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The camps are owned by Bedouins from the area. Many hotels were built in Sinai during the last years and land was taken from the Bedouins and their tribes so we don’t find many Bedouin camps anymore, maybe 10-15 all over the Coast.
The camps in Mahash are still owned by the Sinai- Bedouins, so they can work independently and are not just employees for big travel companies. The Bedouins can give work to their families and people from the area. Taxi transfers and trips to the desert are organized and operated by the Bedouins as well. The camps want to invest in solar power and desalination and become Eco-Lodges. There is a solar cooker installed in one camp now, but this is just the beginning! Volunteers with ideas are welcome anytime!
Desert trips organized with the bedouins are not just a sightseeing tour, but a real excursion. They show you plants, herbs and trees and their medical effects, tell you the history about Bedouin tribes and show you what their life in the desert looked like before and today. Neither you nor they would have this chance if they were employed simply as mute drivers, rented by an international travel company.
There is not much waste, as the camps try to avoid it when possible. Tourists can avoid making garbage if they don’t buy bottled western lemonades and sweeties. There are Bedouin ways to keep water cool and fresh with you. If there is garbage it will be separated (glass, paper, plastic, metal) and it will be taken by the EU supported “Hemaya”, a waste and recycling project. Electricity is available a few hours in the evening. In general the camp runs nicely without electricity. We work with solar products and the Bedouins in Mahash are keen to work with solar power. Also they try to find a way to desalinate the water for watering plants and trees. The camps and hushas are mostly made from palmtrees and wood.
In Mahash we find most of the last 10-15 pure Bedouin Camps. To spend the vacation here means to support the independent, responsible work of the Bedouin people and to avoid harming the beautiful nature in Sinai. Bedouins don’t build hotels with a lot of western facilities, they build camps in a traditional way, mostly made of natural materials and this already more than 20 years! To support these camps means supporting the Bedouin community itself! All the family finds work through the camps, the boys help the fathers and will continue his work after, the women and girls make beautiful traditional handcraft. Here they can realize their ideas of tourism and lifestyle, otherwise they will be used as a mute cheap worker.
We invite every traveler who books a vacation via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the vacations they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same vacation can have different views!
