Roots Red Sea

A small group of staff / club members have just returned from a trip to Roots Red Sea, a small resort nestled between the Egyptian desert and the Red Sea.

This was a small group with John and his daughter Amy, and Mark with his partner Sarah, who is a non-diver (though Roots might just have persuaded her to give it a try!).

The Roots website invites you to "discover peace and tranquility in Egypt's eastern desert and irs amazing Red Sea", and promises an "idyllic comfortable retreat in the desert making you truly feel at one with nature".

It absolutely delivers on both of those promises.

But don't be fooled into thinking  the "Roots Camp" name and being "at one with nature" mean that that this is "camping" or in any way basic. Far from it. The facilties were just like you would expect from a decent hotel. Good accomodation with air conditioning. Friendly and helpful staff. Very good good food. They even arranged a bespoke birthday cake for Sarah!

Likewise don't think that this is for divers only. Not only is the pool area fantastic and never crowded, but Roots can organise a variety of non-diving excursions either for non-divers or just to break up your stay a bit.

We took up a horse and camel safari through the desert, which was great fun, but trips to Luxor, Cairo and the pyramids, the ancient port of El Quseir as well as dune buggy / quad bike desert safaris are also available.

Where is it?

We flew into Hurghada. Roots is about 1.5 hours away, to the south past Safaga and close to El Quseir by private transfer, which was included in the price.

The Accomodation

A beautiful camp with different accomodation to suit different prices.

The Diving Facilities

The dive club is on site in the main camp and on arrival your kit is checked in and then, each day, taken by the staff in a numbered box to the dive place on the beach.

So at any point during the day that you want to dive the house reef, it is just a case of wandering over, kitting up - with helpful staff always on hand - and the shore entry point is about 25 metres away. If you don't want to dive, your kit comes back at the end of the day just like everyone else’s - all sorted, washed and dried ready for the next day.

The Diving 

Lots to offer all levels of experience on the house reef, Abu Sauatir, for which unlimited diving is included in the price. You could quite happily just dive the reef for your entire stay.

But if you want to venture further afield, the dive team will arrange excursions including day boats.

Food and Entertainment

Roots is "soft all inclusive" so you only pay for alcohol, and any extras like crisps / ice creams. The food was fantastic.

A buffet breakfast in the restaurant on camp, and then lunch taken at the beach cafe.

A large variety of evening meals, from Egyptian to Chinese and a roast chicken dinner on Sunday. 

Evening meals are al fresco and there is no set entertainment, but we (and the great Mr.Ferrid!) made our own. There is a really good community spirit with other guests, including our new friend a praying mantis.

When one of our party had a slight dodgy belly, the staff were really helpful and allowed us to eat on camp rather than risking the short walk over to the beach cafe.

Excursions

We took a horse / camel trip through the desert. The girls were braver than John and Mark, as they took control of their own animals!

After the camel ride we were invited into the home of the family who owned the animals to meet their new kittens and have a glass of egyptian tea.

Would we go back?

Absolutely. A really fabulous break and compliments to Claire, Steve and their team who really could not have done more to make our stay a great one.

Highly recommended, especially if you have non-divers in the party, or children whp might find the routine of a live-aboard too much. Often there's a bit of "spin" on website claims but this really is an idyllic and comfortable retreat. We're wishing we were back their already!

And the proof of the pudding really is that Sarah, a devout "absolutely never will you get me putting my face in the sea" found it so relaxing she had her first try at snorkelling : loved it, and is determined go back next time as a diver!