Accommodations and Food

About 50 camps have sleeps in Bedouin village, and the number grows by the week. Dahab camps are an unfortunate bastard-ization of the thatched beach hut; someone came up with the brilliant idea of casting the huts in concrete, connecting them into rows wrapped around a central courtyard, then charging LE4-5 per night to stay in what amounts to a bare cell with minimal ventilation. Yet, despite being an architectural disaster, the camps are cheap and livable.

A room with mattress costs LE4; a raised concrete “bed” ups the price to LE5-6. A wooden bed will put the squeeze on your wallet at LE10, and if you’ve got more money than you know what to do with, well-just go hole up and read your Frommer’s in a room with private bath for LE2O-30. The camps are many and an untrained observer might say they all look the same; the true connoisseur, however, can detect subtle variations in color, smell, and taste that distinguish the atrocious from the truly sublime. This is, of course, a highly personal act which requires inspecting several camps and, after intense soul-searching, making a decision: “eeny meeny miny mo. . .” The Fighting Kangaroo Oasis has a name which appeals to Serbians, Aussies, and Egyptians alike, and is clean; the Dolphin Camp is on the beach; and the Negm Paradise… well, it’s better than a phlegm paradise.

Food, like sleep, is important in the ritual of Dahab living. Bedouin village restaurants are notorious for serving up a little dysentery or food poisoning with your meal, so don’t relax the vigilance which should characterize your stay in Egypt. Avoid those deadly little lettuce leaves (you’ve heard it before). Standards are reputedly on the rise, however, and incidents of sickness are less common. Tota, in the green and white beached ship, has excellent food (lasagna. LE8, Tota’s wicked chocolate cake LE3) and very clean premises. Green Valley is known for big helpings and good food, and Palma Bedouin fries up a nice fish (price varies by species). You can eat quite well in Dahab for LE10-15 per meal (complete with drinks and dessert). Ask other (healthy) travelers where they’ve eaten-everybody has a favorite place. The pancakes of Dahab (LE2-4) are famous. There are numerous “supermarkets” that stock some staples. Children run through the village selling fresh pita that contains only a few stones and insects and is otherwise quite tasty. The sweet pita is generally a ticket to diarrheadom.