• If you want to get away from it all and just relax, there can be few places left like Adrère Amellal where modern communications take second place to the gentle pace of local Berber life.
• The hotel is lit with lanterns and natural beeswax candles – guaranteed to re-kindle romance.
• With its location within the Sahara Desert, the stars at night are truly stunning.
The Whole Story
Before marching his troops eastwards to Persia, in 331 BC Alexander the Great made a little known detour to the distant oasis of Siwa. It had long been whispered that Alexander was the son of the god Amun, and he came to Siwa to consult the legendary Oracle of Amun and discover whether this was true. Though we'll never know exactly what happened there, it seems that Alexander left Siwa with the answer he was looking for. He returned from the desert to embark upon some of the greatest conquests in the history of civilization.
The most extraordinary thing about Siwa today is that the place is not so different from the time of the Macedonian conqueror's visit. Its inhabitants still speak a Berber language, Siwi, and their customs and traditions have changed little. Islam may have replaced animism as the mainstay of their beliefs, but the people's way of life remains the same: there's no industry, there are more donkeys than cars, and most of them still make a living from growing and selling dates and olives.
If you stay at Adrère Amellal, the impression that time has passed by this niche of the North African Sahara is even more pronounced. The architecture, decoration and building materials are just as they would have been more than two thousand years ago. Add to this the fact that there are no telephones or electricity and the time warp is complete. The hotel has been built with utmost sensitivity to socio-cultural and environmental considerations. Derelict Siwan houses have been restored and extended, using kershef - a mixture of rock salt and mud - to build the walls. This method keeps indoor temperatures moderate and ensures that the structures blend with the environment. Doors and windows are strategically positioned to capture the desert breeze. Furnishing is simple but of the finest quality, drawing exclusively on natural materials, traditional design, and local skills.
Adrère Amellal offers the most complete escape imaginable, not just from daily routine but from the world as we know it. Set beside an enormous saltwater lake, it's hard to believe that you're sixty feet below sea level, bang in the midst of the Great Sand Sea. But, you may ask (as most people do), how comfortable is it to live without electricity or modern telecommunications? The answer, surprisingly perhaps, is that it's not only comfortable; it's actually quite luxurious. With the exception of being on a commercial flight to Cairo or Alexandria, it's one of the few opportunities to exist without being telephoned, e-mailed or text-messaged. No one needs to be convinced of the romance of dining by candlelight, but the experience of a bedroom and bathroom illuminated solely by dozens of candles (all in natural beeswax) is something few of us have encountered. Suddenly your skin looks radiant and you can forget about make-up. In other words, it's conducive to total relaxation.
As an intelligent concession to the expectations of Western travellers, there are bathrooms galore (with plenty of hot water and water pressure), but the real luxury of this hotel is not in the bathrooms or the bedrooms. It's in the experience. I defy anyone to come here and not return home with at least a handful of dinner party stories. Take, for instance, the lake: unlikely as it may be, your room is on the shore of a massive body of water that dominates the scenery in every direction. More unusual still, it is completely without water traffic. None. No boats, no fishing craft, not even the odd felucca so common on the Nile. This emptiness only adds to the spare machismo of the landscape. And then there's the unexpected plus that the lake is brilliant for swimming - or rather floating. With similar remedial properties to the Dead Sea, it's so salty that it's almost impossible to submerge.
And then there's the Sahara. Think of a celluloid fantasy set in the desert: Laurence of Arabia, The Mummy, The Scorpion King, Beau Geste or even the sci-fi film Dune - any of these could have been shot in the area around Siwa. It's a vast expanse of rippling dunes straight out of The English Patient. Even if you've been to countless other deserts (which I have), nothing can prepare you for what you'll encounter here. Just when you think you've seen it all, you drive down the side of yet another mammoth dune and find yourself at a different lake. You're free to dive straight into the water, which is surprisingly cold and deep. Swimming in the middle of the Sahara's sand dunes is an experience you're not likely to forget.
I remember seeing footage of Colonel Gadaffi disappearing on a regular basis to camp out in the desert. I'd never really understood what the fascination was. It wasn't something I could relate to...until Siwa
The Rooms
There are a total of 34 rooms and suites:
• Standard Rooms
• Small Suites
• Medium Suites
• Big Suites
Balconies available with some rooms, please enquire for details of the room layouts.
Facilities: Furnishing is simple but of the finest quality, drawing exclusively on natural materials, traditional design, and local skills. As there is no electricity there is no air-conditioning, mini bar nor any fancy gadgets but there is plenty of hot water and water pressure (thanks to a gas heating system) and the rooms are illuminated by lanterns, dozens of candles and the stars.
Although there is no air-conditioning, the ‘kershef’ method of building (using a mixture of rock salt and mud to build the walls) keeps indoor temperatures moderate and doors and windows are strategically positioned to capture the desert breeze. Daily maid service.