Kidnappings not stopping tourists
Eleven clients booked by the adventure-tour operator Explore have been offered the chance to switch to another tour, but are all keen to go ahead. The company’s next tour, which is due to depart on October 17, will include several days in the Gilf Kebir, an uninhabited region of dramatic rock sculptures and prehistoric cave art. It was there that eleven tourists and eight Egyptian guides were seized by gunmen, taken over the border into Sudan and are allegedly held in Lybia. Reports emerged that the kidnappers were seeking a ransom of 6 million euros (8.8 million dollars).
Other tour operators report that clients have been in touch seeking reassurance after initial media reports misreported that the kidnap had taken place in the popular tourist city of Aswan. The Foreign Office has not advised against travel to any parts of Egypt.
The vast majority of Egypt’s 9 million tourists each year visit pharaonic sites along the Nile River or Red Sea beach resorts, a world away from the Western Desert and the Gilf al-Kebir.
The Gilf, a desert plateau 500 miles southwest of Cairo, has only recently become a popular destination. It rewards those who make the daunting trek with spectacular vistas of sand dunes and desert cliffs, as well as a treasure trove of prehistoric cave art. Around 2,000 tourists visited the area in the past year, up from only a handful a year less than a decade ago.
The area is uninhabited, but is a crossroads for nomadic tribes in all three countries, used by smugglers trafficking drugs, vehicles and even illegal migrants. It lies only 180 miles from Darfur and eastern Chad, where aid groups have been forced to cut back on travel because of frequent hijackings of convoys and kidnappings by armed groups.
Egyptian security officials said there were two similar incidents in January 2007 and in 2003, but would not provide details. The incidents were kept quiet and not made public at the time, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the issue.
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