If you have ever been to Sinai for a famous dive adventure or snorkeling trip, beware of the dangers. We’ve written about the fatal live aboard dive boat accident in the Red Sea this last November, and one reader reached out, a regular traveller to Sinai, about his family’s harrowing boating experience in Sinai, Egypt. Moral of the story: bring life jackets for each of your family members when traveling in countries like Egypt, Sinai, India, Thailand and South America. Don’t expect any travel company or tour operator to have you covered. Here is David’s story:

Your post made me think of what happened in Sinai in 2023. It turns out that if you live through it you have a good story, if you don’t then well… During April, 2023 the family decided to go to Sinai.

One day we visited the Blue Hole near Dahab, we snorkeled around and decided to visit Ras El Satan and further on explore this wonderful lagoon. We left the Blue Hole around 1pm with one of the local fishing boats, it was just us 8 (5 adults, my two sons 13 and 3 and a 5 year old nephew) and the skipper. I noticed there were no life vests. It’s about a 30 minute boat ride depending on the current or tide.

Once there we spent time with the locals and visited the above. Around 4pm I figured we should head back to not be on the roads at dark. When we arrived back at the pier of Ras El Satan there was a large group of visitors who wanted to get back just like us.

This time the polyester boat was stacked with people to the point where I thought, this is unsafe and we should get off, now this was the last boat of the day. I estimate there were about 50 people on this tiny boat, tourists but mostly Egyptian families who were on a day out. Kids, grannies, families.

While leaving I saw a 15-year-old kid fueling the boat with a plastic bottle of gasoline which had large black chunks floating in it. Another red flag. Nobody wore vests as there weren’t any. The waterline was just meeting the waves but once in the water the engine pulled the boat out of the water. Now we’re in the water, engine full throttle, our captain at the steering wheel.

Half way into the trip the engine goes out. Consternation. The boat slows down and waves start pouring over the side. This is where my instinct kicks in. We weren’t far from the shore, I reckoned it’s 200 meters which we could reach by swimming. There are no boats around us and the shore is nothing more than sea bashing onto rockery that climbs up to 20 meters above sea level.

I understand from the panic on the boat that most people cannot swim so I’m now talking to my family to abandon the boat as soon as a big wave goes over it, leave all the bags and just make it to the shore, first get us to safety as it’s very likely that people who can’t swim would grab onto those who would be wanting to help. Horrible. I tell my big boy to get ready to swim to the shore and not look at anyone else, he’s a good swimmer I know he can make it. I tell my wife and that I’d take the small one and my cousin would take the nephew.

Now we are waiting for disaster as the skipper tries to revive the engine. I hear how he is messing up the gear and drowning the engine with fuel. Another person is trying to call but of course there is no reach. By now it’s about 5:30pm and evening is setting in. Two other men are trying to revive the engine and miraculously the engine kicks in again. To get a few hundred meters again and then give up again. The same scenario repeats.

Eventually the engine gets us to the pier at the Blue Hole where it eventually gives up. Now it’s dark. People with flashlights on the pier are yelling, total chaos and disorder. I think we are going to capsize as the swell is rough and we’ll be smashed onto the rocks. Another boat navigates next to ours and skippers are tying our boat to theirs.

A person in full panic tries to jump into the other boat and lands in the water between the two boats, luckily he’s pulled out right away. Eventually the two boats manoeuvre onto the pier and people hurry off. This could have easily ended bad and you would have read about it in the news. N’importe qui as we say in French.

_____

David’s experience is not unique. Another tourist reported various safety issues on a recent boat and snorkeling trip to the Blue Hole and Ras Abu Galum:

“The most convenient access to the next stop is a ten-minute boat ride. Alternatively, one can take an unpaved trail parallel to the shore on foot or by camel. Despite its popularity, the boat service was very disorganized. It was hard for me to figure out whether there was any system for boarding. Everyone crowded around the tiny boat dock, and we waited a few minutes for our turn. These boats were small and pretty crowded. Each boat carries almost two dozen passengers, and It felt a little unsafe the moment we boarded.

“Our boat’s motor blew out a few minutes into the boat ride. Waster was very choppy, and we were left in a drift for a while before another empty vessel came to the rescue. Just when we thought it was smooth sailing, the water became so choppy that our boat slammed hard against the water’s surface.

“For a moment, we thought we might capsize. All of a sudden, one big wave tossed the boat so violently that a girl in our group was knocked unconscious briefly. She banged her head into the side of the boat and started to bleed incessantly. There was blood everywhere. Everybody except the boat operator was super worried. This was officially the worst day tour we ever had. Brian told me he was getting seasick and stressed.”

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An Egyptian yacht built in 2022 has sunk, leaving passengers trapped inside the boat since Monday. The live aboard diving boat encountered large waves Monday morning in the Red Sea, and capsized quickly. Some 28 people were rescued right away on Monday by the Egyptian Navy, the Egyptian authorities say they have recovered four bodies.

By Thursday afternoon some seven people were missing and recent rescue efforts revealed that a number of people were rescued from their cabins. The yacht is in about 12 meters of water with a part of it poking above the surface. Ongoing rescue operations hope to find and return those who may be trapped inside their cabins.

Related: Red Sea cargo ship sinks

The survivors and the missing are an international group of divers and an Egyptian crew. The boat sunk within 5 minutes in the early morning. No doubt many passengers were still in bed.

The Sea Story was a live-aboard diving boat meant to bring divers to their dream dive destinations in Egypt. The yacht left its port near the Egyptian town of Marsa Alam on Sunday for a five-day diving trip. On Monday it was believed to be hit by a large wave which caused it to sink. In total 33 passengers have been rescued, along with four bodies.

The owner of EcoOcean, a research vessel that conducts environmental research in the Red and Med Sea, told me once about the power of the Red Sea and the time that they almost capsized. A storm blew in and being a vessel registered in Israel they could not dock at Saudi Arabia or Sudan and had to keep going despite the risk of capsizing. The Red Sea in the area of the Sinai Peninsula is remarkably calm but go more south and it can be wild.

See below footage from divers onboard the Carlton Queen documenting its sinking and rescue last year.

Diver Ian Cilia from Malta, told Green Prophet: “I was on this boat..absolutely beautiful boat. Probably owners had to recover the money they spent on it by going out in atrocious conditions. Cost peoples lives. Just my opinion.”

Egypt is not known for its strict enforcement of the laws. You can ride in the back of a pickup truck and walk on coral reefs in nature reserves. It is in Egypt where people do not get into trouble for keeping dolphins in swimming pools.

Questions have already been raised about diving operations in the region. This isn’t the first time a tourist boat has seen trouble. Last June, three British tourists died after a diving yacht caught fire on the Red Sea. Another yacht, the Carlton Queen, capsized and sank near Hurghada earlier last year. No one died, but the passengers onboard said the vessel was not seaworthy. Also at Hurghada, tourists are shocked to see restaurants serving sharks and manta rays on the menu.

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In an oil wealthy state like Saudi Arabia luxury has no limits. And the latest is LEED certified.

A new Red Sea resort in Saudi Arabia called Shebara Island is already taking pre-bookings for its glamorous pod hotels, a cool SAR 9,000 a night, which equals about $2,400 USD. No big deal if you’ve berthed your mega-yacht at its shores.

Powered by the sun, the resort features 73 pods that rival the best of luxury from the Maldives seeing a downturn in tourism for its racist policies on religious freedom.

Saudi Arabia is hoping to become booming hotspot for business and tourism and has started creating 15-minute cities like Neom.

Shebaya, the latest from dozens of new projects announced, is LEED-Platinum property which is built to “minimise its environmental and literal environmental footprint by cantilevering the accommodation spaces above the coral reefs with only a few square meters of ground impact at the base of the supporting column.

“The result is an aerial accommodation ‘pod’ that almost seems to defy gravity and suspends the guest directly above and within the beauty of an untouched marine eco-system; an observation platform for guests to witness the fish, birds and turtles that thrive in the area,” says a handout.

The entire project is powered by a centralized solar farm and fresh water is supplied from a solar powered desalination plant. Recycling of waste material takes place on the island minimizing the need to bring or remove materials from the site.

The design language of the resort compliments the uniqueness of the site. The approach to the façade design has been to minimize visual impact, employing a highly reflective stainless-steel skin polished to a mirror finish. These reflective orbs float, almost imperceptible, reflecting the colors and surface patterns of the ocean, the intense colors of the sky as they change throughout the day.

This approach serves to lessen the visual impact of the architecture on the surrounding environment while also greatly improv the building’s energy performance with a near 100% reflection of the solar gain at the mirror surface. These heavily insulated spaces can be effectively cooled with minimal energy losses.

The interior space of the project provides spacious room for the guests, with detailing, and finishes inspired by the interiors of luxury yachts. The room offers panoramic views to the sea with sliding doors that open to a deck, a seating area and an infinity pool with uninterrupted views of the sea and horizon beyond.

The project is designed by the UAE based K

Other Red Sea attractions in the region include our favorite place: low-key eco tourism in Sinai. There is also a great list of eco-tourism sites in the Holy Land. A typical trip in the future might look like this:

1. A cruise down the Nile. The pyramids. A visit to Siwa Oasis in Egypt.
2. Head over to St. Catherines Monastery, hike God’s Mountain, and spend a few nights diving in Sinai.
3. Taxi over to Eilat and head to Tel Aviv, Tiberias, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea.
4. Head across the Allenby Bridge to Jordan and check out Madaba, then down to Petra.
5. From Petra head to Saudi Arabia to one of its dozens of new Red Sea attractions.

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Maybe you’ve gone on a diving trip to Sharm el Sheik. Or maybe you are one of the tourists who sit with the Bedouins at a housha for weeks at a time enjoying the slow life close on the Red Sea close to Nuweiba. I’ve been to Sinai about 10 times and when I go to a hotel there is one thing that makes me very happy at the breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet: preserved lemons.

The lemons in Egypt are small, not much bigger than a walnut, and when preserved upgrade their status by a mile. You can eat them with hummous and tehina on bread, or take a little bite with every savory dish you fancy. Sometimes I just eat them whole, picking the seeds out with my teeth. We have a recipe for preserved lemons already on Green Prophet but this one is a bit different. You cut the lemons differently, keeping them whole.

In the video below I walk you through the set by step process. Get yourself some Egyptian lemons and you can do it with me step by step.

Fermented lemons are a treat when you are traveling to Egypt. Stay at a hotel in Sinai and enjoy the fermented Egyptians lemon offered at most meals. It’s a staple pickle when you travel to Sinai or Egypt. We’ve even found them in Jordan.

This recipe works with any kind of lemon, but if you can get your hands on walnut-sized lemons from Egypt, even better. If you are using other lemons cut them so the width is no bigger than a centimeter or half an inch.

The smaller you cut them the better the flavor as they will ferment better. Add salt. We added about 5 tablespoons to 4 cups/ one liter of water. You can add garlic. Better to place it on the bottom as if it floats to the surface it will go moldy.

Add some weights to keep the lemons from floating.

Leave for about 5 to 10 days according to your taste. Do not tighten the lid or it might explode.

Eat alone with bread or add to sauces and soups and any dish you can imagine. Preserved lemon is a wonderful spice that adds a layer of flavor to anything savory. It will bring you back to your driving trip at Sharm el Sheikh in no time.

How do you cook with fermented lemons?

The flavor of lemon and salt is very intense. Rinse the piece before cooking with it. The best part is the peel – some cooks scoop the pulp out and discard it.

Consider these ideas for pickled lemons:

• Chop a little piece fine and mash it into a vinaigrette dressing.
• Gently mix a few fine slices into steamed broccoli; drizzle some olive oil over everything.
• Add a teaspoon of chopped preserved lemon to pea soup.
• Put a little bowl of those bright yellow lemon quarters on the table to accompany lamb chops.
• Prepare a fillet of fish with a drizzle of olive oil, some chopped basil or green onion, and a few thin slices of preserved lemon. Bake or pan-fry.

More Middle East recipes:
A Classic Recipe for Muhamarra Red Pepper Spread From Aleppo, Syria
Taking On A Middle East Classic: Baba Ganoush
Cooking the Classic Middle East Kibbeh

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In contrast to eco tourism in other countries in the Middle East, such as Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, there is an extremely active Ecotourism Committee in the Egyptian Tourism Federation, which makes eco tourism in Egypt especially diverse, authentic, and unique. You can find high-end, and low end –- all satisfying experiences based on your budget. We offer some examples below.

Since 1997 Egypt’s Ecotourism Committee, which is the most active of all of the Egyptian Tourism Federation’s committees, holds over 14 meetings a year that include top environmentalists, cabinet ministers, scientists, and ecotourism professionals.

They do important work, including protecting natural areas and cracking down on illegal hunting. The Committee also produces a weekly half-hour program in cooperation with Egyptian satellite television called Misr Ard Al Jamal (Egypt the Land of Beauty) which features Egypt’s protected areas, ecotourism activities, eco-lodges, and indigenous tribes of Egypt’s three deserts.

The passage of a law in 1983 has also led to the declaration of 27 Protected Areas in Egypt that represent most of the habitats and ecosystems in Egypt. But the Committee isn’t willing to stop there – they want to increase the number of Protectorates to 40 by the year 2017. Consider nomad travel insurance when booking a trip to Egypt. To ensure peace of mind while traveling or living abroad, we recommend getting health insurance. SafetyWing’s Essential plan covers travel and medical emergencies with options for adventure sports and electronics theft. Their Complete plan offers comprehensive health coverage with routine healthcare, mental health support, and maternity, anywhere in the world, including in your home country.

So what’s an eco-loving, sustainability-touting tourist to do in Egypt? Here are some great options:

Adrere Amellal Ecolodge

This high-end, off-grid Adrere Amellal Ecolodge in the Siwa Oasis includes 40 rooms constructed out of mud, salt, and palm leaves with traditional Siwan methods, and is located 12 miles away from Siwa, an Egyptian oasis. Today this most isolated settlement is home to a small population of Berbers and one of the world’s most interesting hotels.

There are ancient olive and palm groves nearby, and the traditional cuisine offered at the lodge is prepared with organic herbs and vegetables picked the same day. The entire lodge is telephone (hide your cell phone!) and electricity free, with candles and torches used for lighting.

Low-key sustainability comes with a hefty price-tag unfortunately, starting at about $500 USD a night for a single room. Budget-minded folks are better off heading to Sinai’s beaches of Bir Sweir or Nuweiba, to get an authentic, spiritual desert experience.

Shali Fortress, Tombs of Jabal el Mawta, the Oracle of Amun, the Temple of Um Ubeydah, Cleopatra’s water spring, Fantasy Island, Jabal Dakrour sandbaths, and Bir Wahed – a natural jacuzzi in the desert – are some nearby eco-highlights.

Al Karm Ecolodge

The Al Karm Ecolodge is a Bedouin owned and operated lodge in the St. Katherine Protectorate.

Like Adrere Amellal, it has no electricity but uses solar panels to heat water for the showers, and has sanitary compost toilets. The small hotel has only seven double rooms. We have tried to contact the lodge to see if they have recovered from Covid but we have no updates and find no dates available for rooms online. If you are an eco-tourism researcher, this paper outlines the sustainability efforts put into place while building the Al Karm Ecolodge.

Ras Muhammad National Park

Ras Muhammad National Park: This natural protectorate in southern Sinai is protected by law and has a variety of beautiful natural features for the eco tourist’s viewing pleasure. In addition to its stunning coral reefs which attracts snorkelers and divers, the park has an eel garden and is a great spot to watch migratory birds.

Sinai Bir Sweir Beach Nuweiba/Taba

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If Noah would have had the challenge, this is what his living ark might look like to save the coral reefs.

The thought is frightening that we need “live arks” and seed banks to secure species’ and our survival for the future. In 2008 with the starting effects of global climate change the Svalbard Global seed bank was established to ensure future generations that seeds and seed diversity would be available when and if needed. The bank, built into permafrost, now contains seeds from far and wide — even from Syria where locals feared seed diversity might die out during their civil war. 

Now the same is true for wild grains being threatened by our regular daily bread and most urgently coral reef bleaching and die-out has caused science to invest in a coral reef biobank in Australia. An estimated 50% of the world’s coral reefs have died out and we are expected to lose up to 90% if interventions are not taken.

A nonprofit organization called the Great Barrier Reef Legacy has revealed design plans for the Living Coral Biobank, to conserve a coral ark of 800 at risk coral scleractinia or hard corals species.  The species will be from around the world and the center will also offer a landmark to another otherwise unheard of town called Port Douglas, a small coastal community in far northern Queensland, Australia famous for its coral reef research.

A Sydney-based practice Contreras Earl Architecture designed the building along with London-based Arup. They plan for the building to become a world leader in next-generation sustainable design, creating optimal conditions for coral storage while minimising energy consumption. Solar power and special insulation are some of the green features of the building. 

“To ensure this priceless living collection is held in perpetuity for generations to come, we need the world’s most advanced facility that also promises to use only renewable energy sources and function with optimum efficiency, while also creating an unforgettable visitor experience—and that’s exactly what this design delivers,” said Dr. Dean Miller, project director of the Living Coral Biobank and managing director of Great Barrier Reef Legacy, in a statement shared by Arup in a press release.

The aim is to have the building up and running by 2025 but the group will need to secure funding from an Elon Musk or Richard Branson in order to complete the vision.  

Coral reef and marine researcher expert Beverly Goodman from Canada and Israel isn’t thrilled at the prospect of a Noah’s Coral Ark. Goodman works in the Mediterranean and Red Sea mainly and thinks putting focus on a biobank or showcase distracts from the work needed in coral reef conservation.

She drives home the message that conservation is key, telling Green Prophet: “The basic answer is yes: just like seed banks, having archives of species is important. Whether it is a ‘solution’ to anything is certainly a deeper question and issue. Some fear that such efforts will make conservation efforts seem less important and divert focus,” she explains.

So what can we do today to save the coral reefs? “It sounds like a dodgy answer,” Goodman says, “but ‘everything’. This effort is really important, and will be successful if it is not needed. Marine sanctuaries and protections are probably one of the greatest directly impactful ways to slow the bleed. Education is everyone’s favourite, but in truth good policy and enforcement must exist for education to be impactful.

“It will be successful if it is not needed – is sort of like the issue of good Covid-prevention. If done right, then it will seem like a big waste in the end. I mean no species genetic bank will have to be put into use later.”

Coral reefs in the Middle East

Coral reef die-out is witnessed in Middle East regions that border on seas and oceans. The Red Sea reefs in Eilat, Aqaba and Sinai are a shadow of what they once were, while Red Sea areas off the coast of Saudi Arabia, not popular for beach tourism because of strict conservative social codes, have led to a by-the-way protection of coral reefs.

Saudi Arabian reefs include the Tiran Islands, the Al Wajh Bank, the reefs north of Yanbu, between Obhur and Thuwal north of Jeddah, and the outer Farasan Bank. This could change after the Saudi vision comes to light, along with the creation of the mega eco-disaster city Neom billed as a city of the future.

If conversation is the key to saving the reefs then conservation laws must be put into effect and practiced. It’s highly unlikely to get fined for stepping on or damaging a coral reef in the Red Sea, and if global warming is to blame, companies that are big polluters must face rapid changes and understand that business is no longer as usual. Greta sounded the alarm loudly, now what?

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Glow bacteria activated to sniff out nitrogen oxide, a gas emitted from old landmines

Buried landmines left and forgotten from wars and conflict of the past maim women, children and men alike. All sorts of technological solutions have been proposed to clear landmines from the Middle East, and years ago we reported on how Egyptian scientists proposed bacteria to do do just that.  

A solution is badly needed as 20% of the world’s land mines are planted in Egypt, where they have killed or maimed a total of more than 7,000 people in the last 30 years. They are scattered in the western desert and Sinai and pose an enormous impediment to development as well as considerable risks to animal and human safety. In Cambodia they employ an award-winning rat to sniff out landmines: 

Magawa is a Tanzanian-born African giant pouched rat who has been trained by the nonprofit APOPO to sniff out explosives. With careful training, he and his rat colleagues learn to identify land mines and alert their human handlers, so the mines can be safely removed.

A standout landmine sniffer

Even among his skilled cohorts working in Cambodia, Magawa is a standout sniffer: In four years he has helped to clear more than 1.5 million square feet of land – an area about the size of 20 soccer fields. In the process, he has found 39 land mines and 28 items of unexploded ordnance.

Globally about half a million people around the world are suffering from mine-inflicted injuries, and each year an additional 15 to 20,000 more are injured or killed by these devices. More than 100 million such devices are still buried in over 70 countries.

The major technical challenge in clearing minefields is detecting the mines. Where are those menacing objects just under the sand? Maybe trees have grown around them? The technologies used today are not much different from those used in World War II as shown the classic film The English Patient, requiring detection teams to risk life and limb by physically entering the minefields. There is a critical need for an efficient solution for the remote detection of buried landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have updated existing research in researching engineered glow bacteria from E.coli to help armies and humanitarians with the task and report their findings in New Biotechnology. A couple of years ago they published similar research in Nature Biotechnology.  There they offer a system combining lasers and bacteria to remotely map the location of buried landmines and unexploded ordnances.

Biosensors activated: Smells like grenade

The system is based on the observation that all landmines leak minute quantities of explosive chemical gas, which accumulate in the soil above them and serve as markers for their presence. The researchers molecularly engineered live bacteria that emit a fluorescent signal when they come into contact with these specific type of gas. This signal can be recorded and quantified from a remote location.

How do they do it? The bacteria are covered in small beads, which are scattered across the surface of a test field in which real antipersonnel landmines were buried. Using a laser-based scanning system, the test field was remotely scanned and the location of the buried landmines was determined. This appear to be the first demonstration of a functional standoff landmine detection system.

“Our field data show that engineered biosensors may be useful in a landmine detection system. For this to be possible, several challenges need to be overcome, such as enhancing the sensitivity and stability of the sensor bacteria, improving scanning speeds to cover large areas, and making the scanning apparatus more compact so it can be used on board a light unmanned aircraft or drone,” said Prof. Shimshon Belkin, from the Hebrew University, who was responsible for genetically engineering the bacterial sensors.

Egyptians diffuse bombs with bacteria

Over in Egypt, the researchers also proposed a biological system for removing landmines by degrading them. By activating the bacteria that will attack the gas emitted from landmines.

Their biological solution involves three stages: detecting the mines, corroding its iron case, and then neutralizing its explosive power.

Aresa Biodetection, a company from from Norway, designed the first phase of the study in March, 2004 by creating a strain of mustard plant called Arabidopsis thaliana that turns red in the presence of nitrogen oxide that leaks from land mines.

Researchers hoped to spray seeds from an airplane with help from the air force.

The next phase of the then proposed idea involved spreading bacteria that will eat away at the iron casings so that the trinitrotoluene (TNT) gas will be released, but Laurel Anne Hill, moderator of the Minds Clearing Landmines, questioned whether Egypt’s land mines have iron casings.

The final stage would entails planting plants such as tobacco or sugar beet that absorbs nitrogen, which the Egyptians claim will finally deactivate the mines.

Landmine detection for the birds?

But Richard Butler, program Managing of Halo Trust which specializes in disarming hazardous war debris told the paper back in 2012 that birds will eat the seeds. Researchers countered by claiming that the area of northern Egypt where they plan to test the technology does not have a lot of birds.

Looking further into the Egyptian idea, it’s not clear whether the solution came to light. But there are loads of others for inspiration, like the mine detection boot. And of course Afghani dreamers like came up with this idea: artistic mine sweepers. 

Over in Egypt, the Bedouin have a creative solution to remember those maimed by mines. Awareness helps bring creative solutions from those who can help. 

______________________

Have a creative landmine detection idea like the one below? Or a company that wants to work with creative teams to deploy your solution in a pilot. Reach out and hopefully we can help you connect to the right folks.

Email Green Prophet’s editor: karin@greenprophet.com

Mine sweepers powered by the wind

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Estonian photographer Kaupo Kikkas recently visited the bleak locale and captured these amazing images of a crumbled dream.

On his blog, Kikkas explains that the theater was built not too long ago by a wealthy Frenchman who hauled in the old seats and a power generator from Cairo, along with an enormous projection screen formed in the shape of a giant sail.

Kikkas says the locals weren’t particularly keen on the whole idea and decided to secretly sabotage the generator on opening night. Not one movie was ever screened.

So now it remains in the middle of a desert, a phantom theater, never used; see it still on Google Maps.  According to the photographer, the Frenchman’s flaw was in forgetting, “that this nice desert happens to be in Egypt.  A country where local authorities are not too happy about such enthusiasm and spirit, specially if it comes from a crazy Frenchmen.”

An award-winning commercial photographer, Kikkas is intrigued by the inheritance humans leave behind when we abandon our built environment.

He photographs discarded buildings and forgotten sites as part of an ongoing project called “Testament”, an artistic record of what happens when we walk away from the man-made environment. Litter writ large.

Images from Kaupo Kikkas’ website

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Danae Stratou, an installation artist, Alexandra Stratou, an industrial designer and architect, and architect Stella Constantinides formed the D.A.ST. Arteam in 1995 with the purpose of working together in the desert – a dream that the trio shared.

Two years later, they created Desert Breath, a series of conical sand mounds that form two spirals around a pool of water.

“In our mind’s eye the desert was a place where one experiences infinity,” they wrote on their project website.

“We were addressing the desert as a state of mind, a landscape of the mind. The point of departure was the conical form, the natural formation of the sand as a material.”

A site-specific work located in the eastern Sahara desert near the Red Sea in El Gouna (said to be MENA’s first carbon neutral city), the project comprises an area of 100,000 square meters.

The group used 8,000 cubic meters of sand to form both positive and negative “conical volumes,” which are precise – no easy feat in a dynamic desert where the winds are constantly shifting the sands.

Two interlocking spirals composed of these giant sand cones move out from a common center with a phase difference of 180 degrees, according to the group, surrounding a vessel with a 30 meter diameter that is filled to the brim with water.

“Located between the sea and a body of mountains at the point where the immensity of the sea meets the immensity of the desert, the work functions on two different levels in terms of viewpoint: from above as a visual image, and from the ground, walking the spiral pathway, a physical experience.”

It took two years for the D.A.ST. Arteam to complete this project, a time frame that is appropriate for a desert environment – so unforgiving, so taxing, and yet worthy of such deep reverence and respect.

:: My Modern Met

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The ambitious development agreement was signed last week by the Egyptian Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, the Italian Ministry of Environment and El Gouna City.

Dr. Laila Iskandar, Egyptian Minister of State for Environmental Affairs, told Trade Arabia, “This agreement will help the Egyptian government to achieve a significant breakthrough in the fields of environment and tourism, enhancing Egypt’s global image and opening the door for Egyptian tourism projects and cities to rank among the leading carbon-neutral entities.”

El Gouna is already hailed as Egypt’s most environmentally-friendly vacation destination.  It’s captured Green Globe and Travelife certifications and was selected as the pilot location for the Green Star Hotel Initiative (GSHI).

Launched in 2007, GSHI is a cooperative effort between public and private sectors, the Egyptian and German tourism industries, and supported by key technical consultants.  They promote use of environmental management systems and environmentally sound operations to improve environmental performance and to increase competitiveness of the Egyptian hotel industry.

Priority projects include conservation of natural resources such as clean beaches, healthy marine life and protected areas, which are the backbone of the Red Sea Riviera and the nation’s eco-tourism market.

Mr. Hisham Zaazou, Egyptian Minister of Tourism, told Trade Arabia, “We will also be working on implementing this project in other Egyptian cities.”

Image of El Gouna from Shutterstock

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