Eco tourism and where do you throw the loo roll?
I’m not a fan of camping, but hate luxury hotels. So I hoped I’d find something between the two at Basata, Egypt’s only eco-resort. This is my first week’s holiday in 4 years - so images of lying in the sun with a fruit juice at my side and dressing for dinner have never been more at the forefront of my mind…
Basata was recommended to me by a friend Helmy Abouleish who runs Sekem an amazing sustainable community in the Egyptian desert founded by his father. One thing leads to another and before I know it I have booked my family into an eco-lodge on the Red Sea. Arabic decor and middle eastern food trigger a sensual delight in adults but to my teenage son, his only experience formed in an Arabic restaurant, it suggested hard uncomfortable cushions so low that you fall off – it took me weeks to convince him to come - he even used the C02 argument but I think it was mostly the thought of those low cushions.
Chalets at Basata, Red Sea.
Or the cheaper options are OK too
After a couple of days work in Cairo at the Sekem organic farm we drive six hours through the Sinai desert, one of the homes of the Bedouin people, to Basata.
As I say after 4 years of not having the time to take a holiday, the expectations on arrival are going to be hard to meet. I bounce in and introduce myself to a young guy who looks like a gap year student standing in the bamboo structure. He runs me through some eco resort protocol – here is where you help yourself to food (breakfast and lunch you get yourself), dinner we prepare for you if you want it. There are lots of curly cucumbers and oddly shaped veggies and pots of little bags of rice, lentil and pasta. A big fridge full of organic juices is one end and chocolate bars from multi nationals at the other end.
Each type of waste has its own bin and here’s the bakery - we move through to a small area with big date palm lidded baskets with delicious pitas, pizzas and bread sticks inside. This young lad either hates me or he is so laid back I see I’m going to have to prise detailed information out of him – my chalet isn’t the right one (I have one room for four people)?! Do I put toilet paper down the loo? It says not to in the communal toilet, what about my chalet loo? I hadn't been there yet. What if I want to have a glass of red wine at the end of a day? How about a camel ride – will I die of dehydration? I’m looking for positive description to sell a camel ride to my lethargic teenagers. He is a man of few words – lovely but not forth coming with information, there is no ‘how to be an Eco-tourist at Basata’ information sheet but other wise it is perfect.
The next day the young man offers me his own personal German ground coffee (hurray he doesn’t hate me after all) – after a fight breaks out between a German and Italian tourist. The German tourist has used a Turkish coffee maker for Egyptian coffee, the Italian thinks they have ruined the Turkish pot forever - but this is the highest stress point at Basata – and everything gradually unfolds as I start to push the management for information. Food is simple and good there are some Fair Trade and organic foods and the evening meals are fish and vegetarian alternately and if you are a veggie like me, Basata can cater for that too.
Natty, James and me as the sunsets over Basata.
Natalie and Jerome hang out on low cushions Bedouin style at the main hut, and like it!
Bakery at Basata yummy pizzas
Bakery – Data palm baskets with fresh bakes inside
Jerome helping himself to food and drink.
Fair Trade shop at Basata
The Bedouin women come to sell accessories at Basata
You can have your dinner made for you at Basata, and everyone sits together. Lots of interesting conversations and chances to meet interesting people.
From Basata you can see Saudi Arabia over the Red Sea and Jordan to your left. It is a perfect rest stop for travellers or longer term tourists. The turquoise sea has some of the most beautiful corals and fish. I went snorkelling with my family, it is the first I’ve seen this magical world which was profoundly moving, even for an ecologist who shouldn’t be surprised at how incredible our natural world is. I feel totally overcome – and a little light headed. Perhaps from not getting the breathing rhythm quite right. It might be useful to study the fish that are poisonous and that you should be wary of treading on ahead of your trip!!
The story of Basata – I interview Sherif, founder of Basata
Safia and Sherif
I interview Sherif who set up Basata over 20 years ago. Basata means ‘simplicity’ and is a jewel with guests that come back year after year – partly because new people might not be impressed by its undeveloped website (the information it supplies is a bit sparse) but mainly because it is such a good place run by good people doing genuinely good things that you want to tell your friends .
I catch Sherif after his evening visits to each dinning table to meet and chat with guests, he has the same colour eyes as the sea – a crystal blue. He is dressed in full Bedouin robes and is a key campaigner for them and for Eco-tourism.
Sherif with his daughter and his other students
Safia - What in a nutshell is eco tourism?
Sherif – We believe tourism is a cultural exchange. People are curious, they want to explore and naturally have a sense of adventure. Eco-tourism offers the chance for visitors to learn about new culture and environments without negatively impacting them. The local people should benefit from tourism, without the misuse of natural resources. The Pharaohs and Romans used to travel to see other cultures and other natural environments – so tourism has a long history. Today tourism shows little respect for other cultures and little consideration for the ‘carrying capacity’ and burden it places on the environment they visit. I started Basata in 1986, before Eco-tourism was defined. I spoke at one of the first international Eco-tourism society conferences in 1991 and Basata has been chosen as one of the best examples of eco resorts involved in shoreline protection by the United Nations.
Safia - How do you link the local communities and tourists?
Sherif – We employ people from the local communities not only to look after our guests but we use local builders and craftsmen to build the huts and chalets out of natural materials. All the interiors are supplied by local crafts people and from indigenous people who need a market and to earn a decent income from their work. We also sell their handicrafts in a shop here and welcome the local Bedouin women to come and sell their crafts. We link up with Bedouin guides to do tours by camel and on foot through some of the most spectacular geology of the Sinai desert, brining income to their communities. Basata also runs a small school for the local children of the neighbouring community and runs an NGO to promote development and the rights of the Bedouin people.
Sherif also doubles up as a teacher at his small school
Mona an Egyptian teacher too who left a high flying career in media to work at Basata
Safia - How about organic and Fair Trade foods?
Sherif – Our fish and vegetables are brought from small scale fishermen and farmers, so the benefits are shared amongst the community. We also link up with Sekem, an Egyptian organic movement for food supplies.
Safia - How do you start this process – the Bedouin must be quite sceptical at first – how do you help them bridge the cultural gap between them and tourists?
Sherif – When I started a new project with a Bedouin community I listened to them about what their needs were and designed a management system to fit those needs. I visited them when they thought they were ready to receive their first guests to ‘experience’ it as a guest would. They showed me straight into my bedroom. It didn’t feel at all right. So I asked what would you do if I visited your home? They invited me back a week later. This time they showed me into a small but nicely decorated reception room, gave me a delicious cup of tea, we chatted for a while and then they showed me into my room. It’s replicating cultural ways with authenticity that makes for a fuller experience. The project is doing very well these days and has benefited the community greatly.
Safia - What kind of people do you want to come to Basata? Is there a difference between a ‘Responsible tourist’ and an ‘Eco-tourist’?
Sherif – We divide tourists into three categories – the Mass tourists, the Responsible tourist and Eco tourists. The Mass tourist doesn’t care about anything. All they want is to be on the beach, under the sun. They want a resort with disco and drink; he pays his money and doesn’t care about the destruction of the infrastructure, people and the environment. He pays the least.
The Responsible tourist thinks about the issues - he conserves water, he thinks about the environment, but he wants a little comfort too.
The Eco tourist doesn’t just want to reduce his destruction of people and the environment. He demands hygiene, clean food but doesn’t need electricity. He could sleep on the beach.
I would like to influence Mass tourists to become Responsible tourists – these tourists also have a cultural sensitivity – they won’t wear a bikini to the supermarket. After all we expect foreigners to integrate into their society and yet tourists on holiday think its fine to wear a bikini in a supermarket!
(I feel a bit guilty here – with a vague memory of being 13 and buying an ice-cream in a supermarket in a bikini in Cornwall - does Cornwall count? How culturally insensitive have I been to the Cornish?)
Safia - What is your background and what motivated you to start Basata?
Sherif: Basata means simplicity. I grew up in Cairo, I studied in Alexandria and Cairo and for the summer holidays I went to Europe. Cairo is very polluted and even though I lived in a lovely house with a garden in a greener area, the surrounding environment was dire.
Humans are part of nature, part of an eco system, but today we spend most of our time in cars, on asphalt, nothing is natural, and you have no connection to nature if you live in the city. I became a civil engineer at the age of 24 and I started looking for a place to promote this connection with nature. At that time there where no resorts at all along the coasts of Egypt. Today every metre of the coast line is taken up with mass tourism. I love the sea, my family told me I was crazy to go to the middle of nowhere – near Israel – my father told me to wait until I made some money – but I didn’t want to wait. I visited the Sinai desert and fell in love with it. The ecology is so diverse – you can see oasis with vegetation, mountains, rocks and plants, wildlife, an ecology that is untouched by man – Basata is a place where you can be in touch with the sea and the desert. There are many words for desert in Arabic.
Trek and camel tour in the White Canyon near Basata. Atwah "My camel, my love, me!"
My two - natty and Jerome get on
The White Canyon, lots of interesting desert ecology
Off we go! There was quite a cool breeze being so far up away from the hot earth.
Safia - What are you doing to mainstream some of your eco-initiatives? How are you trying to persuade the tourist industry to go eco?
Sherif: I think tourism is a kind of fashion. The last two decades have been a resort with a disco, pool, etc... The fashion is changing – many people have so much stress in their lives - with their computers setting the pace of life. Eco-tourism is becoming attractive to tourists as a way to relax in a stress free environment.
Governments, investors should think about their responsibilities to people and the environment. The waste generated from Mass tourism is phenomenal. A conventional tourist is using 750 litres of water per day, a Basata tourist is using only 70 litres thanks to ‘push stop’ taps, the toilet is flushed with salt water, at dinner time you only have one fork and plate, not a whole array of cutlery and plates that require washing. We let tourists bring their own towels so that they take care of on their own – we do give bed sheets though.
An average swimming pool (80 x 30 metres) is filled with 4800 litres of water - in a desert where the indigenous people have no access to water at all!
(There is no internet connection at Basata except for emergencies like checking your flights and posters around Basata warn you to switch your mobile to vibration mode.)
Safia - What needs to happen to promote Eco-tourism here?
Sherif: We need a united front. The Gulf of Aquaba – should be closed except to Eco-tourism. The impact of large hotels (with up to 1600 people) has simply not been considered. In the case of Eco-tourism one member of hotel staff looks after 10 people where as in mass tourism one visitor has one staff member and these staff tend not to be from the local area.
The coral reef will disappear with these large numbers of people and the climate change, as it has Shem El Sheik due to their development of golf courses etc .(think of the constant watering they demand in a desert!). Also to be a five star hotel you have to have a bath tub – this too is environmentally unsustainable in a desert!
Safia - What are your dreams for Basata?
Sherif: I want to make a museum and showroom for water life and geology and continue the project of documenting the Bedouin culture. No tourism is completely environmentally friendly but we can lessen our impact on the earth. I want to switch to 100% solar energy and offer more opportunities to learn about environmental issues. There is so much I would like to do – 2 week long kids summer camps with art, literacy, diving, ...
Safia - What is the future for eco-tourism? Shouldn't we just stay in our home countries and give up travelling to warmer climes? After all even Britain is becoming warmer thanks to global warming.
Sherif: No we won't learn from each other – there will be wars and one race will want to dominate another. I think travel will change – you will have longer holidays. The vacation starts with the travelling – maybe a train journey to Basata not a flight - slower travel and enjoying the journey, not just the destination will become important.
Safia - Fair Trade? – the Bedouin bring Chinese cloth and make handicraft out of plastic beads.
Sherif: “They will become proud there will need to be an intermediary to show what people from different cultures want. You give advice about how a traditional thing could be adapted to be of interest to tourists. We need to educate the guests on handmade products made with natural materials.”
Maria, Sherif's wife helps run Basata and the Fair Trade shop.
“We don't trust each other these days so the help yourself and write it down system helps build trust. A tourist at an eco resort generates 42 times the revenue of a conventional tourist by paying directly to the community. Eco-tourists accept and enjoy the local foods, rather than being choosy about a fish and how thick or thin it is, they enjoy that it is caught locally and cooked the way the locals cook it. There is real communication between tourists and the staff of the resort.
The beach huts use local materials, bamboo from the river Nile and the chalets are built of mud with clay and animal manure – all the textiles and furnishings are made locally.”
Saf recommendations for a visit to Basata -
Arrive with thin towels and natural soap because they just don't have any. Ask for mosquito net to be put up, after all who wants to loose a valuable night sleep chasing mosies around your otherwise perfect Moorish room!!
Basata costs – 70 euros for four people in a chalet (per night). Food is about £4 per person for dinner and lunch was £2-3 each.