Egypt's Guinness record breaker Hesham Nessim has successfully climbed Mount el-Geneina in Sinai, the country's highest mountain at 1,800m, raising the Egyptian flag on the peak. It took Nessim eight hours to make it to the top last Sunday, coinciding with the nation's celebrations marking Sinai Liberation Day on April 25. Nessim says he's delighted with his achievement, which he hopes will help promote tourism in Sinai, denying Israel's claims that Sinai isn't a safe place. The 50-year-old Egyptian record breaker thanked South Sinai's Governor Mohamed Abdel-Fadil Shousha who accompanied him in his own truck and without any security. Shousha says that Nessim's adventure is one of the best things for promoting tourism in Sinai. Nessim is now planning to drive across the Gilf el-Kebir plateau in southwest Egypt next November. Last year, he set two new world records. Firstly, he drove solo across an inhospitable stretch of the Western Desert, called the Great Sand Sea, then north towards Siwa Oasis, taking only five hours and 33 minutes. He then crossed the Western Desert using one car, from Siwa Oasis in the north to Abu Simbel in the south, in only 13 hours and 45 minutes. The distance by road is about 2,500km, but he drove as the crow flies, travelling around 1,300km, on the day that the Guinness Book of World Records celebrated Global Day last October. It was one of the world's greatest records and the first time for an Arab and Egyptian to set two records in the same year.
