Adrere Amellal

Adrere Amellal is a spectacular ecolodge on the edge of the Sahara desert near Siwa oasis. Mudbrick buildings with salt crystals that sparkle in the evening candle light, absolute serenity, superb organic, locally produced home cooked food, desert hospitality, a cold spring pool and without doubt some of the best service in Egypt. This hotel has been ranked as one of the best in Africa and it has never even advertised.

One of the mudbrick, salt crystal and alabaster buildings

Breakfast is served. What time? It doesn’t matter. Just come when you are hungry.

There are beautiful Arabians to ride into the desert at sunset on. There are morning trips to the oasis, afternoon trips into the desert. What time? When you are ready – and only if you feel like it. Choose to go or choose stay and have a massage in a house by the lake, choose to ride the Arabians, or choose to bask in the silence with a book. It’s your time and yours to spend exactly how you want. There are small table bars discreetly dotted around, just help yourself to whatever you want, whenever you want.

I had read wonderful reviews before I went to Adrere Amellal and I had seen magnificent pictures. There’s just something about the place, however, that is exceedingly difficult to print and is simply magical. It’s somewhere between feeling so small on the edge of a vast desert that daily problems seem to disappear and that moment of tranquility you get when you take a deep breath, breathe out and let all your worries go. That one little moment is akin to the magic of ‘The Ecolodge’.

Visit their website for more information.

Note: before you arrive at the hotel, you pay the entire stay in advance (and it’s all inclusive – all food, drink, trips, room, horse riding, massage). While paying 100% upfront may seem a bit strange, it just adds to the magic: you don’t end your stay in reception, tallying up room bills, checking the number of drinks in the bar or meals in a restaurant. You simply say goodbye.