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This is a ten-day Safari in Siwa Oasis including Cairo. You can
add additional days to any stage of the trip as you
will not be traveling with any other groups and so
we can tailor your trip to suit your own availability
and budgets. Minimum group size is 2 people but the cost of 6250 EGP is based on a group size of four people. If your group is less than 4 people we need to charge an additional 1000 EGP per person to cover the fixed costs of the transfers from Cairo to Siwa and back and the Jeep Safari into the Great Sand Sea. If you are a single traveller and would like to do this tour, and extra 2000 EGP is required.
If you have already seen details for
Cairo in one of the other All
inclusive holidays to Egypt, please move straight
to the Siwa Oasis
section where the program changes.
Day 1 Arrival – Cairo Arriving at Cairo airport, you are meet from the
plane with a car or people carrier depending on
the size of your group. You travel directly to the
3 star Victoria Hotel in Downtown Cairo. It has
that old Agatha Christie feel, but is spotlessly
clean with each room having its own en suit and
beautifully polished wooden floors. Depending on
what time of day you arrive you can choose what
we do next. Most guests arrive on the afternoon BMI flight or the Friday
BA night flight from London and due to you arriving late, have a drink or two at the hotel bar and
off to bed. To organise your flights see Getting
to Siwa - Planes, Dinner is included for you at the hotel but any drinks bills and bar bills are down to you.
To get an idea of some of the things you will see on this tour, have a look at the video to the right of two families who came to Siwa on the Pyramids and Siwa Safari. They were unfortunate to get caught in the desert when it rained as you will see. This is not the norm I assure you! |
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 The
most famous 'must see before you die' attraction on the
planet, the Pyramids of Giza |
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Day 2 Pyramids – Cairo You can have a nice lazy morning and go to the
Pyramids around 10.00am via Pizza Hut and KFC. You
can stare at the largest man-made structures in
the world along with the many other tour groups
off the Nile cruise boats and be in and out in half
an hour. This is how 95% of people visit the Pyramids.
I always hear the same comments after doing such
a trip.
"That was not what I expected,
I thought the Pyramids were out in the desert somewhere,
not next to all this. That was a real disappointment."
20 years ago, my
wife Penny and myself saw the Pyramids in a very different way. We hung
out with some students who lived nearby and at
around 4.00am three horses appeared as they heard Penny as an equestrian. We galloped
off into the desert with no idea of where we were
going following our guide. After a mile or two
we came over the brow of a hill and saw one of
the most amazing sights of my life – the biggest triangular silhouette you've ever
seen came looming out of nowhere. It was quite amazing.
We rode around the Pyramids without another person
in sight.
I still remember that moment we saw the Pyramids
rise out of the desert from nowhere, and have put
together a program that gives you a similar experience. |
You rise early at around 6.00am, you'll have loads
of time for lazy days later on in the trip. Breakfast
at the Victoria Hotel is good and starts around 4.00am. Rasha our guide in Cairo will meet you at reception at 7.00am and off you go in a people carrier for your big day out.
You arrive near the Pyramids around 7.45am at Tarek's
stables. If getting up early is too much for your group on their first day, you can skip 'Day 2' now and expedience Cairo after Siwa at the end of your tour when you won't be tired. Just let me know when you fill in the enquiry from for this tour
Tarek
is 'Our
man at the Pyramids'. He took over the
running of the family stables from his father,
like his father before him. He is a laid-back
character who speaks very good English and
runs a tight ship. He also understands and
cares about horses. Many
ex-pats who live in Cairo use Tarek's livery
facilities for their own horses and he understands
the need for safe, well kept horses. When
I make a booking with Tarek he always asks
me who is in the group, how good a rider
they are, how heavy they are and so on,
so when we arrive the right horse is always
ready for each rider.
It took
me a long time to find Tarek, I went into
every stables around the Pyramids to find
someone who could provide me with what I
wanted. Tarek has taken care of me and my
guests now for five years. He's a top bloke
and makes the whole pyramid experience a
hassle-free, enjoyable experience. |
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 Tarek is a great guy and speaks english |
 Checking out the many liveries
at Tarek's stables in the old stable buildings |
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If anyone wants tea, a click of the fingers and
one of the grooms will scurry off to boil the kettle.
A quick look around the stables, which are over
100 years old, to look for any newborn foals and
to just have a look at how an Egyptian stables is
run differently from home. Everyone is found a horse
that is right for them and you set off through the
old town. No-one has seen the Pyramids in full yet ( they are hard to avoid) and set off in search of them. |
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You ride for 10 minutes through
the old town seeing people getting their horses
and camels ready for the coming day's tourists along
with children going off to school and people going
about their daily business.
You turn a corner and go through the back door to the pyramids, your guide from Tarek's stable deals with the gate keepers requests for baksheesh so if any one asks you for money here, just ignore them, you have already paid;) You move out into open desert. If your a rider you can gallop off here and ride around in the desert any where you want, keeping an eye on where the ones who don't ride are with the guide. You have a full hour to ride around and slowly turn north towards the pyramids. |
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 Through the back streets of Giza we go in search of
the open desert
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 At this time in the morning there are few people around
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You ride along in silence until some yells "WOW,
LOOK OVER THERE!" and, out of the mist, looms
the top of the Great Pyramid. You ride closer, slowly
taking in the immense size and presence of the six
pyramids that lie before you. |
You ride right up to the pyramids and dismount
your horses.
Rasha your tour guide for the day will be waiting for you at the bottom of the middle pyramid and your guide from Tarek's stable will take you there. Rasha gives you many 'wow' facts about the pyramids
and explains how they were built and how long it
all took. |
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 The Group shot and time to reflect on the last remaining
wonder of the world |
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| The family portrait for the mantle piece |
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| Your not supposed to climb the pyramids but at this time of the morning you normally get 5 minutes before someone tells you to get off. |
 You can take as long as you like walking around
the pyramids. Depending on which one is open, you can
go inside one of the three large pyramids right
down into the middle of the structure, if you can
handle the claustrophobia and heat that is.
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Included in the tour is entrance to the middle pyramids or the boat house next to the great pyramid. You can split your group up and do both and if any one wants to go into both they can, the just need to pay for one themselves. You can go inside the great pyramid as well if you want. The tickets for this are quite expensive and we don't include this in the tour as most people do not want to climb down deep into the middle of a pyramid with lots of other people. Again you can do this if you want, you just need to let Rasha know before you arrive at the pyramids so she can buy the tickets for you in advance at the ticket office and you will need to give her the money for this. |
As the crowds begin to arrive, if you chose not to go inside one of the pyramids, you venture into
the building that looks like a huge desktop printer
next to the largest pyramid. Inside is the
oldest boat in the world. Rasha will take you around and explain in detail how and why it was built.
It also has clean toilets, the only ones available
in the pyramids complex. |
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| Inside the boat house with the worlds oldest boat |
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After looking
around the three main pyramids, you walk down
to the Sphinx and with no rush, when you have
had enough time, you walk back out into the main
street and a short distance back to Tarek's
stables that are now buzzing with activity.
You leave the Pyramids around 12.00pm with Rasha in the same people carrier you arrived in so you can leave your bags etc in there. You head
back into Cairo. Your next stop is the Khan El Khalili
Bazaar in the ancient Islamic part of Cairo but you will stop at a traditional Cairo restaurant Rasha recommends for lunch before getting to the market that has clean toilets. You will need to pay for this lunch as it is too complicated for me to get Rasha to pay for it. It doesn't cost much and it gives you the choice to have what you want. Once your all refreshed, you are dropped off a mile or so away from the Khan El Khalili
market and stroll through the non-touristy streets
to get a real feel of old city and what life was
like here in medieval times. Rasha trained for 4 years in Egyptian antiquities and will be able to answer your questions and Islamic life here from the beginning, up to the present day.
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 Mohammad & his merry men |
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Out of the touristy areas
you are a novelty and get to meet the locals. I
never get bored of coming through the old markets
that lead up to the Khan El Khalili Bazaar. Opportunities
to take pictures of the old ways of life and
the 1,000-year-old buildings are everywhere.
People go about their daily business and donkeys
deliver the gas bottles as they have done for
years. You can smell the different sections
of the market, the spices and sweet potatoes
for sale from the street vendors. |
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Islamic Cairo has more Islamic
monuments than any other city in the world and
most of them are right here in the old city,
all around you, giving you a real feel of medieval
life. You stroll along the street in no hurry,
stopping for tea or a juice from the local juice
bars and using when needed the not-so-clean
toilets dotted around the markets.
You
walk through the markets and monuments until
you reach El Fishawi's, the famous cafe in the
middle of the Knan El Khalili bazaar for tea and
clean toilets;)
After tea you head off into the various markets
were there are all sort of things for sale
and depending on what you are looking for
and depending on where we go. We have our own shop
in Siwa so
you can get some good deals on certain items from us, but it's more fun to do your own haggling and buy it here. |
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A workshop that invited us
in for a look around and tea
Most of the items sold in the bazaar are
not high quality and it takes a good eye to
spot the difference. You can practice your
bargaining skills and test your eye for an
unusual antique or just walk around and take
it all in if your not in the mood for shopping. |
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You can spend as long as you like in the Khala El Khalili
market. Once you have had your fill, Rasha will telephone
the car and your picked up and taken back to the
Victoria Hotel. It's a big day out, but a memorable
one. In the evening you have dinner included in the cost at the Victoria Hotel, if you wish to eat out in one of the many good restaurants in Cairo which we highly recommend, we will reimburse you the price for the set menu at the Victoria when you arrive in Siwa. It's up to you.
Obviously if I am not with you I cannot pay for your dinner if you eat out of the hotel. If you are a large group, I sometimes come up to Cairo and join you for this part of the tour and so can obviously deal with paying for dinner out if I am there. As a lot of our groups are between 2 and 5 people it keeps the cost of the tour down if I do not join you in Cairo. Remember any bars or
clubs you visit in Cairo will not be included in the ' all
inclusive' costs, but I am happy to recommend where to go if you want to experience the Cairo night life. |
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A local beggar in the markets, happy with her baksheesh |
Day 3 Traveling to Siwa Around 8.00am, depending on when you want to
leave, your driver appears at the hotel and your
bags are all collected and put into the people carrier
ready for your journey. You can stop whenever and
wherever you want. Around lunchtime you pass the Commonwealth
War Graves at El Alamain. It's a moving place, and
reading the stories of each solder lost in the battle
here, which they say changed the course of the Second
World War, makes your reflect and imagine what it
was like. |
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The
war graves at El Alamain where 80,000 men lost their
lives |
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A bedouin sheppard in the north coast of Egypt. You will pass many sheppard's and their herds of goats and sheep. |
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If I am traveling with you, lunch is included in the price in a great local restaurant with grilled chicken,
salad and some sort of pies. I have
no idea what they are, but they taste great! If I am not with you and you want to go for a swim in the Mediterranean your driver will stop at a 5 star resort called Charm Life for an hour or so break. As long as you buy
a round of drinks they are happy for you to use
their facilities but they do a great buffet lunch for around 120 EGP per person. Any costs at Charm Life is down to you.
You follow the Mediterranean coast down to Marsa
Matrouh were you turn left and spend the afternoon
driving through the remotest place you have probably
ever been. You enter the Sahara Desert where you
start to realise... your really are going Somewhere
Different. |
Camels are often seen on the road between Marsa Matrouh
and Siwa |
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The road to Siwa is very good and comfortable
to travel on, you can read a book whilst driving
along. The desert here is vast and as you stare
out of the window and see the camels grazing at
the side of the road you can image traveling to
Siwa like Alexandria the Great. You can stop for tea
in the Bedouin tea house half way and normally sleep
for the rest of the journey.
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The road through the desert
to Siwa |
| Arriving in Siwa |
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You arrive in the early evening in time for G&T's
on the roof terrace around the open fire and a quick
tour of the Siwa Villa by Mohammad the house keeper and Ludmila. They are both full-time staff
and are here to make your stay as enjoyable as it
can be. To see detailed pictures of the Siwa
Villa inside and the Siwa
Villa from the outside have a look here.
One or two drinks on the terrace and off we go
to the best restaurant in town for a good meal or dinner in if your arriving late.
Back to the villa where you can sit around the fire
till the early hours catching up with friends. |
The roof terrace where you
have a welcoming drink and take in Siwa for the first
time |
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Day 4 Day off – Siwa Unlike other adventure holidays, you're now in
your own villa and you can do exactly what you want
when you want. Mohammad will bring fresh bread each
morning, leaving it hanging on the door so as to
not wake any one up. You fix your own breakfast
with eggs, cereal and fruit and take it easy.
Mohammad is available at any time to take you
off in the donkey cart around the town or out to
one of the many Roman springs around town for swimming.
In the afternoon Duncan can come and collect
you all in the resident jeep and head out to the
edge of Great Sand Sea for a spot of sandboarding
down some huge dunes before watching the sun go
down on the edge of the desert and heading off to
a hot spring in the Bedouin camp next to the desert. You can do all of the above or you can stay in
bed for the whole day or read that book you started
in Cairo up on the roof terrace. It's up to you.
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 Dinner is served in the Siwa Villa on the terrace
or around the enormous dining room table. If you want, Mohammad
can make you a local dish know as 'chicken in the sand'
that is cooked, funnily enough, in the sand in the
garden. The town souk is a few minutes walk away
where you can go exploring after dinner or stay
around the fire on the roof terrace or in the living
room. |
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The
Siwa Villa where you will stay when in Siwa Oasis. |
Ahmed
is passionate about Siwa and its history and it comes
through in his talks |
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Day 5 The Sights – Siwa In the morning everyone can do their own thing,
go swimming in the springs, sandboarding on the
edge of the desert in the jeep, walk around town
or mingle with the neighbours in the Shali.
At around 2.00pm, a guide, depending on who is free who works for the local antiquities department and who speaks very good English meets
us at the Siwa Villa and we all take off in the
jeep(s) for a private tour of the sights of Siwa. |
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The temple
of Amun has huge 'energies' we are told by some
of our guests. It has a colourful past and is mentioned
throughout Greek history. This is where Alexandria the great came, like all Pharaoh's before him, to see if he would be king. Prince Charles came to visit a few years ago, no one asked if he found out the answer for him. |
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The
Oracle was on of the seven centres of knowledge in
the Mediterranean area. Your guide takes you through the whole story from the
establishment of the oracle to the time when the
villagers moved out in favour of the Shali mountain.
He will give you an insight into the Berber culture
and way of life that is often amusing as well as
interesting.
The
pharonic tombs have mummies and paintings inside Mountain of the Dead has been the burial ground
for Siwa for 5,000 years. There are hundreds of
tombs here, several dating back to the pharonic
times. The mummies inside still have their original
hair and are an amazing sight. Dinner will be at the Siwa Villa or in a restaurant
of your choice in town, depending on how you feel.
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Day 6 Desert Safari of your
choice Siwa Around 10.00am Nasser, arrives
at the Siwa Villa to pack our tent into his jeep
and collect the blankets. Mohammad runs of to the
shops for the provisions for the day and we set
off around 11.00am for our desert adventure.is amazing
Nasser is one of the few true professional drivers
in Siwa and knows his way around. He has been driving
in the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert in Siwa
for many years and enjoys taking our guests around.
Nasser's
jeep can take us deep into the Great Sand Sea in the
Western Desert.
We head out into the Great Sand Sea for some serious
dune hopping. We have discovered some very interesting
places out in the desert that we like to keep a
secret so as to not publicise their locations to
other desert travelers. Some of the fossils, mummies
and petrified forests are in danger of becoming
extinct (again) due to people taking home the fossils
as souvenirs. |
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Yes,
this is what the Great Sand Sea next to Siwa looks
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We insist that, were there are rare fossils, people
do not take any home, there are places where we
will take you where it's perfectly OK to take some
shells or fossilized leaves as there are many of
them. It was the bottom of the ocean a few hundred million years ago, so taking a shell from the desert is like... taking a shell from the beach.
There
are dunes twice this size we hop over, don't believe
me ... wait and see;)Siwa
is one of the best places on earth to sand board.
We have the biggest dunes!
Somewhere Different has its own collection of
sand boards and toboggans for hammering down those
huge dunes, just like in the TV ads.
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If you particularly want to go and visit the petrified forest we can take you. It's a long way out into the desert and we find guests prefer to use the time exploring the fossils closer to Siwa and less time driving in the dunes. It's up to you, let us know if you would like to go, but it is a good hour there and back and there is no road!
After a day of exploring the desert and flying
over some very big dunes we set up camp under a
large dune for protection against the wind. Mohammad sets all the tents up ( if there is room
for him to come with you) and Nasser sets about cooking
the evening meal. You are required to do nothing
but sip on a cold beer or climb to the top of the
dune to see the sunset. but if you help Nasser set the wind breaks and make the fire, you'll get more involved in the whole sleeping out experience.
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The
Petrified forest 40 km's from Siwa |
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Take
it all in whilst dinner is prepared and the camp for
the night is set up
Barbequed chicken and vegetables or what ever
you chose in the market the day before.
We sleep out under the stars in the dunes without
a mosquito or bug in site. You might if yrou lucky see a desert mouse, they have long back legs and tiny front legs. They are the size of a walnut and very quite, but they will have been in, stolen the chicken scraps and be gone before you can see them, you'll just see their tracks in the morning which you can follow for miles, literlay. We have never found where they live. |
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Day 7 Day off – Siwa On the way back to Siwa in the morning we pass
by Bira Wahed to have a soak in the hot and cold
springs right out in the desert. Bira Wahed gets
very busy so this is the best time to visit when
no one is around. |
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The
hot spring at Bira Wahed |
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A lazy day in Siwa doing what ever you want. The
donkey cart and jeep are always available to take
you anywhere you want to go, so swimming, sandboarding
or exploring the old town, it's up to you. Dinner
is somewhere different on this day as we go to our
friend's house for a traditional meal in a traditional
Siwan home. The men have to sit in one room and
the visiting women only are allowed to meet the
women folk of the family in a separate area of the
house. When dinner is ready we all join up together
in the 'men only' room for dinner which is normally
a bit of a feast with too much food! |
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picture postcard cold spring at Bira Wayed right out
in the Western Desert |
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Day 8 Siwa Lunch and dinner is out in town or in the Villa, as you like. You now know what you can do in Siwa and have discovered all the things you still want to do and see before you leave. You have access to two jeeps, one donkey and cart and a whole desert to explore... our you can still finish that book. We have walks through the gardens, we have a sunset trip out to the hot springs in town, or if you have something you want to do, and don't know how to do it, ask, we'll either know or enjoy working it out. Depending on what time of year you come to Siwa and who is around, we will put together a bespoke itinerary for you for every day after we have had a chance to get an idea of what you want to do. For example you may have gang of kids with you and so we will suggest lots of swimming and Sandboarding. If your into bird watching we'll plan in a drive out to the lake were the migrating birds rest. If you want to change anything whilst your in Siwa, except the desert safari, it's easy to do, so don't worry about getting it all right before you come. When you make your enquiry about booking this tour, let us know what interest you and a bit about yourselves so I can put together an itinerary that I think will suit you and make your holiday somewhere different special.
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Day 9 Siwa - Cairo You can leave at 4.00am and have the afternoon in Cairo or leave at 10.00am and flop into bed when you arrive at your hotel in Cairo. A packed lunch is provided for your trip back as you may well want to sleep most of the way. Dinner is provided in the hotel when you arrive.
Day 10 Cairo Around 10.00am your guide meets you at the hotel and takes you off to the Egyptian Museum to see some of the oldest artifacts in the world, as well as the contents of Tutankhamun's tomb in Luxor. The Egyptian museum is massive. It has more ancient
artifacts that any other museum in the world. It really
is worth the trip. Due to the
large increase in cost, the Mummy Room is now not
included in our tour price and so will be up to you
if you wish to enter it. It is a very small part of
the museum and it is not necessary for you to have
an amazing experience. The entire Tutankhamun exhibition
is included in the standard museum entry ticket and
is the highlight of the museum. |
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Dinner
at Mohammad's house, it's a real experience as well
as great food. |
 Egyptian
Museum in Cairo is huge and well worth the visit
To make an enquiry about this tour go to the All inclusive enquiry form and let us know your thoughts. |
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Depending on when your flights are, your Guide will take you back to the Victoria
Hotel before or directly to the airport and back to reality!
The above itinerary has been tried and tested and
has a good balance of lots of adventure combined with
relaxing days to take it all in. Due to Somewhere
Different only catering for private groups, we
can add in additional days to the itinerary in Siwa and arrange more trips to the desert or hot springs out in the gardens.
If you compare the cost of this tour, 6,250 EGP, with other tours on offer of a simaler style you will see this tour includes a lot more than other 'all inclusive' tours. Check the small print to see what is actulay included and what you are expectd to pay for. I'm pretty sure no one else includes an ice cold G&T around the fire, that's for sure.
For enquires about this tour go to All Inclusive Holiday form and let us know you are interested
in the 'Pyramids & Siwa Safari' holiday, a rough idea
of dates that would suit you, the number of people
in your group and any additional days you would be
interested in adding to the tour. I can then look
at flights and specific dates and provide you with a total cost
for the tour. Click here to view our other All
inclusive holidays to Egypt. |
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