NUWEIBA, Sinai Peninsula (dpa) – Swilim, a member of the Tarbain nomadic Bedouin tribe, draws on his cigarette thoughtfully and points out to the Red Sea. “Look, there’s Saudi Arabia, there’s Jordan, there’s Israel. But I’ve never been to any of these countries.”
The elderly Bedouin can easily see the coastal strip of these countries on the other side of the Gulf of Aqaba from his home, but they are nevertheless out of bounds for him.Swilim’s life keeps him within a 30-kilometre radius of his tribe’s encampment on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.Most of his relatives have never been to Cairo, six hours away by car. He would only undertake the trip to the metropolis, population 16 million, in an emergency, says Swilim.The nomadic way of life is long gone for the Tarbain tribe. Swilim makes a living from fishing, selling his catch to a neighbouring tourist camp. His son Salim takes holidaymakers on camel safaris through the nearby mountains.Only the women and children still carry on the Bedouin tradition, occasionally wandering for a few weeks or months from their camp huts into the mountains in search of rainwater and new pasture for their goats. But they spend most of their time at the camp.In front of Swilim’s hut is a camel, but he makes more use of his utility transport van that stands alongside the traditional nomadic means of transport.He and his family are typical of other Bedouins in the Sinai. There are no longer any real nomads. Many Bedouins are completely settled in one place. Very few of them wander for long periods.Those who can afford it enjoy the comforts of modern life, such as television and refrigerators. But most of them live simply like Swilim and his family.Technical advances and the “modern age” are not necessarily a blessing for them.Swilim would not say he envied rich Europeans who travel the world in aeroplanes covering vast distances in a short time, although he says he certainly would travel if he could afford it.But he does yearn for the old days when his predecessors were able to travel unhindered through the mountains of the Sinai desert.“The police do not want us to stray far from the roads,” his son Salim explained. They control the region strictly and often drive his people out.This is partly because some Bedouins have made a living from cultivating drugs in the mountains.What is more, none of the Bedouins have identity cards, and are thereby not allowed to pass the many police checkpoints. Naturally this limits their freedom of movement considerably, says Salim.Salim is therefore also unlikely to move away from his homeland. The young man with a pointed beard is already married, although he still goes to school.Yet while he and his generation maintain their Bedouin roots, there are differences between his way of life and his father’s. Salim is learning English, and he lives by a modern rhythm and calendar.None of this plays a role in his father’s life. “I don’t know exactly how old I am. I think I’m 58 but it’s not important.” He does not live his life according to any timetable, he says. He is guided by the moon and the stars.
