Deserts & Oases

All oases of the Western Desert

EGYPT

The White Desert

contents
P.6-9 P.10-11
P.12-13 P.14-15 P.16-17 P.18-19 P.20-21 P.22-23

WELCOME TO THE DESERT OASES

FAYOUM OASIS BAHARIYA OASIS FARAFRA OASIS DAKHLA OASIS KHARGA OASIS SIWA OASIS

P.24-25
P.26-27 P.28-29 P.30-31

SUGGESTIOn OF TOURS
SHORT TRIPS LOnG TRIPS ExPEDITIOnS

P.32-33

DESERT ALTERnATIvES

jOURnEYS THAT CAn BE MIxED WITH MORE GEnERAL HOLIDAYS In EGYPT

P.34-35 P.36-37 P.38-39 P.40-41 P.42-43 P.44-45

7-day tour 8-day tour

WHALE vALLEY & BEYOnD QATTARA DEPRESSIOn & THE nORTH COAST

10-day tour THE SAnD SEA OASES 13-day tour ROCK ART In THE WESTERn DESERT 14-day tour SAILInG THE SAnD SEA 19-day tour WESTERn DESERT GRAnD TOUR

P.46-50 P.51 P.52-53 P.54 P.55

BEDOUIn LIFE & LORE In THE DESERT THE DESERT ASSOCIATIOn: EDK PRACTICAL InFORMATIOn DOS & DOnTS EGYPT GEnERAL MAP
5

Deserts &Oases
UIDE EGYPT G

Welcome to the
The desert is one of the mysterious places on earth where normal rules about living are suspended and even absent. More like the sea than any comparable landmass the desert stretches away to the horizon blinking as if it is its opposite- a giant lake- but of course this is just a mirage. To visit the desert is to plunge into a place of marvels.
Monastic and spiritual folk have traveled to the desert since the beginning of history to get away from distractions of life to find a communion between man and the natural world in all its awe, wonder and vastness. Some of those ancient monasteries are still inhabited in the Egyptian desert still far from civilization.
Sand dunes near Bahariya

The desert is above all a clean placethere are, once you leave the oases, no mosquitoes and no flies, and the ground is as clean as antiseptic- when a Bedouin cuts his foot he will rub sand in the wound to hasten healing as sand in the deep desert is as clean and bacteria free as things get. The sheer variety of the Egyptian Sahara is staggering. It is the most varied desert on the planet. Unlike the endless gravel plains of Libya, the Egyptian desert landscape can change abruptly from steep lines of seif dune to rocky canyons to vertiginous escarpments to plains dotted with strange conical hills to sand sheets that seem to stretch for ever only to end in a confusion of star dunes after a distance. The variety is endless which is why walking is always fascinating in the
The White Desert

desert
Then, after a while, you begin to see that desert is not a dead world, an empty world at all- it is overflowing with things to find and look at: fossils, flint scrapers, lizards, beetles, diminutive fennec foxes with their huge ears, falcons, petrified wood,
The Black Desert

The White Desert

stone axes and spear heads left behind from when the entire desert was a wetter savannah; grinding stones, ostrich egg shells, 5000 year old rock art paintings and carvings, old camel route markers, Roman

pottery, acacia trees clinging to life, ochre deposits, pre-historic sharks remains- the list goes on- the desert is a place of marvels just waiting to be found. Egypt is 95% desert. Yet for much of its history Egypt has been the story of the fertile 5% that lies alongside the river nile. More and more, though, people are beginning to value the overlooked desert, this great wilderness which is a place of incredible beauty and wild solitude.

The White Desert

WELCOME TO THE DESERT

Egyptian desert. At first the very lack of anything apparent causes one to focus and open up. In our busy modern lives we close ourselves off to survive, but in the desert we return to our primeval state where every rock, flower and flying bird is of vital interest.

BASIC FEATURES ABOUT EGYPT AnD ITS DESERTS

Where did all the sand come from? Scientists have yet to fully agree on this one. Some of the current theories include the idea that the constant growth and then shrinkage of the Mediterranean over the last 70 million

years generated what might be thought of as the worlds biggest beach. The sea came inland as far as the oasis of Bahariya, which is over 300km from the current Mediterranean coast of Egypt, and then retreated.

Wadi Hamra

WILDLIFE In THE DESERT

The animals you expect to see in the desert are not the ones you will see. Most people expect to see snakes and scorpions- when in fact these are rare, very rare in the deep desert. You are much more likely to see falcons wheeling in the sky or a jerboa, a small rodent, hopping along. Deeper into the desert, especially at old campsites, you may get a shy visit from a Fennec fox, whose
P E O P L E I n T H E D E S E R T

big ears help keep it cool without sweating. You can also expect to see pad footed geckos and other desert lizards. Beetles with elongated legs to keep them above the hot sand. Weddan, or wild sheep, still exist down near Uweinat and the Gilf Kebir. Ibex, long horned deer, are still seen in the Eastern desert, some as near as twenty kilometers from Cairo.

In the Oases people are the same stock and same traditions as the people of the nile- broadly speaking. Mixed with them and influencing them are Arab Bedouin from the East, and Berbers originally

from North West Africa. The different oases have different mixes- for example in Siwa the culture is very different since the majority are originally of Berber origin.

Dakhla

E x P L O R E R S

O F

T H E

D E S E R T

German, Egyptian, British and Italian explorers have all played their part in discovering the secrets of the Sahara in recent times. One of the most prominent was Gerhard Rohlfs who attempted to reach the Libyan Oasis of Kufra from Dakhla in 1874. In the end he turned north to Siwa after receiving a rare two days of rain at a place forever after named Regenfeld- rainfield. After Rohlfs came the aristocratic Egyptian explorer Hassanein Bey, whose six month journey from Siwa past Uweinat and into the Sudan ranks as one of the greatest desert journeys of all time. Hassanein Bey was not only the first explorer to visit Uweinat, he was also the first to glimpse the Gilf Kebir. At the same time, using half tracked vehicles, the Egyptian Royal, Prince Kemal Al-Din made the first extensive journeys around the Gilf Kebir plateau, which he named and was the first to map. Tracked vehicles were followed by the motor car. Explorers such as Count Laszlo Almasy of Hungarythe real life model for the book and movie character The English PaTIMInG In THE DESERT

The White Desert

One day can be all you need to get a real taste of the desert. You can walk up a dune and feel the true emptiness of the place even when you are only a few kilometer from the road. But most would agree that you have to spend at least one night in the desert to get its real flavour. See the incredible night sky; sit by the fire and next morning watch the sun rise in all its glory. Longer trips of a few days are even better as you will have a chance to learn something of the stars and see how varied the desert is. no trip, however, is likely to last more than two weeks without restocking on

fuel and water. But even on this, the longest time you are likely to spend in the desert you will still not feel it is quite long enough...

Bedouin fire camp

WELCOME TO THE DESERT

tient and Major Ralph Bagnold of Britain drove for thousands of miles in adapted Model A Fords through country no one had ever seen for many years, and certainly never mapped. Modern explorers of the desert have tended to relinquish the car for the camel and walking on foot. German Carlo Bergmann and Dutchwoman Arita Baaijens have used camels to track thousand of miles along ancient camel routes that have long been disused.

Oases
Travel in the Egyptian desert is divided between the deep desert and the Oases. The Oases are in the low parts of the desert, nearer to the water table. Each oasis sits in its own hollow or depression, which can be thousands of kilometers in area. much as it does anywhere in this interconnected world, and for this the desert traveler should be grateful. Kids still wave at you and smile, people will still want to talk to you- simply to be your friend rather than to score some money. Indeed in the Oases it pays to leave behind your cynical hardened traveler exterior and take people as they come. Within the Oases themselves

the

Dakhla

Each oasis has its own character- which you will discern when you visit. Fayoum, with its extensive fields and gardens, and proximity to Cairo, is very different in feel to Siwa with its originally Berber population and isolated position. The Oases are all, however, away from the hurly burly of mass tourism and mass employment. Time stands still in the Oases, as
Dakhla Oasis

Siwa Ecolodge Adrere Amellal

people are not so sophisticated as to inflate prices much- the hagglers here are amateurs compared to the Bazaars of Cairo. For entertainment you can seek out Bedouin music- which can
Dakhla Oasis

be marvelous and improvised, hot springs, ancient monuments, temples and fortresses, museums and crafts. just walking the streets of any oasis is an act of exploration as you learn about a culture alien to your own, living in one of the driest places in the world.

Bahariya Oasis

Dakhla Oasis

The White Desert

11

THE OASES

El Fayoum
The Fayoum as it is known is the only artificial oasis, created not by water springing forth from the ground but by a long canal, naturally formed by the flooding Nile, that dates from Biblical times, called Josephs canal. This stretches from the nile to the great lake of Birket Qarun. It is this huge lake, which on a rough day looks very much like the sea that gives the special character to the Fayoum. The lake used to be major place for duck hunting and the hotels on its southern shore hosted such luminaries as Winston Churchill and King Farouk as they took pot shots at flying birds. Though there is still some duck shooting there

Lake Qarun

is far more bird watching both on this lake and the nearby Wadi Rayyan another artificially created expanse of water. Lake Qarun was a freshwater lake until recent times. This has been proven by the fish skeletons and freshwater plankton remains found in mud deposits. In ancient times the flood of the Nile was powerful enough to charge the lake with new water. However since the 1900s, when the British introduced both a dam at Aswan (anticipating the later high dam) and a system of irrigation by more extensive canalization along the nile, the water entering the lake has been more run off from agriculture than fresher water direct from the nile. The growth in salinity means the fish now caught in Lake Qarun are predominantly sea fish introduced from the Mediterranean. In the Fayoum Oasis itself you will find a reasonably modern central town surrounded by masses of palm tree plantations. There are ancient water wheels to view and plenty of ruins of Pharaonic and Roman origin- some in the desert north of Lake Qarun. Camels do a lot of the donkey work, so to speak, these being oasis camels that live on green fodder known as birseem rather than on the tangled thorns of the desert. Fayoum includes the protected area of Wadi Rayyan, a desert area that surrounds two lakes connected by a small waterfall the only one in the Egyptian desert. As well as wadis and hills to explore

there is also the monastery of Wadi Rayyan where modern day monks carry on the traditions of their forebears who originally dug rock caves here at the dawn of Christianity. At the visitor centre of Wadi Rayyan it is possible to view the lake which is often favoured by birds migrating south and north from Africa to Egypt who glimpse this vast stretch of water as a natural resting place. Away to the west of the Fayoum is the Whale Valley, which is part of a tour described later in this guide. For now it should be mentioned that Whale valley, or Wadi Hitan, contains some of the best preserved fossil skeletons of extinct whales anywhere in the world. Huge and strange this haunting place is well worth a visit.

Wadi Hitan

13

EL FAYOUM OASIS

Bahariya
Bahariya feels like the first real desert oasis in Egypt. You reach it after a four or five hours drive from Cairo along a well made road that sees a bit of tanker traffic but little else. There is only one stop en route-a barn-like tea house-after 150km (and a smaller one about 10km further on) and that is it. It was on the right hand side of the road, in the direction of Wadi Natrun, that French Flyer Antoine de Saint Exupery crashed in 1935. Surviving on a half pint of coffee and an orange Exupery survived- and later wrote about the experiences in the marvelous desert book Wind, Sand and Stars. Being relatively near to Cairo Bahariya has attracted a number of foreigners over the years in search of peace and desert freedom. They have started, or been involved with, the several eco-spiritual companies
Mummies in Bahariya

springing up with safaris tailored to match the growing breed of travellers out to do more than stand and stare. At Bahariya itself the main town you drive through is Bawati. There are other smaller villages clustered within the depression of the oasis, many of them mentioned in Roman times. Bahariya has been inhabited for many centuries and it was here that the so called Golden Mummies were unearthed a few years ago.

Some of the mummy cases can be seen in the museum in Bawiti which you drive past on the way in. There are shops selling most things- here you can buy your Bedouin scarfs and rugs.

All around Bawiti there are ancient sites waiting to be visited. When one tires of sightseeing the oasis is well equipped with hot springs that gush from the earth and cleanse you of the sand of desert traveling.

Temple of Alexander
On the road going in the direction of Siwa is the temple dedicated to Alexander- the only one that still exists in Egypt- perhaps he came back through Bahariya after visiting the oracle at Siwa. After the dusty atmospheric town of Bawiti one drives through the Black Desert, called this because the air has oxidized the manganese in the rocks making them black.
BAHARIYA OASIS

Golden Mummies

Look out for the traditional shops such as the bakery which is a small blackened hole in the wall through which hands pass to receive their daily bread. The hills behind the town include Gebel Dest- this was where important dinosaur remains were found by German paleontoligist Eric Strommer nearly a hundred years ago. He discovered a tyrannosaurus-like carnivore called Spinosaurus, which, if you have seen Jurassic Park III does battle with T-Rex towards the end of the film.

Bahariya

?
Hot Spring

DID YOU KnOW?

The Bahariya villages of Mandisha and Zabu are threatened by encroaching sand. A huge wave of a dune has already engulfed many houses and now looms over a street of small buildings. 15

Farafra
Farafra is the nearest oasis to the White Desert. People usually visit this desert from Bahariya and miss out on seeing Farafra. Which is a pity as Farafra has a special charm all of its own. The Farafronies have had their number swelled in recent years by the new valleys settlement scheme. Wells were drilled to supply with water these new farms and the population has increased considerably from a few thousand in the 1980s to over 15,000 today. Many of these people live in the new hamlets that surround the main town of Qasr Farafra which now has around 5000 inhabitants. This has led to an increase in the number of shops on the highway as you drive through- always a useful thing for resupplying a desert journey. As you walk around Farafra with its low, tin roofed buildings it is hard to picture it in Roman, or even OtPalm Trees in Farafra

toman, times. At first sight it seems as if the old mud walled, originally Roman, fortress in town has fallen into disrepair, largely washed away by freak rainfall since the 1950s. The other mud fortresses- notably in Dakhla Oasis are uninhabited- but despite its parlous state of repair the Farafra fortress still has a few families thus providing a unique sense of continuity to the ancient past of the oases.

Crafts of Farafra
Unlike Siwa, with its jewelry, and Dakhla and Kharga with their ceramics, there is no great craft tradition celebrated in Farafra apart from the spinning of wool- both from camels and sheep. Unusually, both for Egypt and the world in general, spinning is considered a male occupation. Heavy fellows can be seen strolling the main street twirling a spindle and bobbin as they chat with friends and drink a glass of mint tea. Knitting, too, as amongst sailors, is an occupation practiced by men as well as a few liberated women in Farafra.
The White Desert

Farafra has its own institutionsbut they are people rather than places. There is the ubiquitous Mr Socks a relative of the Bedouin Badawi clan who bombs around on his moped with a wooden crate full of hand knitted socks and other useful Bedouin type apparel. The socks are great for the desert at night and good for padding around oasis hotels when you do not want a stray mosquito going for your ankles.
Women knitting in Farafra

Hot Springs
As in Bahariya, Farafra is well endowed with hot springs. What could be more relaxing than soaking away the desert sand after a hard safari through the White Desert? Bir Sitta, Well Six, is particularly good for travellers, especially if suffering a few aches and pains from the new experience of camel riding. The large hot bath contains traces of sulphur which are said to aid muscle and joint recovery.

Bedouins near Farafra

DID YOU KnOW?

The first census of Farafra in 1892 put the population at a mere 542 inhabitants, one thirtieth of its current population. 17

FARAFRA OASIS

Dakhla
Dakhla is among the most remote Oases being far from both Cairo and Luxor. Yet it is well worth the expenditure in time and effort. You pass from Farafra along one of the loneliest stretches of road in Egypt. If you stop, you can stand by your silent car and hear nothing but the wind for ages. It is a large oasis covering a large area with many small villages and hamlets. You will know when you have arrived as many of the famers like to wear straw hats- which you do not see in other oases. Dakhla is considered to be one of the oldest inhabited places in Africa, or rather Mut, its largest town is. Mut, which means mother in the Ancient Egyptian tongue, is really the mother of all dwelling places. Houses carbon dated to 13,000 years ago have been unearthed there.

Qasr
Dakhla is home to many ancient remains, hot springs and towering over it the escarpment which dominates the skyline on the northern side. In the oasis town of Qasr (like many of the Oases, the main town is called Qasr after the fortress) a Dutch lead team of locals have succeeded in almost completely rebuilding the dark mud walled old town.

Balat City in Dakhla

This place of narrow alleys and secret passages is one of the great sights of Dakhla. Lose yourself in an endless labyrinth which is like something out of desert sequences in Starwars or the movie The Sheltering Sky.

been excavated, some robbed but as you cast your eyes further there are many more similar looking hills spread throughout Dakhla.

Deir El Haggar

Biking in Mut
To see all the antiquities in Dakhla you can ride in the back of a pick up, take a taxi or hitch lifts. Better, probably, is to hire a pedal bike. You can hire bicycles in all the Oases. Mut is no exception- though with its wide largely empty roads it makes for some of the best on-road cycling in Egypt.
Dakhla

Deir El Haggar
A few kilometers before Qasr is the intriguing Roman ruin of Deir El Haggar. This place was once under sand- which helped preserve the paint on the carvings. There is something very recent about paint and to see some that is 2000 years old is quite amazing. One can compare oneself to the great explorer Rolhfs who signature can be seen quite clearly on a column in front of the temple of Deir El Haggar. But he carved it when the sand was much higher. now cleared away to reveal more of the temple, his graffiti is a good three meters above the ground. Across the way from this restored roman temple complex are conical hills full of tombs. Some have

Little girl in Dakhla oasis

DID YOU KnOW?

Desert raiders originating in Chad attacked Dakhla up until the 19th century using iron boomerangs. These are not so different in design to the boomerangs used by the Ancient Egyptians to catch small birds. 19

DAKHLA OASIS

Kharga
Kharga is the largest of the Oases, the administrative centre of the new valley Governorate. It is also the nearest to the nile valley, being only two hours from Luxor. It has a large population of over 70,000 people and plenty of new buildings in the centre. As you arrive the tang of dates assaults your nose and the sight of row upon row of date palms. Though busy and modern, in parts, Kharga still retains the romance of the desert. Pottery is one of the crafts celebrated in Kharga. In the main town of Qasr there are numerous shops selling ceramic products as well as a pottery factory you can take a tour round. You can also get some good bargains at Khargas lively bazaar or souk which is located in the southern part of Qasr town in the buzzing Midan Showla. In Roman times Kharga was a powerful centre of activity. There are many remains along with those of more ancient times. Since the camels introduction around 500BC, Kharga has been the final post on the Forty Days Road from Sudan- along which all the trade of East Africa used to come. Even today great caravans of camels come along this route- but they are mainly destined to be eaten once they have arrived at Cairo.

Chapel Ceilings of Bagawat

Here are the domed roofs of one of the best preserved Christian cemeteries in the world. There are 263 ornate tombs and many chapels. The roof paintings are of particular interest. Ask to see the painting that depicts the zodiac surrounding portraits of Mary and jesus. This very same design ap-

Paris, Egypt
It is widely believed that Baris in Kharga is named after Paris in France. Perhaps this is an example of the great sense of humour Egyptians display. The world famous architect Hassan Fathi designed an ecologically sound village to replace old Baris, hence new Baris. Unfortunately the locals did not take to being moved and new Baris is now deserted, an interesting example of great architecture that somehow misses the mark.

Inside of The Peace Chapel in the necropolis of Bagawat

pears in pre-Christian Ptolemaic Egyptian art in the Temple of Dendera but sadly the original was removed to the Louvre in 1820. But one can trace the line that connects the two utterly different religions.

Ain Um Dabadib
Ain Um Dabadib, located some 40km north of the main town of Qasr Kharga, is an amazing fortress that has been occupied since before Roman times. An incredible place that sits below the escarpment but 220metres above the desert floor it commands great vistas. All around are scattered and broken pots that date all the way back through Islamic times to Christian to Roman and before.

Palm Trees in Kharga Oasis

DID YOU KnOW?

Fortress Ain Um Dabadib

Kharga was a penal colony most famously in ancient Egyptian and Roman times. One of the most famous inmates was the poet and satirist juvenal (AD60 to 130) who was imprisoned for his rude remarks about the court of the Emperor Hadrian. He was later pardoned and returned to Rome. 21

KHARGA OASIS

Siwa
Siwa Oasis is the favourite of many desert travellers. It has a unique atmosphere, an ambience that is genuinely relaxing, truly a magical place. There are no major hotel chains though there are a few highly individual top class places to stayPrince Charles stayed at one when he visited in 2006. Surrounded by lakes that are too saline to support fishing Siwa has been famous for its olive groves and palm gardens since ancient times.

Siwa ecolodge Adrere Amellal

It can be reached either along the desert road from Bahariya or, more usually, down from Marsa Matruh on the northern coast.
Siwa ecolodge Adrere Amellal

There is also an air service though you need to check first about when flights are leaving from Cairo.

Today Siwan olives and Siwan bottled water are considered the finest and purest in Egypt. It is an easily

One is struck in Siwa by the ruined mud town of Old Shali that was abandoned, finally, in the 1980s after severe rain damage. It is next to the new town of Shali and looks like a ruined castle made of mud pies. You can visit it by picking your way through the darkened passageways but mind where you step.

Music in Siwa
You will notice that Siwans are uninhibited and talented musicians. Siwans tend to keep in musical practice for the four big festivals they hold each year, as well as their highly musical weddings. The biggest festival, Siayha, which anyone can attend, draws over 10,000 Siwans to nearby jebel Dakhour for three days of feasting, dancing and singing.

Shali

Siwa

Siwa is most famous as being the site of the Oracle visited by Alexander the Great in 331BC. He arrived and demanded that the Oracle answer his question (reputed to be Will I rule the world? the answer being Yes, but not for very long). As well as being able to visit the reputed site of the Oracle there is Cleopatras pool and the ruined town to visit, to name but a few of the sights.

Despite there being a sunken boat in Lake Shiatta, there were no boats in Siwa after ancient times. Only In 1924 did traveler Byron de Prorok manage to cross, in a hastily contrived dinghy, to the islands in the salty lakes where he found no treasure but flint tools and other signs of prehistoric occupation. 23

DID YOU KnOW?

SIWA OASIS

supported claim as there is nothing produced here that might be a pollutant. Siwa has two populations, originally. The Siwans, who are berber in origin, and the Bedouin, who inhabit villages around the edge of the Oasis and whose gaily dressed women are not as reclusive as the native Siwans.

Siwan Crafts
Siwa has the best craft tradition of any of the oases. You can get unique ceramic tajin, Saharan cooking pots, handmade and fired in bread ovens rather than kilns. Wedding dresses of stunning design are made by women, who dress plainly the rest of the year.

Desert tours
The desert beckons- but where and how will you go? I took a long time getting used to the idea that actually I could go anywhere in the desert. It is like the sea- no one owns it and nothing stops you roaming in any direction. nothing stops you except the need for water and fuel of some kind. I think it is best to think of the desert as a place where you walk. Certainly you can only experience its wonders when you are up close and personal with the sand and the rock. Driving and camel riding may get you to where you want to be but it will be your own legs that always complete both the outer and inner journey of a desert of quest. That said, the choice of transport depends on how deep you want to go into the desert and how much time you have. The tours listed below are a tiny fraction of what is possible. There purpose is to get you thinking. You can then start talking with guides and safari operators from a strong position of knowledge. At the very least you will have an accurate picture of what is possible, the sheer width of range of possible desert journeys. tracks you can drive over- to affect an escape. Lots of pushing is always required- the more that push the quicker you get back on your journey.

the

Desert driving
Currently driving is how most people experience the desert. When the cars get stuck, as they do from time to time, you will learn how to extract them by digging away the sand and laying sandplates metal

There is no experience quite the same as driving at speed over whale back dunes. The sand and sky seem to merge and distance is distorted. The driver has to be careful not to go over the knife edge of a dune- and these can pop up any time. The ground is utterly smooth and all you hear is the swishing of sand under the tyres. It is as close to flying as you can get without leaving the ground. Ascending steep dunes seems to go against what is possible- but with a big enough run-up any dune, if, of hard sand, can be conquered. Descending a slip face also looks impossible at first. Though a face of loose sand is never more than 35 degrees or so it will look from the top like a 60 degree slope. The car will simply slide down the slope as long as it descends perpendicular and not at an angle- the movement is slow and rather pleasant.

Cars go far and fast and for a trip to the Gilf Kebir you will have to go by car unless you fancy a month long camel journey. Cars do mess up the desert. This is not a problem in sand since the wind will wipe away any tracks. Drivers in the Great Sand Sea, the Siwan dune desperados and the raiders of the worlds longest dune, Abu Moharik, are no threat to the desert. However, driving over pebbly desert leaves tracks that never go. I have found the tracks made by Laszlo Almasys Baby Ford expedition in 1930- seventy years on and still clear. Eventually one hopes that car drivers will stick to existing slops when they cross the vulnerable parts of the desert and only fan out when they hit pure sand.

tic and more real desert than carsbut you will not go so far as you will in a vehicle. However, if you walk in the desert, even a few kilometers from the road will feel isolated.

Desert thrills
The desert is also legitimately a place for thrill seekers- as long as they know the risks. Dirt bike riders whoop with joy at the prospect of burning around a giant bowl of sand or up and over small dunes. Accidents happen when you fail to see some small change in the desert surface- a hole or sudden end to the dune. Sand boarding increases in popularity year by year. Though not as fast as snow boarding, with the right wax you can shoot down some of the massive dunes in the Great Sand Sea and have thrills to spare. There is no ski-lift to get you back to the top again and its either a walk that will get you fit quicker than almost anything else, or hitching a ride in a 4x4 running in a cycle from top to bottom. Though riding a mountain bike may sound crazy in the desert, the latest generation of flat tyre mountain bikes make it possible. These bikes, developed at first for riding on snow, are now being used for making desert journeys around the world. But even a normal mountain bike can be ridden on much of the desert- as long as you avoid dunes and do not mind pushing from time to time. Of course you are limited by having to carry water, but as I mentioned with walking- if you ride even a few kilometers alone or in a small group into the desert it will feel like a great journey. 25

Camel riding and walking

Camels also leave tracks- but these are negligible compared to those left by a car. Camels are silentapart from snorting and coughing. They walk at human speed, maybe 4.5km/h, so you are as comfortable on or off the saddle. Riding a camel that is part of a camel train is easy- keep one hand on the saddle and use the other to steady the book you are reading- you cannot read while being driven in a car- camels smooth out the bumps rather better. Camels are arguably more roman-

DESERT TOURS

Short Tripsgetaways weekend

up to 3 days
1. AROUnD FAYOUM AnD WADI HITAn
The Fayoum and especially Wadi Rayyan are a great place to first taste the desert.

Wadi Rayyan
To get here from Cairo takes about an hour and a half if the traffic is fine. Wadi Rayyan is a protected area with lakes and desert promising interest for all.

Wadi Rayyan

ing ranger from Wadi Rayyan will usually guide the driver. The whales in question are extinct mammals with eel shaped bodies about 20meters long- bigger than a grey whale- closer to the size of a blue whale. The teeth were sharp and saw-like, indicating a different diet to modern whales. They are believed to have existed here 40million years ago. Known as basilosaurus isis they retain feet, of a kind, unlike modern whales which just have remnant projecting bones. The incredible lines of vertebrae, each one weighing 20kilos or more, make for an eerie sight, as if one has arrived at a graveyard of the dinosaurs, which, in a sense, one has. There are smaller whale remains too- the five meters dorudon which may be related to existing whales.

Wadi Hitan

Wadi Hitan - Whale Valley

It is easy to visit the Whale Valley in a day from Cairo. An accompany-

Bedouin legends abound in Wadi Rayyan of buried treasure. Rayyan they claim was a king who was laid to rest here with all his gold. Strangely, widespread in the Wadi are circular sand dollars, fossilised anemones that look like stone coins. Maybe this is the real treasure.

DID YOU KnOW?

2. AROUnD HURGHADA In THE EASTERn DESERT

The Eastern Desert

You enter a quite different world when you cross the nile from the sandy Western Desert to the mountainous and rocky Eastern one. Still dry and arid, but this time there are hills, and valleys and wadis, cutting through the whole area from the Red Sea to the nile River.

St Pauls Monastery

St Anthonys Monastery

Climb Egypts highest Peak- Gebel Shayib

Egypts highest continental African peak is Gebel Shayib- the overall highest being Gebel Katarina in the Sinai, which is classed as Asia. Gebel Shayib is revered as a mountain of mystical importance to the Maaza and when one climbs in the early dawn and sees the exquisite rainbow effect of the sun shining through a mist oasis one can understand their reverence.

Monastery of St Anthony
St Anthony (251-356AD) is considered to be one of the founders of Christian monasticism and as such the monastery ranks as the oldest in the world. 320meters above the monastery is the cave where St Anthony lived. Climb the 1158 steps which will take over half and hour to get to the cave. The entrance is tinybut it widens out into the tiny chapel where the monk worshipped. It is hard to imagine living here for forty years- but of such commitment monasteries are built.

?
Church of St Anthonys Monastery

On the Red Sea Coast south of Marsa Alam there is the Middle Easts largest rock spire- the Berenice Bodkin. not often climbed due to its remote location it is visible for miles. 27

DID YOU KnOW?

SHORT TRIPS

Long Trips
1. THE WHITE DESERT CIRCUIT
The White Desert is justifiably the most well- known desert destination in Egypt- and for good reason. For sheer quantity of unearthly and beautiful wind-carved rock formations it is unequalled in any desert in the world. It also enjoys easy access from the road- some of the best camp spots being only a couple of kilometers from the asphalt- though you would never know that.

in depth experience of the desert

4-7 days allowing more

Monoliths and canyons

Coming along the road from Bahariya you will be struck by the huge inselbergs, monoliths that look like rockets on the launch pad and the hunched shoulders of giants. This area between the road and the escarpment edge, which runs pretty much parallel to the road is a great place for exploring.

The White Desert

The Sphinx Valley

Further along the road to Ain Dalla on the right is the incredible valley of the sphinxes- natural sphinxes that again confirm the origin of Pharaonic art in the natural forms of the Western Desert.

The White Desert

2. AROUnD SIWA- WALK, SAIL, SURF AnD DIvE THE GREAT SAnD SEA
Though a fair amount of car powered dune bashing goes on at Siwa it is far more in keeping with its tranquil atmosphere and ecological leanings to take natural powered transport. Your basic motor will be your feet with camel back up. For a break there will be wind assistance for sand sailing and gravitational pull for sand boarding. setting of high dunes and hills that surround the small lake.

The Great Sand Sea

Sand Boarding
Here at Bir Wahed you can also try your hand at sand boarding. But the bigger dunes are further southbut all within a reasonable distance of Siwa. You can bring your own snowboard- which does work- especially on the really steep dunes, and the Siwans have all the right waxes to make boards really fly. They also have custom boards that are the fastest of all.

The Great Sand Sea

Bir Wahed
Bir Wahed is a mini oasis and hot spring some 12km south of Siwa at the start of the dunes of the Great Sand Sea. Bir Wahed was drilled by man in search of oil- but the result is more marvelous- especially in the

3. TOWARDS THE jARA CAvES

After a days traveling from Bahariya you will finally arrive at the Jara Caves, or El Caf as the Bedouin call it. These are the largest dry caves in Egypt - it is easily the size of a church down there, with great thick stalactites hanging down. The floor is sandy and tracked by beetles. Dont worry about snakes and scorpions- it is far too dry for these creatures- and if you are carrying a torch everything alive down there will hide away from you. Inside the cave are a few prehistoric carvings of antelope and giraffe.

?
Sand dunes near Bahariya

DID YOU KnOW?

Camels can go an entire winter without drinking as long as there is fresh vegetation available for them to eat. 29

LOnG TRIPS

Expeditions from 10-21 days

Bahariya road
The road from Bahariya to Siwa takes you past a sequence of large oasis lakes, most of which are salty and without fish. Most of the oases were inhabited in the past, and even not so long ago were the summer quarters of some Bedouin people and their animals.

exploring the deep desert areas

1. ExPLORInG BETWEEn BAHARIYA, SIWA AnD THE GREAT SAnD SEA

Arag

Siwa

Arag is the nearest oasis to Siwa and on the opposite side of the road from Bahrein. You cannot see it from the road, it is beyond the first ridge of what becomes the Qattara depression- scene of that Great War movie Ice Cold in Alex. Arag has also got rock cut tombs which are always worth a peak.

Bahariyya Oasis

The Great Sand Sea

The area between Siwa and Bahariya is supposed to be where the Lost Army of King Cambyses met their doom in a terrific sandstorm in 524BC.

DID YOU KnOW?

The Great Sand Sea

South of Siwa you soon enter the Great Sand Sea. This is the worlds largest sand sea with dunes up to 400meters high.

2. DOWn TO THE GILF KEBIR AnD BEYOnD

For people who have seen the movie or read the book The English Patient then this is the tour to make. and baboons. The art here is accurately dated by the last time there was any water in the region- 50007000 years ago.

Uweinat and Karkur Talh

Deep in the corner of Egypt where it borders Sudan and Libya lies the mountain of Gebel Uweinat. Most people are in a bit of hurry to see the Gilf as well so at Uweinat they look at the rock art in the valley of Karkur Talh. This valley, named after the acacia trees which still grow here, is home to vast quantities of rock art- both drawings and engravings.

The Gilf Kebir - Wadi Soura and the Mestikawy cave

At 900metres high, souring up from the flat desert is the astounding major plateau known as the Gilf Kebir. This is where Laszlo Almasy, the real life character on whom The English Patient was based, discovered, or, more accurately, rediscovered the caves containing pictures of the famous swimmers.

Silica glass

Wadi Hamra

Thought to be caused by a giant meteorite landing about 29 million years ago, the silica glass is spread in surprisingly small area- about 50 square kilometers or less, in the Great Sand Sea. King Tutankhamuns chest scarab was made of silica glass. How it was transported from that remote part of the desert to Thebes is another mystery.

Silica Glass

Mestikawy Cave

nearby is the Mestikawy Cave, found in 2002 on an expedition led by Colonel Ahmed Mestikawy, considered the largest single site of rock art in Africa. It contains an amazing quantity of pictures of animals long since extinct here such as giraffes

Laszlo Almasy, the real life model of The English Patient, in the movie of the same name, believed he discovered the long lost oasis of Zerzura in the wadis of the Gilf Kebir. 31

DID YOU KnOW?

ExPEDITIOnS

DESERT

A L T E R n A T Iv E S

with more general holidays in Egypt

journeys mixed that can be

Many people, perhaps on the first trip to Egypt, want to mix a desert journey with appreciation of the ancient sites of the nile valley and perhaps also the Red Sea resorts. With that in mind it is possible to make many shorter combined tours of great interest.

SAKKARA, DAHSHUR, FAYOUM, WADI RAYYAn

Head out of Cairo towards the stepped pyramid of Sakkara and the ancient temple complex. Then investigate the Red Pyramid and the mysterious Bent Pyramid before continuing along the road to Fayoum Oasis and Wadi Rayyan.

LUxOR, KHARGA, DAKHLA

The Temples of Luxor and Karnak are a must for anyone with an interest in Ancient Egypt. You can then take the bus or a taxi to Kharga and then Dakhla where you can view more ancient monuments.

ALExAnDRIA, EL ALAMEIn, MARSA MATRUH, SIWA

Alexandria is the old centre of Ptolemeian Egypt, explore the catacombs and the new Library, eat great seafood and head towards the old battlefields of El Alamein and then the sea resort of Marsa Matruh. Then take the three hour bus or car drive down to Siwa where you can sample all the delights of the desert.

CAIRO, BAHARIYA, FARAFRA, DAKHLA, KHARGA, LUxOR

HURGHADA DIvInG, GOUnA KITE SURFInG AnD CLIMBInG GEBEL SHAYIB

Millions of tourists come to Egypt for its excellent diving. Hurghada is one of the main centres and offers a wide variety of diving opportunities from reefs to wrecks to snorkeling. Once you have had your fill under water check out the surface at Gouna where there is one of the finest centres for kite-surfing in the world. After that head inland and climb the highest mountain on mainland EgyptGebel Shayib.

CAIRO, PYRAMIDS, FAYOUM

With not much time on your hands but a desire to see the desert head out of Cairo West to the Pyramids and after enjoying them to the full continue along the desert road towards Bahariya. After a hundred kilometers turn south towards Lake Qarun, following your way through the amazing fossil beds on each layer of the escarpment. At the edge of the lake pick up the road and head towards Wadi Rayyan and the valley of the Whales.

HURGHADA, vALLEY OF THE KInGS, KHARGA

Hurghada, home to sea, sand, diving and nightlife makes a great place to start any holiday in Egypt. With resorts spread along the coast either side of the main town there is plenty of choice. When you tire of the pool head inland for the culture- and take in the Valley of the Kings. From Luxor head out to Kharga and the desert.

33

DESERT ALTERnATIvES

This is the granddaddy of mixed trips with a big desert component. Start in Cairo and head out via the Pyramids. Then down towards Bahariya- if in a 4x4 you can take in the valley of the Whales. Then visit Farafra and Dakhla and Kharga, before ending up at the glorious archeological treasure trove of Luxor.

Templates of Desert Tours

7 - DAY TO U R

Whale valley & Beyond

Important note: These tours are examples and for information purposes only. Broadly similar tours are available but individual operators will amend and tailor them to suit conditions and demand.

This incredible value tour takes in three of the must see sights of the Egyptian Desert- Whale valley, jara Caves and the White Desert. Leaving Cairo early you arrive at Wadi Rayyan where it is possible to view both the giant Lake of Qarun and the smaller lakes of Rayyan. Whale valley is a short drive further on and you will be able to admire the exposed gigantic remains of fossilized and long extinct whales. From there you cross the worlds longest single dune system, the mysterious Abo Moharik dune. This takes you to the huge stalactitic jara caves, which inside is big enough to fit several buses! You cross now to the jewel of the Egyptian wilderness- the White Desert- a strange and wonderful landscape of chalky buttes and inselbergs replete with beautiful soft sand and marvelous wind carved boulders. You may also visit from here Farafra Oasis, famous for its hot springs. From here it is a days drive back to Cairo via Bahariya Oasis where you might care to stop and view the illustrious Golden Mummies discovered in 1999.

Wadi El Natroun
a n ar sio s
PYRAMIDS OF GIZA

Giza

Cairo
Memphis

D e Qat pr t e

Qaroun OF SAQQARA Lake Qa ro u n ley al L a ke V

PYRAMIDS

al

Wh

El Fayoum
Fayo u m Oa s is

Nile

Ri

ve

Wadi El Rayan

Beni Suef

Bawiti

10
ALEXANDER THE GREAT TEMPLE

er

es

t er
W

Bahariyya Oasis

5 6
A
bu
Mo

El Minya
TONA EL GABAL RUINS
Mallawi

BANI HASAN TOMBS

White D ese r t

e hit

Des

ert

st

9 7

TEL EL AMARNA
harik

We

Farafra Oasis

Qasr Farafra

Dune

Asyut

WHALE vALLEY & BEYOnD

rn Easte t r Dese
N
il
Sohag

e
Ri

ve

Abu Minqar

ROUTE:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cairo, Lake Qarun, Wadi Rayyan, Whale valley, Abo Moharik Dune, jara Caves, Wadi Karaween, White Desert, Farafra Oasis, Bahariya Oasis, Cairo
Bahariya Oasis Sphinx and The Great Pyramid in Giza

35

Templates of Desert Tours

8 - DAY TO U R

Qattara Depression and the north Coast

Important note: These tours are examples and for information purposes only. Broadly similar tours are available but individual operators will amend and tailor them to suit conditions and demand. Follow in the footsteps of Alexander the Great and visit Siwa by traveling through the fascinating wilderness of the northern Coast. You start from the town named after its founder, Alexandria and motor south into the Qattara Depression, the lowest point in Egypt, a vivid and extraordinary landscape of shifting sands and rare plants, scene of the famous movie Ice Cold in Alex. Your first stop is El Mogra, a salt water lake surrounded by five fresh water wells. It is 34meters below sea level and a place of jurassic fossil remains. From here you traverse the depression to the tiny oasis settlement of Qara. Then it is time to go south to Siwa, the most remote Oasis in Egypt and the most culturally diverse with its mix of Berber, Bedouin and Egyptian cultures. Here you may care to consult the oracle just as Alexander did in 332BC. north from Siwa lies Marsa Matruh, a delightful sea resort and home to the cave complex used by the German General Rommel to mastermind his attacks on the British and Australian forces at El Alamein. Which is your next destination- a unique historical experience with a military museum and cemeteries dating from WW2. It is only a few hoursdrive back to the fascinating city of Alexandria.

M e d i t e r r a n e a n
Sidi Barani Sallum

S e a

Marsa Matruh

Alexandria
Sidi Abd el Rahman

Rosett

LIBYA

El Alamein

Porto Marina

1
Bo rg El Arab

2
pr

es

ion

Wadi El Natroun

De

Siwa
Siwa Oa s i s

Cleopatra Bath Arag Oasis

AMON Gabal TEMPLE El Dakrur

Qat

5 ElGabal Mawta

ta r

Siwa

Qara Oasis

T h e G re a t Sea Sa nd

rn

De

r se
W h i te

Bawiti

Ba ha r i yya Oa si s

ALEXANDER THE GREAT TEMPLE

We

st

Whi te D ese r t

De

se

rt

Fa ra fra Oa si s

Qasr Farafra

ROUTE:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Alexandria, El Mogra Lake, Qattara Depression, Qara Oasis, Siwa Oasis, Marsa Matruh, El Alamein, Alexandria, Alexandria
Western Desert, edge of Qattara Depression

Marsa Matruh beach

37

QATTARA DEPRESSIOn AnD THE nORTH

Templates of Desert Tours

10-DAY T O U R

The Sand Sea Oases

Important note: These tours are examples and for information purposes only. Broadly similar tours are available but individual operators will amend and tailor them to suit conditions and demand. The remote and mostly uninhabited oases of the northern Sand Sea offer a unique and wonderful insight into the Western Desert in landscapes of rare and stunning beauty. It is only a half days drive to Bahariya Oasis, your gateway to the northern Sand Sea. From here, where you may enjoy bargaining with the locals over Bedouin handicrafts, you travel offroad to the largest of the uninhabited Oasis lakesSitra. Then it is on to nuwamisa, and then Bahrein where there are ancient tombs cut into the hillside- some even with mummy wrappings and skeletal remains. north from Bahrein is the idyllic oasis of Arag, which is still used from time to time by Bedouin herdsmen. There are more abandoned dwellings here and the chance of glimpsing the rare gazelle of the Egyptian desert. next stop is Siwa, surrounded by salt water lakes it is place packed with ancient monuments together with a people both welcoming and helpful. If you get the chance to hear some Siwans making music- take that opportunity for they are truly gifted. From Siwa you plunge south into the Great Sand Sea, driving between the long lines of dunes that reach over three hundred and fifty meters high. Your destination is the old well of Ain Dalla, known since before Roman times and after that the majestic White Desert and the cosy oasis town of Farafra.

Wadi El Natroun
D e Qa p r tt e
a n ar sio s

Cairo
Giza

S iwa

AMON TEMPLE

Qara Oasis

LIBYA

Wh

El Barhein

Sitra

rn

White Deser t

e Whit

De

se

rt

TONA EL GABAL RUINS

Mallawi

BANI HAS TOMBS

te

7 Ain Dalla
Farafra Oasis

TEL EL AMAR

Wes

Qasr Farafra

Asyut

Abu Minqar

N ew V all ey
El Qasr
Dakhla Oasis

Ain Umm Dabadib

Mut

AL BAGAWAT NECROPOLIS
Kharga Oasis

Al Kharga
Bulaq

Regenfeld

Ge

lf K ebir

Baris

ROUTE:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Cairo, Bahariya Oasis, nuwamisa, Bahrein, Arag, Siwa Oasis, Great Sand Sea, Ain Dalla, Farafra Oasis, Cairo
Islamic Cairo

The White Desert

39

THE SAnD SEA OASES

T h e G re a t Sea Sa nd

es

rt

2
Bawiti

ALEXANDER THE GREAT TEMPLE

Bahariyya Oasis

El Minya

Nile R ive

Si wa Oasi s

Nuwamisa

Arag

al

Gabal El Mawta Cleopatra Siwa Bath

Qaroun Lake y l l e Qaroun Lake Va Fayoum Oasis

PYRAMIDS OF GIZA PYRAMIDS OF SAQQARA Mem

El Fay

Wadi El Rayan

Beni Suef

Templates of Desert Tours

13-DAY T O U R

Rock Art in the Western Desert

Important note: These tours are examples and for information purposes only. Broadly similar tours are available but individual operators will amend and tailor them to suit conditions and demand. visit the largest single site of rock art in Africa- the Mestikawy Cave, the intriguing rock carvings of Karkur Talh as well as the Swimmers Cave, made famous by the movie The English Patient. From your start at the remote oasis of Dakhla, the oldest continually inhabited place in Africa, you travel through remote desert to Bir Terfawi, your entry point to the vast sand sheets that lead to the Gilf Kebir. It is here you will view the astounding rock paintings and engravings of the Shaw cave, located in recent times by explorer W.B. Kennedy Shaw, the Mestikawy cave, which was found in 2003 by explorer Ahmed Mestikawy and the Cave of the Swimmers which was named by Laszlo Almasy, the Hungarian real life model on whom The English Patient is based. Further south near the massif of Uweinat you may visit Karkur Talh, an area full of rock art and offering the chance of glimpsing the rare and reclusive wild sheep known as the weddan. From the Gilf you may return via Abu Ballas, an eerie hill where thousands of broken pots have been found. It is now believed this was part of a water storage trail leading to Uweinat in Pharaonic times. Back in Dakhla you should visit the restored fortress town of Qasr- a labyrinth of twisting passages no wider than two people- a truly amazing place.

wV al
c a Va l l e y

ey
El Qasr Mut

LIBYA

Silic

D akhl a Oasi s

Regenfeld

Gilf E l - Ke b i r Protec to rate

6 7

Mestikawy Cave

Wad i So u ra

Trop i c of Ca ncer

Wa d i Furaq

Memorial

Wad i Wi ssa

4 3 5
UWEINAT MOUNT 1 934 M
Karkur Talh

Peter and Paul

Tarfawi Well

SUDA N
ROUTE:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Dakhla Oasis, Bir Terfawi, Wadi Furaq, Shaw Cave, Uweinat (Karkur Talh), Mestikawy Cave, Swimmers Cave, Wadi Wissa, Abu Ballas, Dakhla Oasis
Qasr village in Dakhla Oasis

Wadi Hamra

41

ROCK ART In THE WESTERn DESERT

Wadi Abu El Malik

Gelf K e

bi
r

Abu Ballas

Templates of Desert Tours

14-DAY T O U R

Sailing the Sand Sea

Important note: These tours are examples and for information purposes only. Broadly similar tours are available but individual operators will amend and tailor them to suit conditions and demand.

The largest Sand Sea in the world is your ocean for a few weeks as you explore this amazing desert of towering dunes, little known oases and prehistoric remains. Leaving Cairo behind you make your way to Bahariya Oasis and then on to the majestic uninhabited lake of Sitra. Driving through the northern end of the Great Sand Sea you alternate visiting the fascinating oases of Bahrein, nuwamisa and Arag with rolling dunes and canyons of remarkable beauty. As this area was once under the Mediterranean there are ample opportunities to see fossil remains such as sharks teeth and sand dollars. You emerge from the northern leg of the journey at Siwa, the calmest and most mysterious of the Oasis towns. Your stay should take in the collapsing mud town of Shali which looks like a set out of Star Wars! From here you will be eager to plunge deeper into the Great Sand Sea, driving down the endless dune corridors past fantastic displays of star, barchan and seif dunes. Through this surreal landscape you emerge at the Ammonite scarp, most recently discovered by the German explorer Rohlfs. The top of the scarp is littered with the fossil remains of ammonites. From here you reverse the journey Rohlfs made in 1873 and arrive at the place he called Regenfeld- rainfield in German- a place where it rained and allowed him to refill his water bottles. Past Regenfeld you hit the Abu Ballas trail and view the strange water mountain and its myriad broken pots before leaving the sand at Dakhla and returning to Cairo via the stunning White Desert.

S i wa

AMON TEMPLE

Qara Oasis

D e Qa p r tt e

a n ar sio s

PYRAMIDS OF GIZA

Cairo
PYRAMIDS

L I BYA

Gabal El Mawta Cleopatra Siwa Bath

El Barhein

Sitra

T h e G re a t Sea Sa nd

es

rt
e

2
Bawiti

ALEXANDER THE GREAT TEMPLE TONA EL GABAL RUINS

Ba h a r i yya Oa s i s

El Minya

Nile R iv
Mallawi
ari

Nuwamisa

rn

Wh i te Deser t

te

Whit

De

TEL EL AMAR
M

Ain Dalla

11
Qasr Farafra

Wes

Fa ra fra Oa s i s

oh

k Du ne

Asyut

Abu Minqar

S i l i c c a Va l l e y

N ew V all e
El Qasr
Da k h l a Oa s i s

Ain Umm Daba dib

Regenfeld

Mut

AL BAGAWAT NECROPOLIS
Kha rga Oa sis

Al Kharga
Bulaq

8
Gelf

10

Ke

Baris

bi
r

Dush

EZBET DUSH

ROUTE:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Cairo, Bahariya Oasis, Sitra, nuwamisa, Bahrein, Arag, Siwa Oasis, Great Sand Sea, Ammonite Scrap, Regenfeld, Abu Ballas, Dakhla Oasis, White Desert, Cairo
necropolis of Qila el-Dabba, Mastaba of Kentika in Dakhla oasis Sand dunes near Bahariya oasis

43

SAILInG THE SAnD SEA

r se

er
Ab

S i wa Oa s is

Qa roun OF SAQQARA Mem L a ke Qa roun L ake Fayoum El Fayo Oasis Wadi El Raya n

Arag

Beni Suef

BANI HAS TOMBS

Templates of Desert Tours

19-DAY T O U R

Western Desert Grand Tour

Important note: These tours are examples and for information purposes only. Broadly similar tours are available but individual operators will amend and tailor them to suit conditions and demand. For the ardent explorer of deserts the Grand Tour beckons. You will be able to visit the remote rock art sites of Uweinat and the Gilf Kebir, travel up to the mysterious and wonderful zone of silica glass followed by an epic northern crossing of the Great Sand Sea to Siwa- a journey only first completed in 1933. Driving down from Cairo you first leave the asphalt at the White Desert to get a brief introduction to the wonders of the Egyptian Desert. From here you proceed south until you gain Abu Ballas, the broken pot mountain which guards the entrance to the Gilf Kebir region. Driving swiftly the several hundred kilometers to the Gilf, you enter the plateau, which rears 350meters above the desert, and cross its southern part through Wadi Wissa. Here you may view the rock art of the Shaw Cave before heading down to Uweinat to see wildlife such as the rare weddan sheep and extensive rock art in many different locations. Back to the Gilf you will take in both the epic Mestikawy cave and the famous Swimmers cave as seen in the movie The English Patient. Both contain amazing rock paintings. Then it is time to go over the Gilf Plateau by ascending the Aqaba Pass and descending into the 100km long Wadi Hamra, again a site of much fascinating rock art. From here you drive north to the Silica Glass area, a highly localized source of pure natural glass formed when a meteorite hit the desert 29million years ago. next you follow the first motor explorers of the Western Desert and head north to Siwa past the atmospheric forest of petrified palm trees. As you enter Siwa from the south you may glimpse the jackals that still inhabit this region. From the extraordinarily idyllic Oasis of Siwa you return across the desert to Bahariya and then to Cairo having completed a journey of truly epic proportions.

D e Qa p r tt e

S i wa

AMON TEMPLE
Siwa

Qara Oasis

a sio s

LY B IA

S i wa Oa sis

13

Arag

14

Qaro u n L ake Fayo u m Oas i s Wad i El Rayan

PYRAMIDS OF SAQQARA Memphis

Cairo S i n a
Ras Sidr Zafarana SERABIT

El Fayoum Beni Suef

EL KHADIM
Abu

at T h e G re d n Sea Sa

er

es

t er

Bawiti
Bah ar i y ya Oas i s

ALEXANDER THE GREAT TEMPLE TONA EL GABAL RUINS

Abu

Rudeis ST ANTONYS MONASTERY ST PAULS MONASTERY Ras El

Gu

El Minya
Mallawi

Whi te Deser t Farafra Oasi s

i te Wh ser t De
Qasr Farafra

BANI HASAN TOMBS

Gharib

lf

of

oh

TEL EL AMARNA

e er st r E a e s e e Riv D il

st

12

ar

Asyut ik D une

r t n

MONS PORPHYRITES

We

Abu Minqar

Sohag

S i l i c c a Va l l e y

N ew Va lle
El Qasr Mut Regenfeld
D akh l a Oas i s

ABYDOS

Qena

y
AL BAGAWAT NECROPOLIS

Ai n Um m D abad i b

DANDARA VALLEY OF THE KINGS

KARNAK

Al Kharga
Bulaq

Luxor
Esna

11
A b u El Malik

Kh arg a Oas i s

TEMPLE OF KHNOUM
Sa l uga & G ha za l e

Edfu

Gelf K eb Wa d i

Baris

i
r
Wadi So u ra

Dush

Kom Ombo

7 Wad i 9 Wad i Wissa 8 Fu raq 5 Memorial 4 Peter

UWEINAT MOUNT 1 934 M

rba

Mestikawy Cave

Tropi c of Cancer

ein

Ro ute

10

Abu Ballas

EZBET DUSH

SAAD EL-ALI, Aswa THE HIGH DAM KALABSHA PHILAE

and Paul

Tarfawi Well
ABU SIMBEL

Nasser Lake
AMADA
Tushka Qasr Ibram

El-A

WADI EL-SUBUA

ROUTE:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Cairo, White Desert, Abu Ballas, Wadi Wissa, Shaw Cave, Uweinat, Mestikawy Cave, Wadi Soura, Aqaba Pass, Wadi Hamra, Silica Glass, Great Sand Sea, Siwa Oasis, Bahariya Oasis, Cairo

The White Desert

Wadi Soura

45

WESTERn DESERT GRAnD TOUR

MONS CLAUDIANUS

Bedouininlife desert & lore the

The Bedouin are the traditional nomadic tent dwellers of the Arabian and Egyptian deserts. There is a tribal culture reflected in the saying, My brother and I against my cousin. My cousin and I against the world. Groups traditionally formed around a patriarch figure. In times of strife or special need the groups worked as one tribe. The Bedouin of Arabia were the first converts to Islam and spread it throughout north Africa as far as Spain in the 7th century. common origin. This means the original Arabian tribes over time found common cause with the indigenous nomadic tribes of Egypt. Though nomads are averse to their daughters marrying settlers they are not too opposed to them marrying other nomads of perhaps different ancestry. This flexibility explains why, despite endemic discrimination by the settled folk of Egypt, the Bedouin continue to thrive. The main tribe on the northern coast of the Egypt are the Awlad Ali. They date themselves from Bedouin migration in the 11th century AD. On the East coast there are two main tribal groups: the Maaza and the Ababda. The Ababda claim descent from the Arab migrant Abad in the 13th century. Culturally they are closer to the hamitic Beja nomads of Sudan and Ethiopia. The Maaza are a large tribal group comprising many clans or families that have arrived over the centuries from the Arabian Peninsula. The most recent clan is the Khushman who came about 150 years ago. Though the Ababda and the Maaza have traditionally been somewhat opposed

Bedouin people are traditionally an oral culture and their history is kept in stories and poems. It is hard therefore for outsiders to get a completely definitive version of their history. Bedouins derive an identity from a confederation of families that have common interests, rather than a

neither side attacks the other on having less authentic origins. Their disputes are about land and behaviour not about race. Europeans over the centuries have been fascinated by the Bedouin. Such figures as Jacob Burkhardt, Sir Richard Burton and Wilfred The siger were enamoured of their honour code and tough ways- in sharp contrast they felt to the effete ways of city dwellers. The Bedouin honour code includes such notions as automatic protection of guests, guaranteed hospitality to those who ask and acts of secret charity known only to the giver. These notions exist still but are much undermined by the conditions of modern living. The traditional justice system of the Bedouin is a court attended by all the elders of the tribe- and other tribes if there is an intertribal dispute. In Egypt, amongst the Red Sea tribes, this would be held in the presence of a small boat hanging from a tree. The boat symbolizes our transitory stature on Earth and how we are duty bound to move on. Perhaps, too, it is an influence from earlier inhabitants of the area who carved boat shapes on the rock walls- the same shaped boats used by the Pharaohs. Until the early 19th century the Bedouin controlled the deserts of Egypt

Further waves of Bedouin repeatedly arrived either through the Sinai or across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia. The latest migrations were little more than two hundred years ago.

The Bedouin now

nowadays the Bedouin of Egypt can be very roughly divided into four groups. There are the Sinai Bedouin who are still close to their nomadic roots- even those that are working in Sharm el-Sheikh. They were able to adapt from nomadic travel in the hills to taking tourists along their old routes. Then there are the Red Sea Coast tribes: mainly the Maaza and the Ababda. These retain a considerable amount of old practices though they have adopted modern technology and some modern conveniences. Inevitably, the richer families who have made money from selling land for resort development have changed more than the poor. Thirdly you have the Awlad Ali who dominate on the north coast- these have been assimilating for years into Alexandrian culture. Most recently they have also become wealthy through development of seaside apartments all along the north coast.

47

BEDOUIn LIFE & LORE In THE DESERT

and the Egyptians controlled the fertile nile valley and Delta. The Bedouin consider themselves Arabs with their origin being the triangle from Syria to Iraq down to Saudi Arabia. They first arrived as part of the original invasion force of Egypt during the great Islamic conquests. This first wave of Bedouin married into the Egyptian populace, though some naturally inhabited the desert regions which they shared in an uneasy truce with Berber and Tebu tribal groups.

Finally there are the Bedouin who live in the Western Desert oases. They are connected by interest to both the Awlad Ali and the Red Sea Bedouin, though their lineage may be somewhat distant from either, having lived for several centuries or more in the oases. These were the truck drivers of the camel agetransporting produce to the nile by camel up until the 1980s. Many then turned to farming and then to the much more lucrative tourist business. They still retain a lot of Bedouin characteristics though- a love of falconry, the desert and campfire music.

Bedouin Travel Tips

If you carry water bottle wrap it in a cloth and wet the cloth every so often. Do this in the early morning when the water is still very cold and it will remain cold in the heat of the day. Instead of tying complex knots simply untwist the strands of the rope and past the end through making a loop. You can add a stop knot if you like.

Bedouin, camels and cars

Bedouin look after their camels and their cars very well. In African countries one is used to cars being in a poor state- not the land cruisers driven by Bedouin. Because they need to be ultra-reliable for desert use the Bedouin keep them in better condition than most Europeans keep their cars. This is a carryover from the care of camels. When you travel with Bedouin dont expect a cup of coffee or tea when you stop. First they will unload the camels and then they will make them comfortable and feed them. Only then will they make camp and food for themselves and anyone traveling with them. Likewise in cars if you have had a puncture during the day the Bedouin will fix the tyre before fixing food for anyone. Their quiet ability to keep working and working hard is a sometimes surprising contrast to European notions of a happy go lucky people.

Stand your kettle in front of the fire so that the wind blows the flames all round the kettles sides as well as the bottom. Wind can be strong at night and a flapping tent can be annoying- or even blow down. The Bedouin use the saddles and jerry cans to build a kind of enclosure about knee height or maybe a little more. When you lie down behind it you are completely out of the wind. Always make some kind of reassuring noise when you are around camels. It doesnt matter if its humming, clicking or quiet singing or whispering- the reassurance is the thing.

Finding direction
Bedouin are reputedly brilliant at finding their way in the desert and they are- but there is no magic to it, just extreme familiarity. They know that the wind is usually from the north West and that dunes align with that prevailing wind. They know that the sun, in winter at midday, is in the south. Finally the landscape in its main features is simple- every oasis has an escarpment along one or more sides. These cliff edges that can run for hundreds of kilometers can be used as handy reference points for traveling, as can the lengthy north/south Western Desert road.

Bedouin cooking
Bedouin can be great cooks. Two favorite dishes are sand baked bread and fried dates. To make the bread you mix a dough of flour, salt, a little sugar and water. This you roll out flat. You then scoop away the embers of the fire and lay the bread in the sand. Then cover with sand and embers. After ten minutes turn the bread over and cook the other side. Adjust the time depending on the thickness of the bread and how many embers you have. Though you may imagine the sand will stick it does not. Carefully brush with your hand and you will have a marvelous loaf of bread.

49

BEDOUIn LIFE & LORE In THE DESERT

Fried dates is very simple- just a little oil in a pan over the fire. Eaten when soft with the bread they are sweet and delicious.

the camp. There is never any sense of the big leader reclining while the minions do the hard work. This sense of innate democracy extends even to traveling. Bedouin can dig their heels in and be reluctant to go somewhere. It may be because they are worried about their camels, or it could simply be that they are getting hungry themselves. But the interesting thing is they are always open to a reasoned debate. If you are set on something and can calmly but persuasively put your point across

How to travel like a Bedouin?

The Bedouin are quite simply the best people in the desert. They are the most at home there and they respect it more than other groups, for example oases dwellers, who may make a living out of the desert but do not appreciate it in the same way.

The Bedouin attitude to the desert is not sentimental. It is more like that of a coastal dwelling sailor or fisherman to the sea. He may even profess to hate the desert but this is just talk. The desert is in their bones and they are brought up to enjoy its bounty, its freedom and to respect greatly its dangers. Bedouin do not take unnecessary risks. On any journey more than a walk from the highway they will take two vehicles- pick-ups usually. You sometimes get people smugglers using a single vehicle as they cross from Sudan. These are not Bedouin, who would never take such a risk. In camp they are intriguing to watch. They all work in a kind of coordinated system yet without anyone giving orders. Even the head guide will do food preparation and setting up

they will change their minds. Anger and ordering eventually backfire- the best method is to sit down and expect a good long session of talking. Bedouin are naturally well mannered. They keep clean and they neither crack jokes about lavatory habits nor expect you to crack jokes about theirs. They do not make a big deal about toilet arrangements but, they never leave anything in a place you are likely to stumble upon. Though the left hand is traditionally the one used to wipe the backside you will see they eat with both hands, though favoring the right. There is no need to be paranoid about touching someone or something with your left hand. They are far more sensitive to you putting your feet near their faces or food.

The new desert

E.D.K. CODE OF ETHICS

Safety Quality Control (ensure a quality product and exceed customer expectations) Sustainable Development Respect for the environment and local culture
E.D.K. CODE OF COnDUCT

Take nothing and leave nothing. Dont touch pre-historic paintings and engravings. Respect the silence of the desert. Respect local customs and traditions. Ask your tour operator for relevant brochures.

EDK stands for Egyptian Desert Keepers.

Their vision is to make the Egyptian Desert the ultimate destination for responsible travelers while preserving its culture and ecology for generations to come. The mission statement of EDK is as follows: We are a professional association of travel agencies that organizes, promotes and sells responsible desert travel in a way that conserves the environment and improves the well being of local people. We are a cohesive body of desert tourism experts that share experiences and knowledge in order to elevate Egypts desert tourism to the highest possible eco standards.

51

THE nEW DESERT ASSOCIATIOn OF E.D.K.

association of E.D.K.

Practical Info
CLOTHES

Forget T-shirts and shorts- if you are walking for any length of time you will get badly sun burnt even with the suncream on. Bring a hat with a brim or better get the guide to show you how to wear a Bedouin style scarf- easily bought at any oasis. Long quick-dry type trousers are best, baggy and lightweight. The kind with zip off shorts can be opened to let in the breeze rather than zipped completely off. On a really hot day a baggy man-made fibre shirt is best. On ordinary days a wickaway or conventional vest will keep you cooler longer. Baggy cotton and linen shirts are also fine if they are not too heavy. In the evening it can get really cold by comparison. Bring a fleece and a windproof jacket of some kind, or a sweater and maybe a down jacket. Longjohns are not a bad idea too. Bring boots or, better, Teva type sandals as long as they comfortable. Trainers are not so good.
PERSOnAL GEAR

Wet wipes are essential for getting clean in a no-washing environment. Use them before a meal as infections are most easily spread from hand to mouth. Take a toilet roll and when you have finished burn the toilet paper- it will last as long as papyrus otherwisethousands of years. Bury the rest under a good pile of stones.

TRAnSPORT

The best way to the see the desert is on foot. now you can either walk unaccompanied all the way or you can drive to a nice part of the desert and then walk, or you can walk alongside a camel carrying all your victuals and supplies. The choice is yours. Many take the car option- and in Egypt there are numerous guides and guiding companies who will set up everything you need for a good desert trip. If you stipulate you want to walk at least two hours a day, or one, they will be happy to oblige. Usually you start walking in the morning as they pack up the camp and then you can also get dropped off some way from camp at night and walk along the tracks they leave. Any guide who wont allow you to walk and enjoy the utter freedom of the desert is not worth going with. All guides will carry sandplates for getting out of soft sand, a jack, spare tyre if not two, and a few key spares such as fan belt and perhaps waterpump. Many now have sat phonesthough this is not really as great a help as it may seem. Sat phones dont stop mistakes happening- it is better to go with a good guide in the first place.

You do not need much. Sunglasses, sun cream and plasters for potential blisters. Your preferred painkiller- a hot dry day can leave you with a headache if youve just arrived from the frozen north. A headlamp is very useful- you dont need the most expensive but dont be tempted by the ultracheap ones as they always break. Small binoculars can be useful. Any camera should be kept in a plastic bag most of the time as sand gets everywhere- and will jam motors.

MAPS

SHELTER

WATER

In summer you may need 5litres a day. If you drink anymore then you are doing too much exercise. You may well feel sick too. In winter and spring 1-3litres should suffice in addition to any drinks and soup you may consume. Water is usually carried in bottles and boxes. This is not very eco-friendlymake sure the guide collapses the bottles and brings them back to the Oasis. jerry cans of water are better but clumsier and potentially dirtier. On a camel trip you might carry a few boxes for just drinking and the rest in jerries for cooking.
FOOD

Desert food is simple food. Traditionally it is dates, bread and tea. A little meat and rice if you are lucky. Fortunately there are some great desert chefs out there- some of the best food in Egypt is cooked upon the desert in my experience. Expect pasta and rice and bread as the carbohydrate and then meat and vegetable sauces and lentil soup which can be terrific. Also barbecued lamb and chicken on the camp fire. For breakfast- bread, honey and eggs- most guides know how to make bread under the fire in the Bedouin style and thats always a fun thing to do.

53

PRACTICAL InFORMATIOn

Having a map makes it more fun. You can get maps off the net or from the Egyptian Map Office in Giza. It is best to ask the guide or a tour company representative to make the purchase as it can get complicated.

Tents are usually offered but you bring your own sleeping bag. Get a three or even four season bag as it can get chilly at night in winter. I started off always sleeping in tents- now I rarely do- the flapping sound made by even a small breeze can be rather distracting- and you dont get to see the incredible night sky! Mattresses are always provided but again if you wriggle down in some sand you will be plenty comfortable with just your sleeping bag.

Dos & Donts

The desert is a benign environment until you make a mistake- then it can be lethal. In summer you can expect to last less than three days without water. In winter, much longer, probably a week. It is the very lack of water that makes the desert a dangerous place to make a mistake. Also its remoteness. I would not include dangers from snakes and scorpions because they are rarer here than in more built up areas of the Mediterranean. I have seen more scorpions in the South of France than in the Sahara!
Do take care of the environment and make sure you leave the campsite as you find it. Dont take away anything that damages or reduces the landscape in anyway. Do feel free to tell drivers and tour guides to take away rubbish rather than burn it. Do take two or more vehicles. When making a long trip into the desertwhich means any trip where you will be more than 25km from a road it is advised that you take two vehicles. Dont bother with forcing three vehicles on a trip when you only have two. For a trip to the Gilf Kebir the old advice was to take three vehicles, but this was in the days of less reliable cars. Two will suffice as long as they are not overloaded. Do check out the guide. When hiring a guide with vehicles see how he loads the car- does he store fuel next to food? Is the vehicle itself dirty and in need of attention? Are the tyres worn and inappropriate? Thankfully poor guides are rare. The desert is recognized by all as a serious place to have a breakdown and almost all guides go well prepared. Do ask to see the camels first on a camel journey. Do they look reasonably healthy? Do they have humps or are they skinny and emaciated? For a long trip you want a healthy camel. next ask to mount a camel (if it is your intention to ever ride- many camel travelers never ride- they simply walk alongside their beasts) and see if the guide holds down the neck until you have mounted properly. Most accidents with camels when mounting or dismountingwhen the camel suddenly bucks and throws its load- you- off. If a guide is attentive at these moments he knows. Do plan on drinking between 1 and 3 litres of water a day in winter in addition to any tea, coffee or soup. Do drink in long bursts when you are cool- early morning and early evening and lunch being best. Dont wear trainers for walking the sand will get inside the lining and make the show too tight. They also let too much sand in going down dunes. Sandals and boots are better.
DOS & DOnTS