Camels on the ceiling

Although we arrived at our hotel in Bahariya Oasis in the dark we could tell it was a special place. One of our group immediately christened it the Indiana Jones Hotel. We were greeted with glasses of orange squash then shown to our rooms – with domed ceilings painted with camels, 3 thicknesses of shutters – presumably intended to defeat all but the most persistent of mosquitoes and en-suite bathroom complete with seriously powerful bottom washing hose!! And apparently one of the rooms even has a hatch above the bed that you can open to see the stars while lying in bed. Add to that the hot and cold swimming pools, the Bedouin tent for lounging around and the coffee bar with hookahs and it really could have come straight from an Indiana Jones film set – minus the snake pit. Camels featured later in the trip too when we had a camel ride through the sand dunes. I loved the fact that no pretence was made that we could control the camels – there were no reins! You simply get on and hang on. If the camel was designed by a committee, as some people suggest, then no-one was allocated to whiskers as they obviously assume that if a gap is wide enough for their head to get through then the rest will follow, and as they like to weave in and out of the throng it turned the whole experience into a slow, high dodgem ride with your legs on the outside of the car.

Unpublished

Trip type: 

Cultural & Nature

Adventure level: 

3. Moderate

Max group size: 

16

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Desert Explorer

Middle East, Egypt | 8 days

Trip code: 

DE

An exciting desert adventure in undiscovered Egypt - explore the otherworldly scenery of the Western Desert.

Departs in:

• J
• F
• M
• A
• M
• J
• J
• A
• S
• O
• N
• D