Safaga is a unique place where most of the tourists are attracted by the medical characteristic of the place. Neither a doctor nor a witch doctor in characteristic but this particular Black sand dune beach is proved to be beneficial for skin ailments by the researchers. The sea water of this beach is highly saline as well as rich in minerals, making the Red Sea Riviera famous as a curative destination.
Safaga is a little town settled in the Luxor city of Egypt. It’s a small port situated on the red sea coast, attracting passionate water sport adventurer towards it. It’s mainly famous for kite surfing and wind surfing and in 1993 it had also hosted Red Sea world wind surfing championship.
But except for the water sports, Safaga has some great diving spots offering offshore reefs of Panorama reef, middle reef and Abu Kafan. The sight of variety of under water life is equal to the sites of Ras Mohamed. The spot where great tragedy of Salam Express took place is now home for thriving under water life – blue spotted stingrays, angel and butterfly fish, frog-fish and also many corals and reefs have grown on the ship making a beautiful stop for the scuba divers.
The wrecking of Salem Express ship is one of the greatest tragedies in the Egyptian history where approximately five hundred pilgrims died while returning from Mecca to Safaga.
Due to the size of the barrier of panorama, the diving is divided into three dives– south plateau, east and west drop offs. The reefs of panorama are also the largest reefs in Safaga. With the frequent currents the corals and gorgonians thrive in Panorama and also numerous grottos and overhangs can be found here. This place is great to watch Barracudas and white tip reef sharks closely; even hammerheads and manta rays can be found.
Abu Kafan is almost three hundred meter long and contracted reef plateau. Just a jump into the water and go along with the south currents towards south, you will see extraordinary and beautiful wall of soft and black corals, giant fans and gorgonians.
If you want to dive somewhere less crowded then you should espy Hal Hal. It is known to be a virgin spot because most of the divers don’t choose it as it’s away from the coast. But the Hal Hal makes a good diving experience for the divers, eighty meters under water you will get to see Tunas, Sharks and Barracudas.
The scuba diving is one of the liveliest experiences here. Safaga, just for the Scuba –Diving, is a small tourism industry which attract tourist all the year around as rain fall is absent in Egypt and while winter temperature can be compared to northern Europe’s summer and in summer its very hot.
The highlight of the Safaga cruise is a day trip to Luxor. Luxor has many different ancient temples which are differ in size and its positioning. It is the nearest tourist place from the port. It is approximately 124 miles away from Safaga which will only take two hours. Buses are available and you can also rent cars from Safaga.
Luxor temple is the one of the ancient and largest temples in Egypt. Initially known as Thebes, was built on the east bank of the river Nile in 1400 BC. The temple has many works of art such as colossus, well preserved Sphinx, first pylon, red granite obelisk and many more.
Mortuary Temple of Hatsheput
It is considered as incomparable monument of ancient Egypt. The specialty of this temple is that it is built underneath the cliff at Deir el Bahari on the bank of west Nile close to Valley of the Kings. The view of this temple so impressive and beautiful with cliff around it and the temple looks like carved out the hill.
The Karnak temple situated near by Luxor is the most visited places in Egypt. The one of the attraction is in Karnak is the Hypostyle hall which is around fifty thousand square feet. The hall consist of 134 huge pillars each weight approximately seventy tons. Standing between these pillars will make you feel just a speck in the place.
Another place is the Valley of the Kings on which archeological and Egyptological exploration is carried out. The place is called Valley of Kings because from eleventh century to sixteenth century (BC), many tombs and chambers were built for the kings here. Some tombs and areas are closed for the perseverance reason and some are restricted to certain distance. You will need to buy tickets for the entry then and there.
There are many more places you can visit if you get the time like Queen Nefertiti’s tomb, The Eastern Desert and Mons Claudianus.
Note for the travelers: DO NOT wear revealing clothes especially to the religious places. Tourists have pay for taking photographs inside the tombs, pyramids and museums. If you want to tip in hotels and restaurants then put 10 per cent to 12 per cent tip and divers expect tip from the tourists at least 10 per cent.