Sandboarding: Edited

The chance to explore the Western Desert of Egypt doesn’t come very often, so it’s important to make sure that you do it right. You want to make the most of your hard-earned holiday days, so why waste time slogging your way across the sands?

Breeze through the desert in style, with the wind in your hair and the sun on your back. There’s no better way to enjoy the desert than by sandboarding through it. We wouldn’t include it in our Pyramids & Pharaohs adventure without an absolute guarantee that you’ll have the time of your life, so we put it to the test.

We took esteemed Editors, Jack and Rob out of the office and gave them a difficult task…

‘Go to Egypt on a sandboarding adventure and let us know how it goes.’

They put on brave faces and accepted the strenuous workload, and now they’re back to tell us why you should take a sandboarding adventure of your own.

In a sentence or less, how would you describe sandboarding to someone who’s never done it?
J: It’s quite similar to snowboarding but the main difference (aside from the obvious) is definitely how you can go side to side while you snowboard. With sandboarding, you just go straight from top to bottom, with the main goal being staying on the board!
R: I think it’s better that way.
J: You’re right, once you get the hang of it, sandboarding is fun. Time really flew by.
R: It’s fun, and you know you aren’t going to get hurt when you inevitably fall off. And I fell off a lot.

Was it easy to learn?
J: I think it comes down to whether the board is waxed properly. Without the right amount of wax, it can be a bit tough to get down the dunes.
R: We all fell over on the first few attempts, but it’s all about finding your balance and compensating for it.
J: Yeah, it’s not too complicated really. You stand up on the board and then you either fall over, or you don’t!

Did you have any races?
J: We had a few races, but it was more about enjoying ourselves first and foremost.
J: The steepness of the dunes helped, although it can be intimidating at first. At first, it put a few people off, but after their first go, they couldn’t stop sandboarding.
R: Once you get over the steepness, you have a great time. Especially after you first fall off and realise that it doesn’t hurt at all.

Do you have any tips for first-timers?
J: Just give it a shot. After you get over the steepness of it and realise that it doesn’t hurt to fall off. It turns into the time of your life.
R: Yeah and once everyone is sandboarding as a group, it gets even better!
J: And it goes without saying that you can get some great photos so make sure you have someone with their camera out!

Just for fun, how many times did you fall off the board?
J: Not once… Just joking, about four or five I think
R: Loads, I fell off over a dozen times. Falling was part of the fun though.
J: Especially if you watch someone else fall off.
R: You see a big puff of sand come up, and then you see the sand boarder emerge from it laughing. The sand is really soft, it doesn’t hurt at all.
J: I was pouring sand out of my pockets for days afterwards, but I’d 100% do it again.
R: Oh yeah definitely, it was an addictive experience.
J: Also, by the time we got back from the trip, it was only 12 O Clock, so although it was only midday, we’d already had a mini-adventure.
R: Yeah which gave us tonnes to talk about over lunch!

Want to try it for yourself? Go Sandboarding on our Pyramids & Pharaohs adventure!