Sister Projects
The Seven Summits Sinai Challenge is one of several grassroots community tourism initiatives founded by our team. Our projects seek to introduce people to a side of Egypt most people are unaware of. They are about putting Egypt's desert wilderness on the map and boosting a new kind of tourism. Above all our initiatives seek to create jobs and opportunities in remote areas: especially those of a kind thorugh which the traditional knowledge, skills and heritage of Egypt's Bedouin communities can be kept alive in contemporary times.
Sinai Trail
Founded in 2015, the Sinai Trail is Egypt's first long-distance hiking trail. Originally a 220km, 12 day hiking route crossing the lands of three Bedouin tribes, the Sinai Trail was extended into a 550km trail taking 42 days to complete and traversing the territories of eight Bedouin tribes in 2018. The Sinai Trail is 100% owned by the Bedouin & an intertribal cooeprative oversees its operations today. Bedouin men & women work on the Sinai Trail & it has received numerous accolades for its groundbreaking work. In 2016, it was voted the best new tourism project in the wider world at the BGTW Tourism Awards. Wanderlust and Outdoors Magazines have also ranked it one of the world's best new trails.
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Red Sea Mountain Trail
A 170km, 10 day hiking circuit near Hurghada, the Red Sea Mountain Trail is a challenging route traversing the highest mountains on mainland Egypt. Created by Bedouin tribesmen of the Maaza - one of the biggest tribes in Egypt - it opened in 2019 & was voted one of TIME Magazine's Greatest Places a few months later. Inspired by the Sinai Trail it opens a new frontier for hiking tourism in the Middle East, putting a place on the map that has been virtually unseen outside the Bedouin community until now. Over the coming years, we hope to extend the Red Sea Mountain Trail into a 1000km route running the length of Egypt's Red Sea Mountains, towards the border with Sudan.
Three Peaks Egypt Challenge
A 38km hiking route around St Katherine with 5000m of ascent & descent, the Three Peaks Egypt Challenge traverses three of Egypt's highest, most iconic summits: Jebel Abbas Basha (2383m), Jebel Katherina (2642m) and Mount Sinai (2285m). The first challenge of its kind, it was founded in 2015 & has introduced a new type of mountain tourism to St Katherine. It can be attempted on three timescales: 72 hours, 24 hours, and 12 hours. People from all over the world have completed the Three Peaks Egypt Challenge. Currently, the record holder is Sherief Elabd, an Egyptian trail runner & the second Egyptian to summit Everest. His time is 7 hours, 22 minutes and 35 seconds.
