Glimpses of Israel - Di-Zahav

by Joseph Hunting

Di-Zahav or Dahab as it is known by the local Bedouin is an oasis on the east coast of the Sinai peninsula located about 150 kilometres south of Eilat. This piece of real estate through which Moses led the children of Israel 3,500 years ago is wild and rugged and it is soon going to be under new management when Egypt takes over this part of the Sinai. So whilst the road is still open I suggest we recapture the atmosphere where there are no exhaust fumes, pollution, and very little of anything else that reminds us of civilization in the 80s.

Depending on your tastes there are a variety of ways you can relax at Dahab. Depending on your definition of relaxation you can bake like a cake on the beach. For those a little more venturesome there are facilities for wind-surfing (there is never any shortage of wind at Dahab) or skin diving, exploring the exquisitely coloured coral reefs with a variety of brilliantly coloured fish.

For those who really like to 'rough it' the Bedouin provide somewhat primitive accommodation (not recommended for those who like a little dash of elegance in their life-style). For instance the showers near the water's edge are open to the desert sky and breezes and there is little else left to the imagination.

There would be few places such as Dahab left where there is an almost total lack of twentieth century sophistication so close to the mainstream of modern life.

Soon the Bedouin will have it all to themselves again as they have for untold centuries past.