GHOST CITY QUAD SAFARI

June 2019

Video & Editing: Mike Etheredge (AP Inspiration Test Diver)

Quad Bikers: Mike Etheredge, Martin Parker (MD), Rita Oosterbaan (Inspiration Instructor), Tino DeRijk (Inspiration Instructor), Mike Fowler (Inspiration US Distributor)

On a surface interval break from diving at the Red Sea Silence Rebreather Week 2019 the AP team headed 60 miles inland from Safaga to take part in a Quad Bike Safari to the Ghost City of Umm El Huwaytat.

Umm El Huwaytat is a former mining town that sprang out of the desert overnight when Silica was discovered there in the 1950s.  Workers flocked in to dig the local mines and despite having to ship in all water and food supplies, at its peak the city boasted a population of around 5,000. The Silica ran out sometime in the 1960s and with no other employment in the area Umm El Huwaytat was abandoned and rapidly became the ghost town seen today.

The quad safari followed the route of the old railway, crossing embankments and passing through tunnels.

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