Unrest? Really?!?
- Thread starter DenaGirl
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I believe you have your blinkers on. How many locals do you actually know?
There are very few Egyptians who are actually from the Sinai. Most are from the larger cities- Alex, Cairo etc. and only work in the Sinai.
Travel in the Sinai is safe... until it becomes unsafe. Kidnappings and ransoms on the roads in to and out of the Sinai. The tourists who have been kidnapped are generally treated quite well from what I hear from friends in Sharm. Note that this was already happening during the last administration when 'things were under control'. Right now there is no 'rule', so people are making their own. I would expect the lawlessness to increase during the next couple of months before an authority that is respected comes to power.
Chances are you personally will be fine during a week or 10 day stay. On a safari boat you spend the vast majority of your time away from the crazies. However IMO there is a growing risk that you could be kidnapped at gunpoint during transit, or be in the wrong place at the wrong time when some group decides to set off a couple of bombs to teach the infidels a lesson. But hey, YOLO.
being kidnapped from the airport is IMO nonsense.... also bombing in streets is a far fetched scenario so far, whatever crazy it might sound but this is not the situation...
just rerouting on a major airport is absolutely no risk. Staying on a liveaboard would be fine but you will have to embark and disembark from land which might be crazy... things are unpredictable, there are ups and downs... for example, 2 days ago near sunset, military planes were drawing hearts and flags in the sky over protesters against the coup.... then near dawn (few hours later) the army fired live shots killing 42 and wounding 300+ (according to the official version of the ministry of health), the unofficial version says casualties 70-90 with at least 500 wounded.... was that predictable?
Still I see with your loss you have done a safe decision, try considering routing your flight back through alexandria/hurghada or even Cairo buy an entry visa, get your passport stamped and get out of the airport from one door and enter from the other ... couple of hours in the airport would be ok so that your insurance can cover the loss (you already got to Egypt)
AfterDark
Contributor
It's not as if it hasn't happened before.
wiki
The 2005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacks were a series of terror attacks on 23 July 2005, perpetrated by an Islamist organization, targeting the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, located on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Eighty-eight people were killed, the majority of them Egyptians, and over 200 were wounded by the blasts, making the attack the deadliest terrorist action in the country's history.
Sharm el-Sheikh terror plot foiled: Egyprtian police arrest five jihadists planning Mumbai-style massacre of British holidaymakers - Mirror Online
PUBLISHED: 04:41 GMT, 2 November 2012
Five terrorists have been caught apparently plotting an attack on British tourists in an Egyptian resort in the lead-up to Christmas.
It's not far-fetched when it actually happens. Again the chances of 'you' getting caught up in it are low. Like winning the lottery. How much would it cost to pay the driver of a bus full of tourists to pull off the road on route? There are people out there with access to weapo ns who would love to do this kind of stuff. Westerners are often not used to this kind of mentality, because 'I've done nothing wrong'.
I would not be surprised to hear of some tourists getting caught up in some violence in Egypt. Some people are actively demonstrating against/for the government. Others will take the opprtunity to pursue their own agenda.
Bombing in streets far fetched? In 2004 the Hilton Taba hotel was devastated by truck suicide bomber, and if I remember correctly, also two campsites near Nuweiba, resulting in about 35 dead and hundred something wounded people. Most of them probably tourists (yeah, what a surprise when the targets were tourist places...)
Then, in 2005 there were bombings in Sharm, at places where- surprise- tourist were shopping/eating/etc (I think it was both the market and the Ghazala hotel, where quite a few dive clubs are located).
2006- Dahab bombings, and the targets? Surprise, tourist locations (restaurant, cafe, market)
Last couple of years there have been several bombing attacks on police checkpoints, as well as several incidents of tourist kidnapping for ransom (including taking hold of a whole resort!). For some it may look funny or adventurous, but I don't think being kidnapped out of the taxi on the main road by terrorists totting ak47's and shoving the gun on your face is kinda cute or funny. Here are a few- you can google for more:
| Tourists kidnapped near Egypt beach resorts |
| On March 22, Six gunmen in Sinai peninsula intercept car carrying a Norwegian and an Israeli before forcing them into their truck. |
also
On March 7, Bedouin kidnapped a British couple, only to release them within hours after talks with security officials. The Britons had been abducted from a bank in a town as they headed towards the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
January 31st:
Bedouins abduct a group of Chinese workers in Lehfen (northern Sinai) and demand the release of 5 comrades who were jailed for a 2004 bomb attack on the Red Sea holiday resort of Taba. All 25 hostages were freed, unharmed, after a day in captivity.
February 4:
Two American women (60,65) are held in a short-lived kidnapping near Wadi Sa'al until Egyptian authorities negotiate their release a few hours later - for the release of 4 prisoners, according to bedouin sources. They report they were treated “nicely” by their captors, being served tea and dried fruit. Three other tourists in the convoy are robbed of their cell phones and wallets.
February 9:
Bedouin tribesmen kidnapp 17 Egyptian police officers to protest the killing of one of their clan. After holding negotiations with tribal leaders, the kidnappers free the guards.
February 10
Bedouin tribesmen kidnap three Korean women and their Egyptian translator. The gunmen intercept a tour bus at Wadi Firan, near the Saint Catherine monastery in central Sinai towards Sharm el-Sheikh. Twenty-seven other tourists on the bus but are not taken. The captor, Ali Dikheil, was imprisoned for drug and weapons crimes but broke out during the popular uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, 2011. He is seeking the release of Salim Oda, who was arrested thursday morning after a failed attempt to rob a bank two days earlier in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Even though none of the involved persons was injured so far, the happenings leave a bitter taste and raise questions about the overall security situation in Sinai.
Statistically, it may be safe- there were just less than 500 casualties (including inhured) by terrorist in Sinai since 2004 out of say, 1-2 millions of tourist visits so one may claim it is still as safe as crossing the road back home. Maybe, but for the victims it was a tragic feat nonetheless, and you don't want to be one of them.
those were not kidnapped in the airport while transiting !
Use your imagination Solly!
"I'm scheduled to fly into Cairo on July 9 and Marsa Alam on July 10."
Unless I missed something since the original post, I think it's been established that the OP is not simply transiting through the airport but rather would have to spend a night in Cairo.
And didn't the OP already say the trip has been called off? What are you people arguing about?
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