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Sharm El Sheikh, anyone been? (1 Viewer)

pauliev69

Proud Smoggie
Start a weeks hols to Sharm El Sheikh in the first week in Feb, anyone been?
Will be a relaxing hol but I will be taking bins and camera so always on the look out for good birding spots.
Any recommendations or has anyone any experience of this area, thanks in advance ;);)
 
The whole of that coast is pretty good - Western Reef Herons common, chance of Sooty or White-eyed Gulls, Ospreys, etc. Leave the coast and find a good wadi ...quite possibly an easy walk from where you're staying and a nice selection of birds available (wheatears etc). Look on birdtours.co.uk and they might well have a recent trip report for there.
 
pauliev69 said:
Start a weeks hols to Sharm El Sheikh in the first week in Feb, anyone been?
Will be a relaxing hol but I will be taking bins and camera so always on the look out for good birding spots.
Any recommendations or has anyone any experience of this area, thanks in advance ;);)

Here are some photos from Daniele Occhiato to whet your appetite.

http://www.pbase.com/dophoto/sinai_2004
 
pauliev69 said:
Any recommendations or has anyone any experience of this area, thanks in advance ;);)

Yep go diving and then go to the camel bar terrace for a nice sakarra. If you only wanted birding advice please ignore but seriously if you've never been diving Sharm's a great place to try it out.
 
pauliev69 said:
Start a weeks hols to Sharm El Sheikh in the first week in Feb, anyone been?
Will be a relaxing hol but I will be taking bins and camera so always on the look out for good birding spots.
Any recommendations or has anyone any experience of this area, thanks in advance ;);)
Never been, but I'd be interested to hear your report, as it's one of the destinations served by Donny airport... and I might have to try it out.

:t:
 
Jos Stratford said:
The whole of that coast is pretty good - Western Reef Herons common, chance of Sooty or White-eyed Gulls, Ospreys, etc. Leave the coast and find a good wadi ...quite possibly an easy walk from where you're staying and a nice selection of birds available (wheatears etc). Look on birdtours.co.uk and they might well have a recent trip report for there.
Thanks for the advice Jos, sounds like a great idea ;)
 
Isurus said:
Yep go diving and then go to the camel bar terrace for a nice sakarra. If you only wanted birding advice please ignore but seriously if you've never been diving Sharm's a great place to try it out.
Thanks Isurus, had fully intended to go diving after having tried it in Cyprus last year ;);)
 
I went to Sharm el Sheikh last July and, apart from being only a stone's throw away from a rather large bombing incident, thoroughly enjoyed myself. If you've done a bit of research using Gosney, the sewage farm he recommends to the east of the main road btwn Sharm and Na'ama is pretty much no longer.

By collating a few trip reports (got a feeling I put a thread on here in June last year?), I was able to get a pretty decent feel of where to go etc. Anyway, July was quiet but I still saw the species I was keen to see, and I'm sure that your visit will be pretty quality even if the numbers of birds are half what I found in neighbouring Israel last month.

Tips wise I'd recommend most the water treatment works just NW of Na'ama Bay - if you're heading from Sharm turn left (west) on the north side of Na'ama Bay at the Marriott (if you reach the Sonesta hotel you've gone too far) and head along this track towards the desert. You'll come to a x-roads with the main Sharm-Dahab road and go straight over here and the treatment works are on the right after c.1km. In a couple of visits I had 7+ Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse (that came in at dusk) as well as 60+ Spotted Sandgrouse (late a'noon) as well as Marsh Sandpipers, Squaccos, a pale morph Western Reef Egret and lots of Spur-winged Plovers for example. I imagine the variety in Feb will be better as well.

If you get the chance, go for a day trip to St.Catherine's monastery as it's certainly an excellent time for Sinai Rosefinch - I only saw a female in July (although I did see 10+ last month including red males in neighbouring Israel) and species such as Rock Martin, Desert Lark, W-c Blk Wheatear and Scrub Warbler were other birds I noted around the monastery (others seem to also see Chukar and Tristram's Grackle for example).

You should see lots of White-eyed Gulls around Sharm and Na'ama but there'll be no White-cheeked Terns or Sooty Falcons for example.

Useful trip reports I used (from various sources such as Birdtours, Surfbirds and Netfugl) were a couple by Bob Swann (Oct 2002 and Mar-Apr 2005), one on 1st-7th Dec 2000 (I think by Tommy Frandsen?) and another by Moira and Graeme Wallace (10-17 sept 2002).

Hope this helps

Cheers

Rich
 
Rich Bonser said:
I went to Sharm el Sheikh last July and, apart from being only a stone's throw away from a rather large bombing incident, thoroughly enjoyed myself. If you've done a bit of research using Gosney, the sewage farm he recommends to the east of the main road btwn Sharm and Na'ama is pretty much no longer.

By collating a few trip reports (got a feeling I put a thread on here in June last year?), I was able to get a pretty decent feel of where to go etc. Anyway, July was quiet but I still saw the species I was keen to see, and I'm sure that your visit will be pretty quality even if the numbers of birds are half what I found in neighbouring Israel last month.

Tips wise I'd recommend most the water treatment works just NW of Na'ama Bay - if you're heading from Sharm turn left (west) on the north side of Na'ama Bay at the Marriott (if you reach the Sonesta hotel you've gone too far) and head along this track towards the desert. You'll come to a x-roads with the main Sharm-Dahab road and go straight over here and the treatment works are on the right after c.1km. In a couple of visits I had 7+ Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse (that came in at dusk) as well as 60+ Spotted Sandgrouse (late a'noon) as well as Marsh Sandpipers, Squaccos, a pale morph Western Reef Egret and lots of Spur-winged Plovers for example. I imagine the variety in Feb will be better as well.

If you get the chance, go for a day trip to St.Catherine's monastery as it's certainly an excellent time for Sinai Rosefinch - I only saw a female in July (although I did see 10+ last month including red males in neighbouring Israel) and species such as Rock Martin, Desert Lark, W-c Blk Wheatear and Scrub Warbler were other birds I noted around the monastery (others seem to also see Chukar and Tristram's Grackle for example).

You should see lots of White-eyed Gulls around Sharm and Na'ama but there'll be no White-cheeked Terns or Sooty Falcons for example.

Useful trip reports I used (from various sources such as Birdtours, Surfbirds and Netfugl) were a couple by Bob Swann (Oct 2002 and Mar-Apr 2005), one on 1st-7th Dec 2000 (I think by Tommy Frandsen?) and another by Moira and Graeme Wallace (10-17 sept 2002).

Hope this helps

Cheers

Rich
Thanks for the reply Rich, was uncertain to take the tour to St Catherine's but it looks like a definate now.
Many thanks for taking the time, look out for my report and pics (hopefully!) ;);)
 
I was there on a bird tour in April 2004. The old sewage farm was dried out but there is a new one about 2km inland form the resort. It's just bulldozed sandbanks & they fill it from tankers. It's the only open water in the area so it attracts a lot of migrants & sand grouse.
 
pauliev69 said:
Thanks for the reply Rich, was uncertain to take the tour to St Catherine's but it looks like a definate now.
Many thanks for taking the time, look out for my report and pics (hopefully!) ;);)

Here's my full report if you're interested, and good birding:-

Egypt – Sharm el Sheikh, Na’ama Bay and St. Katherine’s Monastery
17th – 24th July 2005 – by Richard Bonser


During July 2005, I spent a week based at the Sonesta Club Resort at Na’ama Bay, Egypt with my girlfriend. Realising that this is potentially not the best month to visit the area, I nevertheless targeted a few species that I knew would be available at this time of year and that I had not seen previously within the Western Palearctic – Western Reef Egret, Sooty Falcon, Sooty Gull, White-eyed Gull, White-cheeked Tern, Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, Spotted Sandgrouse, Rock Martin, Eastern Mourning Wheatear and Sinai Rosefinch. We spent all of our time in the Na’ama Bay and Sharm el Sheikh area bar one day where we visited St. Katherine’s Monastery and Dahab. It must be stressed that at no point did I do any hardcore birding and all of the holiday was conducted at an extremely relaxed pace, with birding often being with my girlfriend in tow. Please feel free to e-mail me if you would like any further information.

General information
There are frequent charter flights from most European countries to Sharm el Sheikh Airport and transfers to accommodation seem to be pretty much included in any ‘package deal’ – our flight and accommodation (including breakfasts) cost £340 per person and was booked through Sky Travel Shop in conjunction with our tour operator Libra Holidays. Accommodation was excellent with our hotel extremely clean and the hotel staff very friendly. Daytime temperatures were, at times, on the unpleasant side of hot during the middle of the day and this meant curtailing any birding to either the early mornings or the last couple of hours of light.

We did not hire a car during our stay and used taxis throughout to get around the Na’ama Bay and Sharm el Sheikh areas – in general the prices charged were very reasonable although it is necessary to set a price with the driver before you embark on your journey (else they’ll try to swindle you). For our day trip to St. Katherine’s Monastery, we used a driver and a guide that we booked through Libra Holidays at our hotel (£40 per person), and this proved to be decent value. The boat trip to Tiran Island was booked through one of the many tour companies that operate along the harbour front at Na’ama Bay (costing £20 per person).

Unfortunately, as perceptive readers may have noticed, our holiday coincided with the bombing of the Ghazala Gardens Hotel and Sharm el Sheikh market and, despite my best efforts, I was unable to set foot out of our hotel the day after the incidents. Additionally, my girlfriend was quite ill for a couple of days of the holiday (and I seemed to be less than 100% upon arriving back in the UK), this being put down to a combination of food and heat.

Literature and websites
Information on birding in the Sharm el Sheikh area is pretty scant. However, by searching the usual trip report websites such as Surfbirds, Birdtours and OSME I was able to find some decent background as to what I should expect within the Sharm el Sheikh area. I used a selection of reports including those by Graeme Wallace, a couple by Bob Swann (one in April 2005 and one in October 2002), Tommy Pedersen, Mick Wilson and John Kneeshaw. Additionally, I purchased Dave Gosney’s ‘Finding Birds in Egypt’ and, although pretty out of date with for example the sewage works he mentions now being nothing more than an area of dry tamarisk bushes, it did give me a little more background for Sharm el Sheikh and provides a decently annotated map of the St. Katherine’s Monastery area.

Site Information
The sewage farm mentioned in Gosney (page 4, site 3) was completely dried up on my visit and offered no bird activity whatsoever – it is now merely an area of dry tamarisks that, on migration, are sure to pull in the odd bird or two.

Importantly, though, there is a new water treatment works that is not mentioned in Gosney (but is mentioned in some of the trip reports referred to earlier), this being located north-west of Na'ama Bay. If you're heading from Sharm el Sheikh turn left (west) on the north side of Na'ama Bay at the Marriott (if you reach the Sonesta Hotel you've gone too far) and head along this track towards the desert. You'll come to a crossroads with the main Sharm-Dahab road and go straight over here and the treatment works are on the right after c.1km. In a couple of visits I saw 7+ Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse (that came in at dusk onto the settlement lagoon closest to the road), 60+ Spotted Sandgrouse (this species seemed to be present from late afternoon until early evening on both visits, before dispersing into the desert) and a superb adult Sooty Falcon hunting over the adjacent desert. Other birds noted on the settlement lagoons and a small reedy marsh below the water treatment complex included a pale morph Western Reef Egret, 3 Squacco Herons as well as waders including Spur-winged Plover, Marsh Sandpiper and Temminck’s Stint.

St. Katherine’s Monastery (Gosney, page 2) is a well known site for Sinai Rosefinch and, although July is not a time when large numbers are present, an early morning visit (we ensured that we would arrive before the hordes of tourists) produced a female c.200 yards south of the car park along the track to the monastery. The walled garden (or orchard) was pretty quiet although a couple of Scrub Warblers (of the race inquieta) on the adjacent rocks, Rock Martins overhead and the odd White-crowned Black Wheatear and Desert Lark provided interest.

Daily sightings
18th July 2005

Sonesta Club and Beach Hotel
Barn Owl (1) hunting over the complex just after midnight
Laughing Dove (many)
Common Kestrel (female) over

Water Treatment Works NW of Na’ama Bay
Spotted Sandgrouse (20+) mid evening before flying off east
Sooty Falcon (1) hunting over the desert
Western Reef Egret (1) pale morph
Squacco Heron (3)
Green Sandpiper (3)
Common Sandpiper (1)
Marsh Sandpiper (4)
Little Ringed Plover (2)
Spur-winged Plover (c.20)

19th July 2005
Sharm el Sheikh Harbour
Sooty Gull (1) first-year
White-eyed Gull (10+)
Laughing Dove (many)

Na’ama Bay
Kestrel (female) over

Ras-um-Sid lighthouse
Sooty Falcon (1) flying over cliffs between lighthouse and town
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler (1)
White-eyed Gull (10+) over

20th July 2005
Boat trip from Na’ama Bay to Tiran Island
White-cheeked Tern (2)
Lesser Crested Tern (c.50)
White-eyed Gull (30+)

21st July 2005
St. Katherine’s Monastery
Sinai Rosefinch (female) near track c.200yds south of the car park
Scrub Warbler (2) on rocks just before the orchard near the monastery
Rock Martin (10+)
Desert Lark (2)
White-crowned Black Wheatear (5+)

Desert between St. Katherine’s and Dahab
Eastern Mourning Wheatear (1) male
Desert Lark (2)
White-crowned Black Wheatear (3)
Rock Martin (5)

Dahab town
White-cheeked Tern (1) feeding offshore
Laughing Dove (many)

22nd July 2005
Sonesta Club Hotel
Red-rumped Swallow (1) over the swimming pool mid afternoon
House Martin (1)

Water Treatment Works NW of Na’ama Bay
Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse (7+) at dusk
Spotted Sandgrouse (60+) early evening before flying north
Western Reef Egret (1) pale morph
Squacco Heron (2)
Black-winged Stilt (1)
Temminck’s Stint (1)
Marsh Sandpiper (4)
Green Sandpiper (2)
Spur-winged Plover (15+)
Spanish Sparrow (3)
Sand Martin (2)
Swallow (c.20)

24th July 2005
Headland NE of Sonesta Club Hotel, Na’ama Bay
House Crow (4)
 
Rich Bonser said:
Here's my full report if you're interested, and good birding:-

Egypt – Sharm el Sheikh, Na’ama Bay and St. Katherine’s Monastery
17th – 24th July 2005 – by Richard Bonser

During July 2005, I spent a week based at the Sonesta Club Resort at Na’ama Bay, Egypt with my girlfriend. Realising that this is potentially not the best month to visit the area, I nevertheless targeted a few species that I knew would be available at this time of year and that I had not seen previously within the Western Palearctic – Western Reef Egret, Sooty Falcon, Sooty Gull, White-eyed Gull, White-cheeked Tern, Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, Spotted Sandgrouse, Rock Martin, Eastern Mourning Wheatear and Sinai Rosefinch. We spent all of our time in the Na’ama Bay and Sharm el Sheikh area bar one day where we visited St. Katherine’s Monastery and Dahab. It must be stressed that at no point did I do any hardcore birding and all of the holiday was conducted at an extremely relaxed pace, with birding often being with my girlfriend in tow. Please feel free to e-mail me if you would like any further information.

General information
There are frequent charter flights from most European countries to Sharm el Sheikh Airport and transfers to accommodation seem to be pretty much included in any ‘package deal’ – our flight and accommodation (including breakfasts) cost £340 per person and was booked through Sky Travel Shop in conjunction with our tour operator Libra Holidays. Accommodation was excellent with our hotel extremely clean and the hotel staff very friendly. Daytime temperatures were, at times, on the unpleasant side of hot during the middle of the day and this meant curtailing any birding to either the early mornings or the last couple of hours of light.

We did not hire a car during our stay and used taxis throughout to get around the Na’ama Bay and Sharm el Sheikh areas – in general the prices charged were very reasonable although it is necessary to set a price with the driver before you embark on your journey (else they’ll try to swindle you). For our day trip to St. Katherine’s Monastery, we used a driver and a guide that we booked through Libra Holidays at our hotel (£40 per person), and this proved to be decent value. The boat trip to Tiran Island was booked through one of the many tour companies that operate along the harbour front at Na’ama Bay (costing £20 per person).

Unfortunately, as perceptive readers may have noticed, our holiday coincided with the bombing of the Ghazala Gardens Hotel and Sharm el Sheikh market and, despite my best efforts, I was unable to set foot out of our hotel the day after the incidents. Additionally, my girlfriend was quite ill for a couple of days of the holiday (and I seemed to be less than 100% upon arriving back in the UK), this being put down to a combination of food and heat.

Literature and websites
Information on birding in the Sharm el Sheikh area is pretty scant. However, by searching the usual trip report websites such as Surfbirds, Birdtours and OSME I was able to find some decent background as to what I should expect within the Sharm el Sheikh area. I used a selection of reports including those by Graeme Wallace, a couple by Bob Swann (one in April 2005 and one in October 2002), Tommy Pedersen, Mick Wilson and John Kneeshaw. Additionally, I purchased Dave Gosney’s ‘Finding Birds in Egypt’ and, although pretty out of date with for example the sewage works he mentions now being nothing more than an area of dry tamarisk bushes, it did give me a little more background for Sharm el Sheikh and provides a decently annotated map of the St. Katherine’s Monastery area.

Site Information
The sewage farm mentioned in Gosney (page 4, site 3) was completely dried up on my visit and offered no bird activity whatsoever – it is now merely an area of dry tamarisks that, on migration, are sure to pull in the odd bird or two.

Importantly, though, there is a new water treatment works that is not mentioned in Gosney (but is mentioned in some of the trip reports referred to earlier), this being located north-west of Na'ama Bay. If you're heading from Sharm el Sheikh turn left (west) on the north side of Na'ama Bay at the Marriott (if you reach the Sonesta Hotel you've gone too far) and head along this track towards the desert. You'll come to a crossroads with the main Sharm-Dahab road and go straight over here and the treatment works are on the right after c.1km. In a couple of visits I saw 7+ Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse (that came in at dusk onto the settlement lagoon closest to the road), 60+ Spotted Sandgrouse (this species seemed to be present from late afternoon until early evening on both visits, before dispersing into the desert) and a superb adult Sooty Falcon hunting over the adjacent desert. Other birds noted on the settlement lagoons and a small reedy marsh below the water treatment complex included a pale morph Western Reef Egret, 3 Squacco Herons as well as waders including Spur-winged Plover, Marsh Sandpiper and Temminck’s Stint.

St. Katherine’s Monastery (Gosney, page 2) is a well known site for Sinai Rosefinch and, although July is not a time when large numbers are present, an early morning visit (we ensured that we would arrive before the hordes of tourists) produced a female c.200 yards south of the car park along the track to the monastery. The walled garden (or orchard) was pretty quiet although a couple of Scrub Warblers (of the race inquieta) on the adjacent rocks, Rock Martins overhead and the odd White-crowned Black Wheatear and Desert Lark provided interest.

Daily sightings
18th July 2005
Sonesta Club and Beach Hotel
Barn Owl (1) hunting over the complex just after midnight
Laughing Dove (many)
Common Kestrel (female) over

Water Treatment Works NW of Na’ama Bay
Spotted Sandgrouse (20+) mid evening before flying off east
Sooty Falcon (1) hunting over the desert
Western Reef Egret (1) pale morph
Squacco Heron (3)
Green Sandpiper (3)
Common Sandpiper (1)
Marsh Sandpiper (4)
Little Ringed Plover (2)
Spur-winged Plover (c.20)

19th July 2005
Sharm el Sheikh Harbour
Sooty Gull (1) first-year
White-eyed Gull (10+)
Laughing Dove (many)

Na’ama Bay
Kestrel (female) over

Ras-um-Sid lighthouse
Sooty Falcon (1) flying over cliffs between lighthouse and town
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler (1)
White-eyed Gull (10+) over

20th July 2005
Boat trip from Na’ama Bay to Tiran Island
White-cheeked Tern (2)
Lesser Crested Tern (c.50)
White-eyed Gull (30+)

21st July 2005
St. Katherine’s Monastery
Sinai Rosefinch (female) near track c.200yds south of the car park
Scrub Warbler (2) on rocks just before the orchard near the monastery
Rock Martin (10+)
Desert Lark (2)
White-crowned Black Wheatear (5+)

Desert between St. Katherine’s and Dahab
Eastern Mourning Wheatear (1) male
Desert Lark (2)
White-crowned Black Wheatear (3)
Rock Martin (5)

Dahab town
White-cheeked Tern (1) feeding offshore
Laughing Dove (many)

22nd July 2005
Sonesta Club Hotel
Red-rumped Swallow (1) over the swimming pool mid afternoon
House Martin (1)

Water Treatment Works NW of Na’ama Bay
Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse (7+) at dusk
Spotted Sandgrouse (60+) early evening before flying north
Western Reef Egret (1) pale morph
Squacco Heron (2)
Black-winged Stilt (1)
Temminck’s Stint (1)
Marsh Sandpiper (4)
Green Sandpiper (2)
Spur-winged Plover (15+)
Spanish Sparrow (3)
Sand Martin (2)
Swallow (c.20)

24th July 2005
Headland NE of Sonesta Club Hotel, Na’ama Bay
House Crow (4)
Many thanks for taking the time Rich, a good selection of species, do you think it will differ very much this time of year?
Cheers ;)
 
pauliev69 said:
Many thanks for taking the time Rich, a good selection of species, do you think it will differ very much this time of year?
Cheers ;)

I think that you will see far more species in February as the first of the northbound migrants will be evident and I would guess that the pools will probably hold more variety as well (although there'll be no Sooty Falcons). Seabirds will be pretty thin on the ground (with no White-cheeked Terns) although White-eyed Gulls will certainly be around (there were a lot of these at Eilat in December). I think that Sinai Rosefinch at St.Katherine's will be much easier in February and you've got a decent chance of seeing a red male.

Whatever happens, I hope that you enjoy things - after my 'dudey' trip with my girlfriend last year, I'll be in Egypt again in the third week of March. This time, it'll be 100% birding from Cairo down to Shalatein near the Sundanese border on the Red Sea coast, and then back via Luxor. Can't wait...

Cheers and have a good holiday

Rich
 
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