I booked Egypt as a last minute riding trip without thinking it through too much and in fact it remains the only riding vacation i have done rather than my usual adventurous trail ride.
Not my standard of adventure, at that time I didn't know yet that side of mine as this was my second ever riding trip, but it has been lots of fun anyway!
I landed in Hurgada one night at the end of June and coincidentally on the last few days of the Ramadan and this factor proved to be key to my stay.
I was the very last customer arriving to close the season; from end of June to early September there are no rides as it is far too hot in the country.
I decided with the organisation that I would accept to swap the usual tour by starting from the end. I joined the ladies from the previous week in their last three days and moved to Luxor for the second part of my ride as the only remaining rider, basically all Luxor tour and rides by myself with the guide, not a bad deal is it?
Normally the ride works the opposite, it starts in Luxor and ends in Hurgada where the days are designed to relax by the beach enjoying some seaside activities and short super fast gallops in the desert.
The adventure factor proved to be the oddity of my trip, in 12 hours of my landing I was sat on the saddle of a white Arabian mare blasting like a rocket in the plains of the huge desert behind Hurgada with nearly no breaks!
Not the fun you would imagine for me coming straight from a day traveling, normally you would wait and build up to the gallops, because these gallops folks are the real thing! But having accepted to switch around the tour I had to deal immediately with the most fiery Arabian mare I could possibly end up riding with!
In the end, despite she being nearly impossible to stop, I got the exhilaration of the speed and even managed to lose my small camera attached to a saddle bag in the sands whilst flying full throttle on the flats!!
My stay in Hurgada included a no riding day spent on a large boat snorkelling in the Red Sea and most of all swimming with the dolphins! I was truly looking forward to this! I always wanted to feel the emotions of being in the water with these fantastic creatures from the sea so close to you.
It was mating season and we assisted for a good five minutes to the courtship rituals that a small pod of males were displaying to conquer the girl. Amazing seeing them dancing and swiftly approaching the female and spinning around her to attract her attention…terrible observing all this from the surface, surrounded by these horrendously and embarrassingly clumsy humans floating along, believe me lots of us!
You need to be prepared for this as all the tourist you can imagine will be there with you from other boats, trying to do exactly the same you are doing, you always need to keep an eye on your guide and your boat in the traffic jam!
Another highlight I loved in Hurgada, was swimming (first time ever for me!!) in the warm waters of the Red Sea with the horses.
Twice we were given the chance to ride bare back and in our bikinis a selection of Arabian horses brought to the beach for us. They were only bridled, we mounted and walked straight in the shallow waters up to where the depth was increasing. Then the fun started, diving in to the water using the horses backs as diving boards or just simply hang on to their bridles whilst paddling around! It was great even if I had the feeling they weren't that happy to be there...
My favourite part though was yet to come and it turned out being in fact the Luxor section of the trip.
As you have probably understood so far, I want to build up a bond with the horse I ride and in a trail ride this is granted. In this type of riding vacation instead you end up riding the odd horse given to you and each time a different one. In Luxor this changed.
We arrived in Luxor after a long drive through the scorching desert and my first emotional view of the majestic Nile from the car window, I then realised what it means the luxury to be the last customer in the incredible Bedouin hotel I was staying in and be the last rider to enjoy Luxor!
From the moment I stepped out of the car into the hotel I got trapped in the atmosphere, finally I was in Egypt! Hurgada is mostly an international vacation destination designed to host westerners on holiday. Nothing really there for you to feel of the real Egypt.
In Luxor this changed completely, the adventure of visiting the city and its marvels and ride in the amazing ultra green valley and ultra hot days finally started, I also managed to add the surprise factor by having to deal with the typical Food poisoning I got from a rich meal I had in Hurgada. Bring it on!
I remember the heat and the people laying low around the city, they couldn’t drink - in that temperature - because of the Ramadan, so they tried to “quench” the thirst by using napkins damped with water brought to their lips to keep some moist ...at least. My admiration went to the strength of their faith but at the same time the disbelief grew by the day; it is a huge and risky sacrifice not to drink at all until sunset when you are at 45 degrees for hours!
I remember in contrast the massive liquid swollen expanse of the Nile, that river is monstrously huge exactly as you study at school, slowly moving by. So much water.
At sunset in the pink and purple sky I used to climb slowly and wary, weakened as I was, to the highest roof garden of this quirky colourful and architecturally stunning old hotel where i am sure Escher at some point stayed to get inspiration for his staircase!
An intricate three dimensional crisscross of colourful timber staircases of all shapes and sizes connecting random terraces and roof gardens at all levels like a vertical labyrinth, I think so far this is the most amazing building I have slept and temporarily lived in my life.
I was going there to listen to the prayers chanted by the muezzin …alone in the whole building, staring at the slow unstoppable massive amount of water expanding before my eyes, Luxor East bank spreading on the other side its millennia of civilisation, not from the books for once, but just a few miles away from me. I sunk in this atmosphere completely letting my senses flowing calmly, feeling like I was becoming a part of this life.
I felt at home in some weird way.
The only beating hearts in my hotel with the exception of mine were from a young family of cats with kittens running everywhere and the two Bedouins owning the hotel, nicest people I ever met and always ready to help, I quickly became addicted to their hospitality and…to their freshly made lemonade using the limes growing in the garden with added extra sugar and mint.
If I survived each day I owe it to that drink that kept me going!!
One funny episode worth telling regards the elder Bedouin who was deaf, and I didn’t know it of course!
One evening I returned to the hotel carried as usual by my private tuk tuk and found the main door, a gigantic fully decorated timber door shut. I didn’t have the keys of this “portal” as it was usually kept ajar and I started ringing the bell and knocking …no answer..so I started knocking more and more, aware that I was standing alone in the middle of a secondary street with nobody other than me to help and no other customers in the hotel. I was all covered in dust and sweaty from the ride and desperate for a shower as I had to be ready for dinner and yet nobody came to open.
After good ten minutes or more waiting and the sky getting darker and darker, I started worrying a bit, will anybody ever be there to open for me? At last a car parked nearby and the driver who was probably there for the hotel came to help me! He phoned the hotel and the door at last opens and this tiny old man smiles at me his nearly toothless smile…he was always there but couldn’t hear a thing and forgot to check if the main door was open or not!!!
Finally the real trip started for me, waking up at dawn to avoid the extreme heat of the midday hours I enjoyed each and every single moment of my stay in Luxor, the trips from the hotel to the beautiful stables, filled with splendid Arabian horses and several cats and dogs, sat in the most improbable tiny tuk tuk all for me, whizzing through the narrow alleyways of the village; the walls of the houses painted with the graffiti of airplanes or cars or buses used by their occupiers, who managed to finally go to Mecca, were flying past my eyes and becoming familiar each day more.
To me these trips to the stables are still the best and fun commute ever!
I could feel the vibe of the village waking up, carts driven by donkeys loaded with fruits and vegetable going to the markets, people weakened by the heat and the Ramadan still dozing off in the shadows, trying to preserve energies, scattered around the way; in the afternoon, in preparation to the only meal in the evening, the most amazing bakeries dishing out the famous round flat bred directly from the ovens into the streets with rusty conveyor belts.
I ended up one day finally eating that warm and freshly baked bread straight from the bakery!! So good!..and no food poisoning!
I sunk in the late afternoon rides atmosphere, just me and one of the guides riding finally for three days the same white Arabian mare Luna.
I loved the canters in the golden hours of the late afternoons, immersed in the vibrant green of sugar cane fields, the ibises flying around, the otters floating in the huge canals irrigating the fields straight from the mother Nile, the banana trees loaded and so green, the stray dogs, the locals passing by, the elders still tending their orchards, their donkeys waiting nearby, living their own farmers life.
Everyday Egyptian life slowly happening around us, the children running always towards us with a huge bright smile and waving their hands at the horses and us. Lots and lots of smiles all over. People were truly amazing there.
Can’t forget the fast burst of gallop on Luna one morning when we reached the edge of the village to the desert up to the rear of the Valley of the Kings and the visit to the isolated Christian Coptic village away from everything, a community on its own at the edges of the desert.
Finally of course the visits to Archaeological sites, Hatshepsut seen in a super bright hot late morning following the Valley of the Kings.
All of them with my loyal bottle of water, which became quickly hot like a tea in that heat and to which I held on to for my life, do not forget ever to drink regularly on a desert especially if you are there at the end of June.
In these days in Luxor I decided to keep going despite not being willing to eat much, exception made of course for the magic lemonade, my main source of energy.
I definitely felt the suggestive power of the tombs of the Pharaohs, the splendour and the marvel at these amazing human artefacts built and decorated millennia ago and seeing all of this in my state gave me nearly a mystical experience as I was really pushing myself to do it!! I felt like I conquered those places rather than being just the umpteen tourist!
Have to say that it helped in a weird way that my amazing guide, a fantastic local lady Amel, with a huge knowledge and passion for her country was not feeling a lot better than me due to the Ramadan. She could barely walk for a few minutes before sitting down to rest. It truly felt we were a team more than ever as we couldn’t stop excusing each other for the respective lack of energy!
To me standing there in the middle of the temples on these sites, where civilisation was already so evolved well before the Romans even existed, has been like a shock, an intense experience which added massively to this trip.
This time more than ever it wasn’t just the horses for me but the whole, and how could it be any different when you are in front of the majesty of these incredible buildings standing after millennia in front of you? I mean, I saw the hieroglyphs representing Alexander the Great in Luxor Temple when he conquered Egypt, guys please spare a minute of your time.
Alexander rode/navigated down there from Greece. No GPS, not many maps and certainly the Egyptians weren't the lowest civilisation around then. This deserves a minute of silence and consideration. I did pay respect to this young man.
On my last day with my eyes still filled with wonders, I found myself crossing the desert once more on the car, back to Hurgada, to the Red Sea for few more hours on the beach and a final swim with the horses before getting ready for my flight back, fast forward two thousand year in the future. Back to London.
I loved each second of Luxor and the sight of the Nile dictating the life of the people in this part of the world since the day history was born. More than anything seeing it from a saddle.
Hard Facts
Ride: about 60 Km, short two hours rides max in the morning and in the afternoon;
Horses: 5 stars, all Arabians, I rode mostly mares
Horse Ridden: Mostly Luna, white Arabian mare
Food: 5 stars, always freshly cooked and warm,
Landscape: 5 stars when in Luxor, 3 stars in Hurgada
Hotel comfort: 4 stars,
Organisation/Team : 4 Stars
Logistics: 5 Stars
All text and photos by Veronika Strange
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