Sandboarding Takes Off in the Middle East

By: Anum Khan

What is the coolest side-job while still in school? It is having your own sandboarding business, of course. Mohamed Marzouk, 20 years old started his own sandboarding business 2 years ago after watching the National Geographic channel highlighting sand-based sports. Mohamed decided to launch his own sandboarding company in Cairo called Sand Riders with his friend, Moataz Ahmed, for both beginners and advanced riders.

There is rumor that ancient Egyptians rode down sand dunes with wood and pottery. The Middle East has been named as the birth region for sandboarding, with top destinations in Dubai’s Big Red, Namibia’s Namib Desert and Cairo’s Siwa Oasis. Big Red is known for its steepest and largest sand dunes in the Middle East. Every January, Dubai hosts the Hugo International Sandboarding Championships. Egypt is home to dunes as high as 500 feet and angle slopes of 70 degrees and the Namib Desert is claimed to have the oldest deserts with some of the largest dunes in the world. These become the top destinations for extreme sandboarding and competition. While you do not need to be in the Middle East to enjoy sandboarding, Sandboard.com lists 44 countries where you can enjoy riding down the dunes. More tour companies and hotels have also begun offering sandboarding as one of the activities that tourists can add to their itinerary.

Mohamed decided to take advantage of the sports business, and while his initial goals were not about attracting tourists and extreme sandboarders, it started with inviting friends to ride down the desert’s dunes. After borrowing 15,000 pounds (about $3,000) from his father, Marzouk bought sand boards and other tools to start his business. All you really need is transportation, sandboards, some shades, a kuffaya and food to have fun in the desert. To date, more than 1,200 people have gone sandboarding with Mohamed and Moataz.

How the day goes: The day kicks off in the morning where participants meet at a primary location such as at an “On the Run” gas station chain store. Sand Riders picks up participants (a minimum of 15 and maximum of 80 people) in 4 x 4 trucks and take them to the Katanya Dunes, 85 kilometers away from Cairo. Trips take place every Friday or multiple days a week in the summers. Arriving at about 1pm, participants are given sand boards and begin trekking up the sand dunes. Walking up-hill on feet-sinking sand sounds a lot harder than it sounds. It can take about 10 minutes to get to the top. After four hours of falling and getting back up on the sand dunes, participants are invited to a special barbeque. Once the sun starts setting, and after Maghreb prayer, the party begins. Participants gather around the campfire, make S’mores and have tea and biscuits. There is tabla playing, singing and dancing and the best part of being under the dessert sky, dazing at the brightly-lit stars.

If you are in Cairo and want to learn more about Sand Riders or go on one of their trips, join their Facebook group with more than 1,000 members here. Their tag-line reads, “Life is either a great adventure or nothing.” We seriously agree!

Mohamed currently studies Petroleum Engineering at the British University in Egypt.