Red Sea Newcomer Organises Beach Cleanup

Carol King had not been a Red Sea resident for long before deciding she couldn’t sit idly by, when so much needed to be done. Carol saw the rubbish on the beaches, the stray dogs loose between the buildings and in the desert, and wrote to the ministers of the environment and tourism the following letter: 

Minister Yasmine Foad. (Minister of the Enviroment)

Minister Rania Al Mashat (Minister of Tourism) 

I recently invested in a property in the area of Al Ahyaa between Hurghada and El Gouna. This area, I am sure you are aware is an up and coming area for foreign investment and there are many hotels/apartments being built. The area is only 12 km from the famous exclusive area of El Gouna.

El Gouna I am sure you are aware is honored to be the first destination in Africa and the Arab Region to receive the Global Green Award in August 2014 and is sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program, this award is handed to cities displaying substantial measures and efforts in progress within the field of environmental sustainability. 

Al Ahyaa/Qesm golden sandy beach however shows a completely different side.

It is a fantastic area and has so much potential but this image unfortunately does not increase the number of foreign investment into the area. Let's not forget that we continue like this, then there will be no Red Sea marine life in 25 years time. The Red Sea is one of the main reasons that tourists visit the area and there are  over 30 diving centers alone in El Gouna not to mention Hurghada.

There is also another area of concern and that is the high amount of desert dogs which roam in packs on this beach. They are hungry and disease ridden and it is so sad to see and the odd one or two are quite aggressive. They also chase the cars on the highway from Qesm /El Gouna to Cairo and many end up dead and there are often several  car accidents. 

I like many of the other foreign buyers would be more than happy to help clean up our beaches but we need you the environmental department to help too.

I love Egypt and have worked in tourism in Cairo and now work for Easyjet Airline who bring tourists to Egypt. I really want to help the environment as like many others.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Carol King

After one month, Carol was contacted by the ministry of Environment to go and have a meeting in their headquarter in Hurghada. She met Dr Tamer Kamal and several other officials and spoke about the beautiful beach area between Ala Hyaa to El Gouna sadly covered in plastic waste and packs of dogs.  Carol asked if the ministry could help her and others from the community, locals, foreign investors and hotel and restaurant owners. They offered to join us and supply Tuk Tuks and volunteers. Carol is pushing for bins to be placed along that beach road all the way to the perimeter of El Gouna.

Moreover, Carol is organising a cleanup drive for the beach just outside El Gouna and is inviting volunteers who love the beach, the outdoors and have community spirit to join her, as the following flyer explains :

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