Rainbow Canyon South Sinai

A colorful canyon, with its entrance starting in a secluded sandy basin encircled by jagged rock faces. Bier Biyariya, a well with date palms, is close by across high passes and a sandy Wadi.

The making of bread in the mountains and desert is a cleverly developed process and one that uses many resources that often

appear to visitors as rubbish. Around water sources and in many gardens there is often

a large, burnt, circular metal plate lying around, called saaj, often it is made from the lid of an old oil drum. These large plates are placed across a fire, and heated. Whilst this happens the Bedouin will roll the simple dough mixture, made from flour, salt and water, into small balls and then large flat breads, similar to a chapatti. They are then placed on the now-hot metal plate and cook ed for a few minutes on each side. This bread is known as fateer. Another alternative form of bread, cooked in the ash of a fire, is called libba . This is a thicker bread, hard on the outside, but soft inside.

The entrance to the Rainbow Canyon (1) is in an open sandy area, about 3 kms from the main road (2). Wadi Agula (3), on the other side of the road, leads to Wadi el Ein, Gebel Barqa, and Ein Umm Ahmad. Further north is Wadi es Suwana (4), another way to Ein Umm Ahmad. Close to the canyon is Bier Biriya (5), from where the track, over high passes and narrow wadis (6), continues towards the Colored Canyon.