ( dib) and hyena ( dhaba). The last has a mythological counterpart, the dhabia, believed to have the power to mesmerize solitary travellers into entering its lair. Other creatures imbued with supernatural significance are the dreaded horned viper, known as Abu Jenabiya (Father of Going Sideways), and the fox - personifying wisdom and cunning - who is a favourite character in children's tales.

Plants are even more important to the Bedouin, who feed their camels on a prickly tribulus called ghraghada, and make extensive use of herbal medicine . Among the many remedies, rabla is an aromatic flower made into an essential oil that's used as a general pick-me-up; while handl seeds are ground into a paste, cooked in olive oil and applied in a bandage to aching joints, or mixed with garlic to treat snake or scorpion bites.

Storytelling holds a special place in Bedouin culture, where poetic imagery and Koranic rhetoric sprang naturally from the lips of shepherds exposed to a rich oral heritage since childhood. When food is lacking for guests, hospitality can still be rendered in words: "Had I known that you would honour me by walking this way, I should have strewn the path between your house and mine with mint and rose petals!". Although professional reciters of Arabic poetry are now rare, most Bedouin can reel off folk tales, which usually begin with the phrase " Kan ma kan &" (There was, there was not).

Conversation is the expected reward for Bedouin hospitality , which traditionally stretched to three days, each named after a stage in the ritual: salaam (greeting), ta'aam (eating) and kelaam (speaking). Before the rising of the morning star on the fourth day, hosts helped their guests prepare for departure; those who lingered beyond the drying of the dew were as welcome "as the spotted snake". Honour can now be satisfied by three servings of tea or coffee, and it's no longer mandatory to slaughter an animal.