South Camp - Our Private Resort on the Red Sea!

After the long bus ride, this was my first glimpse of South Camp on the Red Sea.

Bob's ICT Branch at South Camp is a much smaller office.
This is Khaled, who works at ITC South Camp. He's been with the MFO for 25 years, and is the one who has planted all the landscaping around the office!
We had reservations at an all-inclusive resort in Sharm called the Delta Sharm. When we got there, we were extremely disappointed in our accommodations and the fact that we not only couldn't see the sea, but that we'd have to take a shuttle bus to the beach! After some discussion, we decided to check out and go stay in a hooch at South Camp instead of going to a different hotel. The accommodations were wonderful, on a cliff with the Gulf of Aqaba as our back yard, and we had the private beach just steps away down the hill! Best of all, it was free!

Bob in the sitting area of our hooch
This was the bedroom - facing the sea.
The bathroom.

Our private terrace overlooking the Gulf of Aqaba.
The officers' club was just outside our front door. We didn't go there, though... we had too many other things to do and went into town every night for dinner!
A view of Tiran Island (see previous post "Trip to Tiran Island") from our terrace.

Bob decided to go swimming... there are a lot of rocks and boulders in the water, and he lost his balance! He had a nice bruise on his toe from the rock!



There was a little gift shop right on the beach, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) it wasn't open any of the days we were there.
My handsome man with the gulf at his back.
Bob found a beached whale and took a picture of it while it was sleeping in the sun...
Just us... having fun!

We took our morning coffee on the terrace each day and watched the parasailors, as well as the MFO patrol boats (Italian Navy) and tour boats go by. Next time we go to Sharm together we are going to parasail!

Getting ready to go into town for the evening... gotta have money!
One evening we saw these U.S. soldiers playing roller hockey on the tennis courts at South Camp... soldiers can make their own fun wherever they are!

Seeing this kind of thing makes you want to sing Jimmy Buffet songs!

...son of a son, son of a son, son of a son of a sailor...

Road Trip to Sharm el Sheikh 30 Apr - 3 May

We rode an MFO tour bus through the Sinai to Sharm el Sheikh in the southern part of Egypt. The trip took about six hours. It was an experience to ride along on a limited access (e.g. "official" vehicles only) border road through the desert and into the rough and mountainous part of the Sinai. It was a comfortable ride, though, and this huge bus only had about 15 people on it (including our armed guard, a member of the Hungarian Army)!

Yours truly getting ready to board the bus

Leaving North Camp... from the height of the bus you get a better picture of what the North Camp entry/exit process is like.
Believe it or not, the desert around El Gorah supports peach trees! Much to our surprise, we drove right through the peach harvest on market day!
People with vehicles of all kinds, bringing their peaches to market in the little town of El Gorah.

The open road again. Now we're heading toward the mountains, but we'll still be in the flatter desert for a couple of hours.

The border fence... we were very close to it for much of the trip.
This was my first view of the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea. We were just north of the city of Taba here. You can see the coast of Jordan on the horizon. Later it becomes the coast of Saudi Arabia.

At North Camp 27-30 April

After driving from Tel Aviv through the desert and across the border, we finally arrived at North Camp, El Gorah, Sinai, where Bob is based. Thought you might like to see what the camp and his living conditions are like!

Below is the main gate entrance to North Camp.

This is the perimeter fence. The towers are manned by Fijians with machine guns and radios... every other tower during the day and every tower at night is manned.

These 1/2 trailers, called hooches, are housing for single people on unaccompanied status.

This is the force exchange, which contains a store (like a BX), a barber and beauty shop, a travel agency and other services.

The U.S. post office is operated by Army personnel.

This is the base TV station, one of the operations that Bob directs.

One of the helicopters at the base airfield. The French Armee de l'Aire handles all aviation operations.

The entrance to Bob's ICT Branch at North Camp. His title is Director - Information, Communications and Technology Branch.

Bob in his office

And with a few of his Egyptian staff. The ICT branch is staffed with multinational military and civilian personnel.

The boss and his car.
This is the front entrance to Bob's townhouse.

He has a nice, private back yard, too.

We spent hours outside watching all the different birds in Bob's back yard in the evenings. This is called an African Hoopoe. When he gets alarmed, his little crest spreads out and he looks like he's wearing a war bonnet.

A few shots of some of the flora around Bob's place.

The Athenian owls are very tame. They roost in the trees in Bob's back yard and you can almost walk right up to them!

My handsome husband

Bob and his bike