'Mountain Tours Office' & 'Bedouin Camp and Guesthouse'
The Bedouins of the Gebeliya Tribe - 'the people of the mountains'
- are descendants of European Macedonians, who were sent to Saint Katherine
by emperor Justinian to protect the monastery. The Gebeliya (Jebeliya) have lived in the high mountains
of Sinai, since
the sixth century AD.
When hiking tourism began, problems also occurred in St. Catherine. Bedouins who spoke the best English were taking all the guide work and the ones that didn't speak a foreign language were left with nothing. To solve
this problem, Sheikh Mousa proposed to create one office
to deal with all the treks. With the whole tribe's agreement, trekking in the mountain is now organised through this office. In this way, jobs are delegated on a rotating basis, spreading the work evenly among all of Saint Catherine's guides.
With just one phone call, the guides, the camels and the cooks can be ready for a trek through the magnificent Sinai mountains. The tribe feels very comfortable with
this system, because everybody is employed which in turn means they can preserve
their traditional way of life.
Your Bedouin guide will help you discover the natural beauty and experience the unique culture of our very special region.
