We arrived in Egypt early December 2016. My kids made friends very quickly and, before we knew it, we had this whole pack of (mostly) girls joining us on our homeschool field trips and adventures. It was a natural step to form a “scout” troop. I started holding weekly meetings and teaching the girls various outdoor and survival skills. The girls wanted to go camping, but our group quickly grew from four to ten to twenty girls. I knew that we would need a really, really big tent. Somehow I knew that a Coleman wouldn’t suffice.
I’d heard of the tentmakers’ souq, but could a regular person actually buy a tent there? I honestly had no idea, but I figured it was worth the time if for no other reason than to say I’d tried it. I grabbed a local friend, my kids, and (as it happens) my parents who were in town visiting, and into the tentmakers’ souq we plunged.
(Negotiating the price of our 20-person tent behind the tentmaker’s workshop)
It was love at first sight, that tent. I knew we had to have it. Bulky and hard to transport (the poles are thick iron rods that do not collapse), this 20-person traditional frame tent seemed impractical and yet also somehow perfect. I bought it. Hauling it out of the souq on a tuk tuk (with my parents and children on board as well!) was hysterical. I think our substantial tent poles took out a number of racks placed daringly in front of clothing shops as we passed down that narrow and crowded street.
I don’t know how many times we have camped in that tent. Maybe thirty times? It has seen us through rain, high winds, extreme heat, extreme cold, and a crazy number of mosquitoes. We mostly camp in and around Cairo, but we occasionally hold epic multi-night camps in al-Fayoum and Ayn Sokhna. I could write a book about those adventures. I should.
(This tent can withstand even the fiercest wind)
This is why if you ask me where to buy a tent, I’ll first ask you: do you want one of those flimsy-flamsy affairs that breaks the first time you take a group of rowdy cub scouts to camp in it? Or flies off the top of your car and disappears without a sound because it is so…lightweight? Because I know about those kinds of tents. I have tried those kinds of tents. But if you want something that lasts, something with character, something authentic and traditional, well…it’s off to the tentmakers’ souq for you.
(Living the good life in a tent)
Maybe you don’t need a gigantic tent to take a bunch of kids camping in the desert. That’s fine. Do you, instead, want a cute little Bedouin-style tent for your kids to play in that fits neatly in the corner of a room in your apartment? You can get it at the tentmakers’ souq.
Or here’s another bit of motivation for you. Do you love “Ramadan fabric” – the bunting you see hanging just about everywhere during Ramadan? I adore it. The name of this cloth in Arabic is actually khiyaami, or tent cloth. This is the type of cloth with which tentmakers have always worked. At the tentmakers’ souq you can find table runners, pillow covers, or just about any other type of decoration handmade out of khiyaami.
(Caught taking a picture of a tent cloth artisan hard at work)
So, it’s settled: you are going to the tentmakers’ souq. How will you get there? You could take your own car and park it on some side street near the souq. Uber is definitely an easy option. As for public transportation, my preferred method when traveling from Maadi is to take the metro to Attaba and then hop in one of the little Suzuki mini buses parked out in front of the parking garage across the street from the metro station. Ask the driver to let you down at “Khan al-Khalili.” The driver will let you off on a busy street called Al-Azhar. Instead of crossing the street and heading left down #Mu’iz Street (which is what the driver will tell you to do), turn directly right down this street. Keep walking until you start to see tentmakers in quantity. You’ll know it when you see it. This part of the street is covered, giving it an extra measure of exoticness.
(On my way to buy a tent at the Tentmakers’ Souq)
I don’t go every week, but you can be sure to find me at the tentmakers’ souq several times a year, more if I have out-of-town guests. I’ll see you there!
(Okay, sometimes we camp in a Coleman which did, in fact, once fly off the top of my car)
