The prickly subject of desert etiquette

Camping with the Bedou in Egypt requires respect for their ways, discovers Adrian Mourby, not to mention their scorpions

Our first night in the desert was not easy. It wasn't so much the rocks beneath my bed roll, nor the surprising chill of a cloudless desert sky, but the fact that we had been given several litres of water to drink since Emma Loveridge picked us up at Sharm el Sheikh. "Miss Emma" is something of a phenomenon in Sinai. A quietly spoken young woman who has gained the trust of tribespeople, Emma Loveridge takes European parties deeper into the peninsula than any other operator – and she does not want any mishaps. "There are three things to remember in the desert," we were told as we sat round our first camp fire. "Keep covered. Drink at least three bottles of water a day. And keep clean. You'll each be given your own mug and you must only drink from that mug. You must wash it and before every meal you must wash your hands, too, in the bowls we'll be providing. You can get ill very quickly out here."

Before we settled down for the night we also had a reminder to keep our baggage well secured in case something crawled in. "That goes for your sleeping bags as well," Emma added. "If you have to get up in the night remember to roll up your sleeping bag and, when you get back, wrap up your boots again. Scorpions and snakes are more frightened of us but don't leave them somewhere warm to crawl into."

Inevitably, the beauty of sleeping out under Mount Asawira, watching shooting stars and aeroplanes in the pitch-black void above, was to contrast cruelly with the nuisance of stumbling to the lavatory ever hour or so as a result of having consumed so much water. A busy torchlight traffic went on all night with the result that by morning we were exhausted. Nevertheless, we duly took our backpacks to the Land Rovers as instructed and squatted by the breakfast fire where one of several men called Mohamed was preparing food.

Emma Loveridge discovered the desert while researching her PhD at St Catherine's Monastery. A strong desire not to lose contact with the tribespeople gave her the idea of bringing tourism to the Bedou, offering them an alternative to forsaking the nomadic life and working as waiters in Egypt's Red Sea resorts.

On our first day out we were taken to meet Sheikh Hamid and the people who would be travelling alongside us. Drinking sweetened tea with the sheikh's family, under the shade of a huge rock, we were briefed by Miss Emma on treating the Bedou with respect. "This means that you ask when you want to take a photograph. And No means No. These people trust us and I want us to retain their trust." She was nevertheless stern that no one should accept behaviour they would not tolerate back in Britain. "There's good and bad behaviour among the Bedou, as there is everywhere. Don't let the children get away with asking you for things. They know they're not supposed to do that."

Next was a spot of dune racing. Ascending these mountains of sand worked up our appetites, but its real purpose was to inculcate the idea that, whatever is going on, you always look after the person behind you. "In the desert you can't afford to get lost. Make sure whoever is following can always see you."

The next morning Sheikh Hamid's people arrived with camels and we set off in convoy, each one of us with a water bottle strapped to our baggage as the temperature rose to 35C. "Your body doesn't tell you the truth in the desert," Emma explained. "You think you're not thirsty, or you think you're too hot, but keep covered and keep drinking."

Inevitably, all this intake of fluid resulted in a demand for what our drivers came to recognise as "wee stops". However many times we halted to admire a gorge, dune or salt plain we would stop twice as often for someone to slip off their complaining camel, nip behind a rock and come back looking greatly relieved.

Before nightfall we sighted what would become a welcome sign during the following days: three Land Rovers parked in a distant gully and several Mohameds preparing supper round the fire. As the Bedou got to know our party better they brought their own children along, too. One evening, Ibraham, the sheikh's son, sang us a droving song and two English girls answered with "I Know Him So Well". A celebration of the agonies of adultery seemed incongruous beneath the serenity of Sinai's night sky but among Sheikh Hamid's Bedou there is a lot of divorce, an act which a man achieves simply by saying three times that he puts this wife from him. In these circumstances children usually stay with their mother until they are 12, then return to their father but, as the sheikh explained, by the time a child is 12 he is normally working and leading his own life.

We learnt much on our trip. One day we trekked over to see Nabatine rock carvings – not in any official guide book – which showed how thousands of years ago ostrich was hunted here when the Sinai was all savannah. We also saw stone nawamis, the oldest roofed buildings in the world, whose use can only be guessed at. But best of all we listened to the silence of the desert, which is perhaps its greatest beauty. "Once we took Sheikh Hamid to the Red Sea," Emma told me. "But he pointed to the lapping waves and said it was too noisy." After a week in Sinai I knew exactly what he meant. On our way home we spent one night in a Sharm el Sheikh hotel. The din of air conditioning and Muzak in its lobby seemed set to deafen us.

The Facts

Getting there

Adrian Mourby travelled to Sinai with Wind Sand & Stars (020-7433 3684; www.windsandstars.co.uk), which also runs medical clinics and irrigation schemes in close co-operation with the Bedouin. A nine-day trip costs £690 including transfers, two nights' hotel accommodation, seven nights under the stars, camel treks and tours.

Return flights can be arranged to Cairo or Sharm el Sheikh from £265 return. The next trip departs 1 February. Group trips are also available for schools, families, friends and charities, with dates and itineraries to suit.

Further information

Egyptian Tourist Office (020-7493 5283; http://touregypt.net/sinai.htm).