Siwa Eco Lodge – Unique and remote, the Siwa Eco Lodge is an altogether different way to experience Egypt – and a real highlight if you’re looking for something a bit out of the ordinary.

I’ll never forget the first time I got to Siwa. It’s not easy to get there – a seven-hour drive along the Mediterranean coast from Alexandria, and then south cutting through the desert. You’re a long way from anywhere, wondering if the barren expanse will ever change.

And then, magnificently, jaw-droppingly, it does. Siwa itself is an oasis town, only connected to the rest of Egypt by road in the last 50 years. Things are different here: unique, traditional, independent. The natural springs sustain it, and the scenery of salt plains, dunes and palms sustain it.

Siwa Eco Lodge with www.africanexplorations.com - Photo Tronics CCA

To cap it all, there is the Eco Lodge. Also known as the Adrere Amellal, this is a personal favourite place of mine to stay in the Middle East.

It is hard to explain how beautifully the hotel marries simplicity with style. The lodge has been constructed from mud walls, the furniture from the wood of the local palms, or even from salt.  There is no electricity, with the night lit up by beeswax candles and torches, and the stars of clear skies.

Siwa Eco Lodge with africanexplorations.com

The 40-rooms are hand-built, each different and inviting. The majority of the food is grown on site, and expertly prepared by the hotel’s chefs. The surroundings are charming – a salt lake to one side which attracts a variety of bird life, the shelter of the White Mountain to the other.

It is not the easy choice to visit – but stunning natural landscapes and rich history, including the Oracle of Alexander, the remains of the old town made out of mud, and so much more – reward you handsomely for getting there.