The colored canyon and Pharoah Island in Sinai

The coloured canyon and Pharaoh Island in Sinai
 

• Location:

Situated about 2 to 3 hours drive from Sharm El Sheikh, and around 2 hours from Dahab is the wonderful landscape and location for the Coloured Canyon near Nuweiba. Pharaoh's Island refers to an island in the northern Gulf of Aqaba off the shore of Egypt's eastern Sinai Peninsula.

 
The Colored Canyon

Nearby the small oasis of Ain Furtaga, about twelve Kilometres north of Nuweiba, going back up the Wadi Watir (one of the most beautiful wadis of the peninsula connecting Nuweiba with Nakhl) is the start of the track leading to one of the geological wonders of Sinai, the Colored Canyon its very narrow walls, 40 m high and little more than a meter wide in parts, are made out of a sandstone possessing an incredible range of hues – from dark brown to red to straw yellow. This is due to the presence of magnesium and iron oxides.  
 

• Pharaoh’s Island

Heading from Nuweiba towards Taba, at the extreme point of the Aqaba Gulf where the Israeli – Egyptian border is situated and following the coastal road, you come across a fascinating cove, known as ‘Salah Edin's Fjord’.with its water having an incredible turquoise colour.

After a further few Kilometres, you will reach the beautiful Pharaoh’s Island (Geziret El- Faraun in Arabic), a site of great interest from an historical and nature point of view. A fortress was built on this island in the Byzantine period and was occupied by the Crusaders in 1116, enlarged at the time of the Sultan Salah ed-Din, better known as Saladin.He seized it in 1182 and the fortress was restored by the Egyptian Antiquity Organization and opened to public in 1986. The north-east coast of the island has some especially well-developed coral reefs, the island itself having once been known as Coral Island. There is a particularly suitable site for underwater sports down to a level of 10-15 metres while on the south coast, you can admire the coral formations simply by snorkeling.