The latest journey to Sinai took place from 14 to 25 April, during which we successfully built a second dam in Wadi Tinya, a high and remote valley above St Katharine’s. There are more than 50 gardens spread out along the bottom of the valley like green jewels on a necklace. All of them rely on a supply of water from nearby wells, but over recent years the water table has dropped considerably and there has not been enough water for garden owners to water their trees and to grow vegetables.

The valley is quite remote. In one direction it is a long but steady upward path taking around 4 hours to reach the gardens. From the opposite direction it is a 2 hour walk but very steep with a 200m climb and camels cannot get up the path. Despite the inaccessibility of the valley, many families spend the whole summer up here, living in small basic houses, herding their goats and tending their gardens.

Around 20 years ago a small dam was built across a side gully and it has helped increase the amount of water available, if and when it rains, which is not often. There is now a new dam just below the first and this one has a much bigger water catchment area. When the rainfall is so little, it is important to save and conserve any rain that can be captured before it runs away down the mountainsides.

Once the dam was completed, after 3 days, the group left the high mountain wadi and trekked down to the town and then out along Wadi Arbaeen to Ramdan’s Garden to stay the night. On the way we passed the rock which Old Testament Moses was reputed to have struck and from which water gushed. The whole of this area is steeped in biblical stories which are supposed to have taken place here. The monastery of St Katharine, lies at the foot of a massive mountain, 2200m high, and known as Mount Sinai, and Mount Moses (Gebel Mousa in Arabic). The Israelites were wondering in the wilderness here for 40 years, throughout the Sinai peninsular, and spent a lot of time in the St Katharine’s area, hence the biblical references.

The group then went on to climb Mount Sinai, with some help for part of the way from camels. The final 750 steps had to be made on foot. On the top a magnificent panorama is revealed, with Mount Sinai encircled by a ring of fierce jagged peaks. There is wonder and awe in abundance here. After a picnic lunch the group walked back down to the town to spend the night in a real bed before embarking on the last phase of the trip, which was to the silence and beauty of the desert.

We have been taking people to Mattamir in the desert for over 20 years and it never fails to impress people with the utter silence and majestic rock formations. There are many canyons and niches to explore as well as walks around the area to enchant the traveller with desert delights. After three or four nights under the desert stars the group set off back to the airport for the return home.

Sinai has been home to spiritual seekers for thousands of years, and much wisdom has been born here.

A person is forced inward by the spareness of what is outward and visible in all this land and sky. The beauty of the Plains is like that of an icon…. what seems stern and almost empty is merely open, a door into some simple and holy state. – Kathleen Norris.

The Bible abounds with references to the desert and the wilderness. Encounters with God, both directly and through prophetic voices, took place in scenes of desolation. God spoke on an empty stage, knowing how easily the sound of rivers diverted human attention. – Yi-Fu Tuan

People need wild places. Whether or not we think we do, we do. We need to be able to taste grace and know again that we desire it. We need to experience a landscape that is timeless, whose agenda moves at the pace of speciation and glaciers. To be surrounded by a singing, mating, howling, commotion of other species, all of which love their lives as much we do ours, and none of which could possibly care less about us in our place. It reminds us that our plans are small and somewhat absurd. It reminds us why, in those cases in which our plans might influence many future generations, we ought to choose carefully. Looking out on a clean plank of planet earth, we can get shaken right down to the bone by the bronze-eyed possibility of lives that are not our own. Barbara Kingsolver Small Wonder