Hurghada: Jeep & Camel Safari with Dinner & Desert Fire Show

Overview

You didn't come to Hurghada to learn a throttle. You came for the sea — and, if you're honest, for one evening that shows you what lies behind the hotel strip. This is that evening: a seat in a 4×4 Land Cruiser, a driver who knows where the tracks give out, and a Bedouin camp waiting at the end of them. Nothing to steer, nothing to prove; you ride, and the desert does the work.

The tarmac ends twenty minutes past the last hotel, and the Land Cruiser starts to move the way it was built to — nose up over a ridge, a long slow slide down the far side, the Red Sea mountains passing the window in bands of ochre and grey. You stop on the high ground to climb a dune and take the photographs everyone takes, then notice how completely quiet it is once the engine is off. At the camp, tea comes off the fire, flatbread is slapped onto hot iron in front of you, and a camel folds down to let you on for a short, swaying loop of the sand — a taste of the old way to cross this ground, not a trek.

It's worth pausing on who is pouring the tea. The families who run this camp belong to a desert that people have crossed on foot and by camel for thousands of years; you crossed it in an hour with air-conditioning. Sitting at their fire afterwards is the quickest honest measure of that distance — of how large and how old the country behind your beach really is, and how small the strip of it you'd otherwise see. Most people arrive thinking of the jeep as the point. Most leave talking about this.

Dinner is barbecue eaten in the open — grilled meats, salads, bread from that same fire — as the light goes long across the dunes. The show comes after: a fire performer working close enough to feel the heat, and a Tanoura dancer turning until the skirt is one moving band of colour. Then the Land Cruiser takes you back down to the coast, sandy, well fed and a little quieter than you left. The sea will look the same tomorrow. The country behind it won't.

Highlights

• ✦An off-road run through the Red Sea mountains in a 4×4 Land Cruiser — you're the passenger, so no licence or experience is needed.
• ✦A stop on the high dunes to climb, look and take photographs before the descent to the camp.
• ✦Bedouin tea poured over the fire and flatbread baked in front of you at a working desert camp.
• ✦A short camel ride across the sand — a taste of the old way to cross this ground.
• ✦Barbecue dinner eaten outdoors, then a fire show and a Tanoura dance.
• ✦Hotel pickup from Hurghada, an English-, German- or Arabic-speaking guide and bottled water included.

Included

• ✓Hotel pickup and drop-off (Hurghada zone)
• ✓Desert safari by 4×4 Land Cruiser (shared)
• ✓English-, German- or Arabic-speaking guide
• ✓Photo stop on the dunes
• ✓Visit to a Bedouin camp with tea and fresh flatbread
• ✓Short camel ride
• ✓Barbecue dinner
• ✓Fire show and Tanoura dance
• ✓Bottled water

Not included

• −Quad bike or buggy rides
• −Stargazing
• −Soft drinks and personal expenses (souvenirs, the camp's reptile display)
• −Gratuities
• −Transfers from Makadi Bay, Sahl Hasheesh or El Gouna (€10 per person, round trip — available as an add-on below)
• −Transfers from Soma Bay or Safaga (€15 per person, round trip — available as an add-on below)

Good to know

• iChild price: ages 3-11 · Infants under 3
• iPregnant women
• iPeople with back, neck or heart problems — the off-road drive is bumpy
• iSunglasses and a scarf or hat for sun and dust (a Bedouin scarf is available as an add-on)
• iClosed, comfortable shoes for climbing the dunes
• iA warm layer from October to March — the desert cools quickly once the sun drops
• iSmall cash for optional extras at the camp and for tips
• iThe camel ride is a few minutes' loop of the camp, not a trek.
• iPickup is shared and hotels are collected in turn — allow up to 30 minutes either side of your pickup time.
• iQuad bikes and buggies are not part of this tour; if you want to drive, book our Super Safari instead.
• iChildren aged 3 to 11 pay the child rate; infants up to 2 travel free on a parent's lap.