Cycling Through Dahab's Forgotten Valley

My previous days in Dahab were spent between the lagoon, the wind and the endless blue of the Red Sea. Yet beyond the kite surfers, cafés and beach resorts lies another side of Dahab. A quieter side. A rougher side. A place where the desert slowly reclaims everything that humans build.

As usual, I loaded my camera into my backpack, mounted my bicycle and started riding without a specific destination. I rarely follow a strict plan when photographing. The best discoveries often happen when you simply keep moving and allow the landscape to guide you.

I tried to capture some shots with a "counter" perspective, opposite to the European one, which usually goes from left to the right in the picture, as we read. The Arabs read from right to the left so should be the visual perspective of photos...?!

One of the first things that caught my attention was the surprising width of the roads. Large roads cut through the desert around Dahab, sometimes appearing oversized for the amount of traffic they carry. They seem almost futuristic against the backdrop of barren mountains and endless sand. Perhaps they were built with ambitious tourism projects in mind, perhaps for a future that has not yet fully arrived.

I know I was staying there in winter times, definitely out of tourist season, so maybe that was the reason why these spacious roads were almost empty and deserted like the surrounding desert.

Despite the modern roads, traditional desert transport remains very much alive. Every day I encountered horse riders moving calmly across the dusty landscape. Some rode between settlements while others guided tourists. There was something timeless about seeing horses against the Sinai mountains. The scene could have belonged to today, fifty years ago or several centuries in the past.

The 2 unavoidable sights in Dahab were the Isuzu pick-up trucks and the dramatic mountains looking over the place. Can you see the 3 horses and riders?

Another constant feature of Dahab is the pickup truck.

Old Isuzu pickups, Toyota and Nissan trucks and various weathered work vehicles seem to be everywhere. They transport construction materials, tourists, diving equipment, livestock and sometimes entire families. Many of them bear the marks of countless desert journeys. In a place where sand, heat and rough terrain challenge every machine, these vehicles have become an essential part of daily life.

The further I cycled from the tourist center, the more I noticed something far less beautiful.

Trash.

Plastic bags caught by the wind.

Broken glass scattered beside the roads.

Discarded bottles lying among the rocks.

Food packaging slowly buried by drifting sand.

Just another desert landscape with mountains...

As the Sun was setting down in the far West, the mountain were changing color in intensive orange. The edge of this mountain seemed like a giant laying down and resting. Can you see it?

Egypt possesses some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth, yet the problem of litter remains impossible to ignore. It often feels as if the desert has become an unwilling landfill. The saddest part is that the wind spreads everything further. A plastic bottle abandoned near a road today may travel several kilometers tomorrow.

The desert itself deserves better.

As I continued riding deeper into Dahab Valley, another question kept returning to my mind.

I kept encountering rounded stones scattered around the desert valley, mixed with sand what made me think that maybe many years ago here the river might have flown.

Was there once a river flowing here?

The valley is wide and surrounded by mountains. Everywhere I looked I could see rounded stones scattered across the landscape. Many of them resembled the river rocks I have seen in Europe, shaped and polished by flowing water over thousands of years.

Perhaps thousands of years ago seasonal rivers carved their way through these mountains. Sinai's climate has not always been identical to what we see today. Ancient environmental changes transformed landscapes across North Africa and the Middle East.

Of course, there is another possibility.

The relentless desert wind.

In desert, where's almost nothing to see, no object interesting for the camera, even the most usual sights can get me very inspired.

Dahab's wind never truly rests. Day after day it carries sand across the valley, slowly grinding and sculpting the exposed rocks. Maybe what I was seeing was not the work of water but the patient craftsmanship of countless sandstorms.

Whatever the explanation, the landscape invites imagination.

Every hill, every rock formation and every dry valley seems to whisper stories from another age.

Back in town I found myself drawn once again to one of Dahab's most charming details: its mosaics.

Very skilled mosaics pleasantly surprised me.

It was really a huge mosaic - at least 30 m long and 2 m high.

Colorful mosaics appear throughout the town, decorating walls, walkways and public spaces. Their patterns often feel connected to something much older than modern tourism. While clearly contemporary, they reminded me of Egypt's long artistic tradition.

For thousands of years Egyptians decorated temples, tombs and palaces with symbols, geometric designs and intricate artwork. Today's mosaics are obviously different, yet they continue the same human desire to leave beauty behind in an otherwise harsh environment.

Perhaps that is what fascinated me most about Dahab.

It exists between worlds.

Between desert and sea.

Between tradition and tourism.

Between Bedouin culture and modern resorts.

Between silence and the constant movement of visitors arriving on buses and excursion boats.

This sight made me think of who and why somebody put in order few dozens of 5 or 10 l plastic bottles around a strange abandoned wooden shack and what do they all serve for...?

As the afternoon sun began to descend behind the mountains, I turned my bicycle back towards town. My camera bag was heavier with new photographs. My eyes were once again full of desert dust carried by the wind.

The roads remained wide.

The pickup trucks continued their endless journeys.

Horse riders disappeared into the distance.

Plastic bags fluttered among the rocks.

And somewhere in the valley, hidden beneath layers of time, I could not help wondering whether a river once flowed through the mountains of Dahab.

This draft naturally follows Dahab Between Wind, Sand and the Red Sea and keeps the same observational, reflective travel-photography tone while adding the geological speculation, cycling narrative, environmental criticism, horses, pickups, mosaics, and the contrast between ancient and modern Egypt.

All the shots I made with Nikon D800 & Nikon AF Nikkor 35-70 mm lens.

Thanks for stopping by and reading!