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All oases of the
Western Desert
Deserts& Oases
EGYPT
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The White Desert
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WELCOME TO THE DESERT
OASESP.12-13
P.14-15
P.16-17
P.18-19
P.20-21
P.22-23
FAYOUM OASIS
BAHARIYA OASIS
FARAFRA OASIS
DAKHLA OASIS
KHARGA OASIS
SIWA OASIS
SUGGESTIOn OF TOURS
THE DESERT ASSOCIATIOn: EDK
PRACTICAL InFORMATIOn
DO’S & DOn’TS
EGYPT GEnERAL MAP
BEDOUIn LIFE & LORE In THE DESERT
cotets
P.26-27
P.28-29
P.30-31
SHORT TRIPS
LOnG TRIPS
ExPEDITIOnS
DESERT ALTERnATIvESjOURnEYS 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
WHALE vALLEY & BEYOnD
QATTARA DEPRESSIOn& THE nORTH COAST
THE SAnD SEA OASES
ROCK ART In THE WESTERn DESERT
SAILInG THE SAnD SEA
WESTERn DESERT GRAnD TOUR
5
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Welcome to theThe desert is oe of the mysterious places o earth where ormal
rules about liig are suspeded ad ee abset. More like the
sea tha ay comparable ladmass the desert stretches away to
the horizo blikig as if it is its opposite- a giat lake- but of coursethis is ust a mirage. To isit the desert is to pluge ito a place of
marels.
Moastic ad spiritual folk hae tra-
eled to the desert sice the begi-
ig of history to get away from dis-
tractions of life to nd a communionbetwee ma ad the atural world
i all its awe, woder ad astess.
Some of those aciet moaster-
ies are still ihabited i the Egyptia
desert still far from ‘ciilizatio’.
Deser ts
& OasesE G Y P T G U I D E
The desert is aboe all a clea place-
there are, oce you leae the oases,no mosquitoes and no ies, and
the groud is as clea as atisep-
tic- whe a Bedoui cuts his foot he
will rub sad i the woud to haste
healig as sad i the deep desert is
as clea ad bacteria free as thigs
get.
The sheer ariety of the Egyptian
Sahara is staggering. It is the most
varied desert on the planet. Ulike
the edless grael plais of Libya,
the Egyptia desert ladscape ca
chage abruptly from steep lies
of seif dune to rocky canyons to
vertiginous escarpments to plainsdotted with strange conical hills to
sand sheets that seem to stretch for
eer oly to ed i a cofusio of star
dues after a distace.
The ariety is edless which is why
walkig is always fasciatig i the
The White Desert
Sad dues ear Bahariya
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W E L C O M E T O T H E D E S E R T
Egyptian desert. At rst the very lack of
aythig apparet causes oe to fo-
cus ad ope up. I our busy moder
lies we close ourseles off to surie,
but i the desert we retur to our pri-meval state where every rock, ower
and ying bird is of vital interest.
The, after a while, you begi to see
that desert is ot a dead world, a
empty world at all- it is overowing
with things to nd and look at: fos-
sils, int scrapers, lizards, beetles,diminutive fennec foxes with their
huge ears, falcons, petried wood,
stoe aes ad spear heads left
behid from whe the etire desert
was a wetter saaah; gridig
stoes, ostrich egg shells, 5000 yearold rock art paitigs ad carigs,
old camel route markers, Roma
pottery, acacia trees cligig to life,
ochre deposits, pre-historic shark’s
remais- the list goes o- the desert
is a place of marels ust waitig to
be foud.
Egypt is 95% desert. Yet for much
of its history Egypt has bee the
story of the fertile 5% that lies
alogside the rier nile.
More ad more, though, people
are begiig to alue the oer-
looked desert, this great wilder-
ess which is a place of icred-ible beauty ad wild solitude.
The Black Desert
The White Desert
The White Desert
7
desert
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P E O P L E I n T H E D E S E R T
I the Oases people are the same
stock ad same traditios as the
people of the nile- broadly speak-ing. Mixed with them and inuenc-
ig them are Arab Bedouin from
the East, and Berbers origially
B A S I C F E A T U R E S A B O U T E G Y P T A n D I T S D E S E R T S
Where did all the sand come from?
Scietists hae yet to fully agree o
this oe. Some of the curret theories
iclude the idea that the costat
growth ad the shrikage of the
Mediterraea oer the last 70 millio
years geerated what might be
thought of as the world’s biggest beach.
The sea came ilad as far as the oasis
of Bahariya, which is oer 300km
from the curret Mediterraea coast
of Egypt, ad the retreated.
The aimals you epect to see i
the desert are ot the oes you will
see. Most people epect to see
sakes ad scorpios- whe i fact
these are rare, ery rare i the deep
desert. You are much more likely to
see falcons wheeling in the sky or
a jerboa, a small rodent, hopping
along. Deeper ito the desert, espe-cially at old campsites, you may get
a shy isit from a Feec fo, whose
big ears help keep it cool without
sweatig.
You ca also epect to see pad
footed geckos ad other desert
lizards. Beetles with elogated legs
to keep them aboe the hot sad.
Weddan, or wild sheep, still eist
dow ear Uweinat and the Gilf
Kebir. Ibe, log hored deer, arestill see i the Easter desert, some
as ear as twety kilometers from
Cairo.
W I L D L I F E I n T H E D E S E R T
from North West Africa. The differ-
et oases hae differet mies- for
eample i Siwa the culture is ery differet sice the maority are orig-
ially of Berber origi.
Wadi Hamra
Dakhla
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T I M I n G I n T H E D E S E R T
E x P L O R E R S O F T H E D E S E R T
Oe day ca be all you eed to get
a real taste of the desert. You ca walk up a due ad feel
the true emptiess of the place ee
whe you are oly 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 a-
vour. See the icredible ight sky; sit
by the re and next morning watchthe su rise i all its glory.
Longer trips of a few days are even
better as you will hae a chace
to lear somethig of the stars ad
see how aried the desert is. no trip,
howeer, is likely to last more tha
two weeks without restockig o
fuel ad water. But ee o this, the
logest time you are likely to spedi the desert you will still ot feel it
is quite log eough...
Germa, Egyptia, British ad Ital-
ia eplorers hae all played their
part i discoerig the secrets of the
Sahara i recet times. Oe of the
most promiet was Gerhard Rohlfs
who attempted to reach the Libya
Oasis of Kufra from Dakhla i 1874.
I the ed he tured orth to Siwa
after receiig a rare two days of
rai at a place foreer after amed
Regenfeld- raineld.
After Rohlfs came the aristocraticEgyptia eplorer Hassaei Bey,
whose si moth ourey from Siwa
past Uweiat ad ito the Suda
raks as oe of the greatest des-
ert oureys of all time. Hassaei
Bey was not only the rst explorer to
visit Uweinat, he was also the rst to
glimpse the Gilf Kebir. At the sametime, usig half tracked ehicles,
the Egyptia Royal, Price Kemal
Al-Din made the rst extensive jour-
eys aroud the Gilf Kebir plateau,
which he named and was the rst
to map.
Tracked ehicles were followed by
the motor car. Eplorers such as
Cout Laszlo Almasy of Hugary-
the real life model for the book ad
moie character “The English Pa-
tient ” ad Maor Ralph Bagold of
Britai droe for thousads of miles
i adapted Model A Fords through
coutry o oe had eer see for
may years, ad certaily eer
mapped.
Moder eplorers of the desert hae
teded to reliquish the car for the
camel ad walkig o foot. Ger-
ma Carlo Bergma ad Dutch-
woma Arita Baaies hae used
camels to track thousad of milesalog aciet camel routes that
hae log bee disused.
The White Desert
Bedouin re camp
W E L C O M E T O T H E D E S E R T
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Oasesthe
Trael i the Egyptia desert is
diided betwee the deep des-
ert ad the Oases. The Oases
are i the low parts of the des-ert, earer to the water table.
Each oasis sits i its ow hollow
or depressio, which ca be
thousads of kilometers i area.
Each oasis has its ow char-
acter- which you will discer
whe you isit. Fayoum, with its
extensive elds and gardens,
ad proimity to Cairo, is ery
differet i feel to Siwa with its
origially Berber populatio ad
isolated positio.
The Oases are all, howeer,
away from the hurly burly of mass
tourism ad mass employmet.
Time stads still i the Oases, as
much as it does aywhere i
this itercoected world, ad
for this the desert traeler should
be grateful. Kids still wae at youad smile, people will still wat
to talk to you- simply to be your
fried rather tha to score some
moey. Ideed i the Oases it
pays to leae behid your cyi-
cal hardeed traeler eterior
ad take people as they come.
Withi the Oases themseles
Dakhla
Dakhla Oasis
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be marelous ad improised,
hot sprigs, aciet mou-
mets, temples ad fortresses,
museums ad crafts.
just walkig the streets of ay
oasis is a act of eploratio as
you lear about a culture alie
to your ow, liig i oe of the
driest places i the world.
people are ot so sophisticated
as to inate prices much- the
hagglers here are amateurs
compared to the Bazaars of
Cairo.
For etertaimet you ca seek
out Bedoui music- which ca
Bahariya Oasis
Dakhla Oasis The White Desert
Dakhla Oasis
Siwa Ecolodge Adrere Amellal
T H E O A S E S
11
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El FayoumThe Fayoum as it is kow is the
only articial oasis, created ot
by water sprigig forth from the
groud but by a log caal, atu-
rally formed by the ooding Nile,
that dates from Biblical times, called
Joseph’s canal.
This stretches from the nile to the
great lake of Birket Qarun. It is this
huge lake, which o a rough day looks
ery much like the sea that gies the
special character to the Fayoum. The
lake used to be maor place for duck
hutig ad the hotels o its souther
shore hosted such lumiaries as Wi-
sto Churchill ad Kig Farouk as they
took pot shots at ying birds. Though
there is still some duck shootig there
Lake Qaru
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is far more bird watchig both o this
lake ad the earby Wadi Rayya
another articially created expanse
of water.
Lake Qarun was a freshwater lake
until recent times. This has bee
proven by the sh skeletons and
freshwater plakto remais foud
i mud deposits. I aciet times
the ood of the Nile was powerful
eough to charge the lake with ew
water. Howeer sice the 1900s, whe the British itroduced both a
dam at Aswa (aticipatig the
later high dam) ad a system of
irrigatio by more etesie ca-
alizatio alog the nile, the wa-
ter eterig the lake has bee
more ru off from agriculture tha
fresher water direct from the nile.
The growth i saliity meas the
sh now caught in Lake Qarun are
predominantly sea sh introduced
from the Mediterraea.
I the Fayoum Oasis itself you will
nd a reasonably modern centraltow surrouded by masses of
palm tree platatios. There are
aciet water wheels to iew ad
plety of ruis of Pharaoic ad
Roma origi- some i the desert
orth of Lake Qaru.
Camels do a lot of the dokey work, so to speak, these beig
oasis camels that lie o gree
fodder kow as birseem rather
tha o the tagled thors of the
desert.
Fayoum icludes the protectedarea of Wadi Rayya, a desert
area that surrouds two lakes co-
ected by a small waterfall the
oly oe i the Egyptia desert. As
well as wadis ad hills to eplore
there is also the monastery of
Wadi Rayyan where moder day
moks carry o the traditios of
their forebears who origially dug
rock caes here at the daw of
Christiaity.
At the isitor cetre of Wadi Rayya
it is possible to iew the lake which
is ofte faoured by birds migrat-
ig south ad orth from Africa
to Egypt who glimpse this ast
stretch of water as a atural rest-
ig place.
Away to the west of the Fayoum
is the Whale Valley, which is part
of a tour described later i this
guide.
For ow it should be metioed
that Whale valley, or Wadi Hita,contains some of the best pre-
served fossil skeletons of etict
whales aywhere i the world.
Huge ad strage this hautig
place is well worth a isit.
Wadi Hita
13
E L F A Y O U M
O A S I S
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BahariyaBahariya feels like the rst real
desert oasis in Egypt.
You reach it after a four or ve
hour’s drie from Cairo alog a
well made road that sees a bit of
tanker trafc but little else. There is
oly oe stop e route-a bar-like
tea house-after 150km (ad a small-
er oe about 10km further o) ad
that is it. It was o the right had side
of the road, i the directio of Wadi
Natrun, that Frech Flyer Atoie deSait Eupery crashed i 1935. Sur-
iig o a half pit of coffee ad
a orage Eupery suried- ad
later wrote about the eperieces
i the marelous desert book ‘‘Wind,
Sand and Stars’’ .
Beig relatiely ear to Cairo
Bahariya has attracted a umber of
foreigers oer the years i search
of peace ad desert freedom. They
hae started, or bee ioled with,
the seeral eco-spiritual compaies
sprigig up with safaris tailored to
match the growig breed of trael-
lers out to do more tha stad ad
stare.
At Bahariya itself the mai tow
you drie through is Bawati. There
are other smaller illages clustered
withi the depressio of the oasis,
may of them metioed i Ro-
ma times. Bahariya has bee
ihabited for may ceturies
ad it was here that the so calledGolden Mummies were uearthed
a few years ago.
Mummies i Bahariya
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The Bahariya illages ofMadisha ad Zabu arethreateed by ecroach-ig sad. A huge wae of adue has already egulfedmay houses ad ow looms oer a street of smallbuildigs.
DID YOU KnOW?
?
15
B A H A R I Y A O A S I S
Some of the mummy cases ca
be see i the museum i Bawiti
which you drie past o the way
i. There are shops sellig most
thigs- here you ca buy your
Bedoui scarf’s ad rugs.
Look out for the traditioal shops
such as the bakery which is a
small blackeed hole i the wall
through which hads pass to re-
ceie their daily bread.
The hills behid the tow iclude
Gebel Dest- this was where impor-
tat diosaur remais were foud
by Germa paleotoligist Eric
Strommer early a hudred years
ago. He discoered a tyraosau-
rus-like cariore called Spiosau-
rus, which, if you hae see ‘‘ Juras-
sic Park III’’ does battle with T-Re
towards the end of the lm.
All aroud Bawiti there are a-
ciet sites waitig to be isited.
Whe oe tires of sightseeig the
oasis is well equipped with hot
sprigs that gush from the earth
ad clease you of the sad ofdesert traelig.
Temple of Alexander
O the road goig i the directio
of Siwa is the temple dedicated
to Alexander- the oly oe that still
eists i Egypt- perhaps he came
back through Bahariya after isit-
ig the oracle at Siwa.
After the dusty atmospheric tow
of Bawiti oe dries through the
Black Desert, called this because
the air has oidized the maga-ese i the rocks makig them
black.
Hot Sprig
Bahariya
Golde Mummies
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FarafraFarafra is the nearest oasis to
the White Desert. People usually
isit this desert from Bahariya ad
miss out o seeig Farafra. Which
is a pity as Farafra has a special
charm all of its ow.
The Farafroies hae had their
umber swelled i recet years
by the ew alleys settlemet
scheme. Wells were drilled to sup-
ply with water these ew farms
ad the populatio has icreased
cosiderably from a few thousad
i the 1980s to oer 15,000 today.May of these people lie i the
ew hamlets that surroud the
mai tow of Qasr Farafra which
ow has aroud 5000 ihabitats.
This has led to a icrease i the
umber of shops o the highway
as you drie through- always a
useful thig for resupplyig a des-
ert ourey.
As you walk aroud Farafra with its
low, ti roofed buildigs it is hard
to picture it i Roma, or ee Ot-
toman, times. At rst sight it seems
as if the old mud walled, origially
Roma, fortress i tow has falle
ito disrepair, largely washed away
by freak raifall sice the 1950s.
The other mud fortresses- ota-bly i Dakhla Oasis are uihab-
ited- but despite its parlous state
of repair the Farafra fortress still
has a few families thus proidig
a uique sese of cotiuity to the
aciet past of the oases.
Palm Trees i Farafra
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17
F A R A F R A O A S I S
Crafts of Farafra
Ulike Siwa, with its ewelry, ad
Dakhla ad Kharga with their ce-
ramics, there is o great craft tra-
ditio celebrated i Farafra apart
from the spiig of wool- both
from camels ad sheep. Uusually,
both for Egypt ad the world i ge-
eral, spiig is cosidered a male
occupatio. Heay fellows ca be
see strollig the mai street twirl-
ig a spidle ad bobbi as they chat with frieds ad drik a glass of
mit tea. Kittig, too, as amogst
sailors, is a occupatio practiced
by me as well as a few liberated
wome i Farafra.
Hot Springs
As i Bahariya, Farafra is well en-
dowed with hot springs. What
could be more relaig tha soak-
ig away the desert sad after a
hard safari through the White Des-
ert? Bir Sitta, Well Six, is particu-
larly good for traellers, especially
if sufferig a few aches ad pais
from the ew eperiece of camel
ridig. The large hot bath cotais
traces of sulphur which are said to
aid muscle ad oit recoery.
Farafra has its ow istitutios-but they are people rather tha
places. There is the ubiquitous ‘Mr
Socks’ a relatie of the Bedoui
Badawi cla who bombs aroud
o his moped with a woode
crate full of had kitted socks
ad other useful Bedoui type ap-
parel. The socks are great for the
desert at ight ad good for pad-
dig aroud oasis hotels whe you
do ot wat a stray mosquito go-
ig for your akles.
The rst census of Farafra in
1892 put the populatio at
a mere 542 ihabitats, oe
thirtieth of its curret popula-
tio.
DID YOU KnOW?
?
Wome kittig i Farafra
The White Desert
Bedouis ear Farafra
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DakhlaDakhla is among the most remote
Oases beig far from both Cairo
ad Luor. Yet it is well worth the e-pediture i time ad effort.
You pass from Farafra alog oe
of the loeliest stretches of road i
Egypt. If you stop, you ca stad by
your silet car ad hear othig but
the wid for ages.
It is a large oasis coerig a largearea with may small illages ad
hamlets. You will kow whe you
hae arried as may of the famers
like to wear straw hats- which you do
ot see i other oases.
Dakhla is cosidered to be oe of
the oldest ihabited places i Af-
rica, or rather Mut, its largest town
is.
Mut, which means mother in the
Ancient Egyptian tongue, is really
the mother of all dwellig places.
Houses carbo dated to 13,000 years
ago hae bee uearthed there.
Qasr
Dakhla is home to may acietremais, hot sprigs ad tower-
ig oer it – the escarpmet which
domiates the skylie o the orth-
er side. I the oasis tow of Qasr
(like may of the Oases, the mai
tow is called Qasr after the fortress)
a Dutch lead team of locals hae
succeeded i almost completely
rebuildig the dark mud walled old
tow.
Balat City i Dakhla
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19
Desert raiders origiatig iChad attacked Dakhla uputil the 19th cetury usigiro boomerags. These areot so differet i desig tothe boomerags used by the
Aciet Egyptias to catchsmall birds.
DID YOU KnOW?
?
D
A K H L A O A S I S
This place of narrow alleys ad se-
cret passages is oe of the great
sights of Dakhla. Lose yourself i a
edless labyrith which is like some-
thig out of desert sequeces i
‘‘Starwars‘‘ or the moie ‘‘The Shel-
tering Sky ‘‘.
Deir El Haggar
A few kilometers before Qasr is the
intriguing Roman ruin of Deir El
Haggar. This place was oce uder
sad- which helped presere the
pait o the carigs. There is some-
thig ery recet about pait ad to
see some that is 2000 years old is
quite amazig. Oe ca compare
oeself to the great eplorer Rolhfs
who sigature ca be see quite
clearly o a colum i frot of the
temple of Deir El Haggar.
But he cared it whe the sad wasmuch higher. now cleared away to
reeal more of the temple, his graf-
ti is a good three meters above the
groud.
Across the way from this restored
roman temple comple are coni-
cal hills full of tombs. Some hae
bee ecaated, some robbed but
as you cast your eyes further there
are may more similar lookig hills
spread throughout Dakhla.
Biking in Mut
To see all the atiquities i Dakhla
you ca ride i the back of a pick
up, take a tai or hitch lifts. Better,
probably, is to hire a pedal bike.
You ca hire bicycles i all the Oa-
ses. Mut is o eceptio- though
with its wide largely empty roads it
makes for some of the best o-road
cyclig i Egypt.
Deir El Haggar
Dakhla
Little girl i Dakhla oasis
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KhargaKharga is the largest of the Oa-
ses, the admiistratie cetre of
the new valley Goerorate. It is
also the earest to the nile valley,
beig oly two hours from Luor.
It has a large populatio of oer
70,000 people ad plety of ew buildigs i the cetre.
As you arrie the tag of dates
assaults your ose ad the sight
of row upo row of date palms.
Though busy ad moder, i
parts, Kharga still retais the ro-mace of the desert.
Pottery is one of the crafts cel-
ebrated in Kharga. I the mai
tow of Qasr there are umerous
shops sellig ceramic products
as well as a pottery factory you
ca take a tour roud. You ca
also get some good bargais
at Kharga’s liely bazaar or souk
which is located i the souther
part of Qasr tow i the buzzig
Mida Showla.
In Roman times Kharga was a
powerful centre of activity. There
are may remais alog with those
of more aciet times. Sice
the camel’s itroductio aroud
500BC, Kharga has bee the fial
post o the Forty Days Road fromSuda- alog which all the trade
of East Africa used to come. Ee
today great caraas of camels
come alog this route- but they
are maily destied to be eate
oce they hae arried at Cairo.
Chapel Ceilings of Baga- wat
Here are the domed roofs of one
of the best preserved Christian
cemeteries in the world. There
are 263 orate tombs ad may
chapels. The roof paitigs are of
particular iterest. Ask to see the
paitig that depicts the zodiac
surroudig portraits of Mary ad
jesus. This ery same desig ap-
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?
21
K H A R G A O A S I S
pears i pre-Christia Ptolemaic
Egyptia art i the Temple of De-dera but sadly the origial was re-
moed to the Loure i 1820.
But oe ca trace the lie that
coects the two utterly differet
religios.
Ain Um Dabadib
Ain Um Dabadib, located some
40km orth of the main town of
Qasr Kharga, is an amazing for -
tress that has bee occupied sice
before Roma times. A icredible
place that sits below the escarp-
met but 220metres aboe the
desert oor it commands great
istas. All aroud are scattered ad
broke pots that date all the way
back through Islamic times to
Christia to Roma ad before.
Paris, Egypt
It is widely belieed that Baris i
Kharga is amed after Paris i
Frace. Perhaps this is a eampleof the great sese of humour Egyp-
tias display. The world famous
architect Hassa Fathi desiged
an ecologically sound village
to replace old Baris, hece new
Baris. Ufortuately the locals did
ot take to beig moed ad new
Baris is ow deserted, a iterestig
eample of great architecture that
somehow misses the mark.
Kharga was a peal coloy most famously i acietEgyptia ad Roma times.
Oe of the most famousimates was the poet adsatirist jueal (AD60 to130) who was imprisoedfor his rude remarks aboutthe court of the EmperorHadria. He was later par-doed ad retured toRome.
DID YOU KnOW?
Palm Trees i Kharga Oasis
Fortress Ai Um Dabadib
Iside of ‘‘The Peace Chapel’’ i the necropolis of Bagawat
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SiwaSiwa Oasis is the favourite of
many desert travellers.
It has a uique atmosphere, a
ambiece that is geuiely rela-
ig, truly a magical place.
It ca be reached either alog
the desert road from Bahariya or,more usually, dow from Marsa
Matruh o the orther coast.
There is also a air serice though
you need to check rst about when
ights are leaving from Cairo.
There are o maor hotel chais
though there are a few highly i-
diidual top class places to stay-
Price Charles stayed at oe whe
he isited i 2006.
Surrounded by lakes that are too
saline to support shing Siwa has
been famous for its olive groves
and palm gardens sice aciet
times.
Today Siwa olies ad Siwa bot-
tled water are considered the nest
ad purest i Egypt. It is a easily
Siwa ecolodge Adrere Amellal
Siwa ecolodge Adrere Amellal
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23
Despite there beig a sukeboat i Lake Shiatta, there
were o boats i Siwa after
aciet times. Oly I 1924did traeler Byro de Prorok maage to cross, i a hast-ily cotried dighy, to theislads i the salty lakes wherehe found no treasure but inttools ad other sigs of prehis-toric occupatio.
DID YOU KnOW??
S I W A
O A S I S
supported claim as there is oth-
ig produced here that might be
a pollutat. Siwa has two popula-
tions, origially. The Siwans, who are
berber i origi, ad the Bedouin,
who ihabit illages aroud the
edge of the Oasis ad whose gaily
dressed wome are ot as reclusie
as the atie Siwas.
Oe is struck i Siwa by the ruied
mud tow of Old Shali that was
abadoed, fially, i the 1980safter seere rai damage. It is et
to the ew tow of Shali ad looks
like a ruied castle made of mud
pies. You ca isit it by pickig your
way through the darkeed passage-
ways but mid where you step.
Siwa is most famous as being
the site of the Oracle visited by
Alexander the Great in 331BC. He arried ad demaded that
the Oracle aswer his questio (re-
puted to be ‘Will I rule the world?’ theaswer beig ‘Yes, but ot for ery
log’). As well as beig able to isit
the reputed site of the Oracle there
is Cleopatra’s pool ad the ruied
tow to isit, to ame but a few of
the sights.
Siwan Crafts
Siwa has the best craft tradi-
tion of ay of the oases. You ca
get uique ceramic tai, Sahara
cooking pots, handmade and red
i bread oes rather tha kils.
Weddig dresses of stuig desig
are made by wome, who dress
plaily the rest of the year.
Music in Siwa
You will otice that Siwans are un-
inhibited and talented musicians.
Siwas ted to keep i musical
practice for the four big festials
they hold each year, as well as their
highly musical weddigs. The big-
gest festial, Siayha, which ayoeca atted, draws oer 10,000 Si-
was to earby jebel Dakhour for
three days of feastig, dacig ad
sigig.
SiwaShali
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Desert toursthe
The desert beckos- but where ad
how will you go? I took a log time
gettig used to the idea that actu-
ally I could go aywhere i the des-
ert. It is like the sea- o oe owsit ad othig stops you roamig
i ay directio. nothig stops you
ecept the eed for water ad fuel
of some kid.
I thik it is best to thik of the
desert as a place where you walk.
Certaily you ca oly eperiece
its woders whe you are up close
ad persoal with the sad ad the
rock. Driig ad camel ridig may
get you to where you wat to be but
it will be your ow legs that always
complete both the outer ad ier
ourey of a desert of quest.
That said, the choice of trasportdepeds o how deep you wat to
go ito the desert ad how much
time you hae. The tours listed be-
low are a tiy fractio of what is pos-
sible. There purpose is to get you
thikig. You ca the start talkig
with guides ad safari operators
from a strog positio of kowledge.
At the ery least you will hae a ac-
curate picture of what is possible,
the sheer width of rage of possible
desert oureys.
Desert driving
Curretly driig is how most people
eperiece the desert. Whe the
cars get stuck, as they do from
time to time, you will lear how to
etract them by diggig away the
sad ad layig sadplates – metal
tracks you ca drie oer- to affect
a escape. Lots of pushig is always
required- the more that push the
quicker you get back o your our-
ey.
There is o eperiece quite the
same as driig at speed oer
whale back dues. The sad ad
sky seem to merge ad distace isdistorted. The drier has to be care-
ful ot to go oer the kife edge of
a due- ad these ca pop up ay
time. The groud is utterly smooth
ad all you hear is the swishig of
sad uder the tyres. It is as close to
ying as you can get without leaving
the groud.
Ascedig steep dues seems to
go agaist what is possible- but with
a big eough ru-up ay due, if,
of hard sad, ca be coquered.
Descedig a slip face also looks
impossible at rst. Though a face of
loose sad is eer more tha 35degrees or so it will look from the top
like a 60 degree slope. The car will
simply slide dow the slope as log
as it desceds perpedicular ad
ot at a agle- the moemet is
slow ad rather pleasat.
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tic ad more ‘real desert’ tha cars-
but you will ot go so far as you will
i a ehicle. Howeer, if you walk i
the desert, ee a few kilometers
from the road will feel isolated.
Desert thrills
The desert is also legitimately a
place for thrill seekers- as log
as they kow the risks. Dirt bike rid-
ers whoop with oy at the prospect
of burig aroud a giat bowl ofsad or up ad oer small dues.
Accidets happe whe you fail to
see some small chage i the des-
ert surface- a hole or sudde ed to
the due.
Sand boarding icreases i popu-
larity year by year. Though ot as
fast as sow boardig, with the
right wa you ca shoot dow some
of the massie dues i the Great
Sad Sea ad hae thrills to spare.
There is o ski-lift to get you back to
the top agai ad its either a walk
that will get you t quicker than almost aythig else, or hitchig a
ride i a 44 ruig i a cycle from
top to bottom.
Though riding a mountain bike
may soud crazy i the desert,
the latest generation of ‘at tyre’
moutai bikes make it possible.These bikes, developed at rst for rid-
ig o sow, are ow beig used for
makig desert oureys aroud the
world. But ee a ormal moutai
bike ca be ridde o much of the
desert- as log as you aoid dues
ad do ot mid pushig from time
to time. Of course you are limited
by haig to carry water, but as I
metioed with walkig- if you ride
ee a few kilometers aloe or i a
small group ito the desert it will feel
like a great ourey.
Cars go far ad fast ad for a trip to
the Gilf Kebir you will hae to go by
car uless you facy a moth log
camel ourey. Cars do mess up
the desert. This is ot a problem isad sice the wid will wipe away
ay tracks. Driers i the Great Sad
Sea, the Siwa due desperados
ad the raiders of the world’s logest
due, Abu Moharik, are o threat to
the desert. Howeer, driig oer
pebbly desert leaes tracks that
eer go. I hae foud the tracks
made by Laszlo Almasy’s Baby Ford
epeditio i 1930- seety years
o ad still clear. Eetually oe
hopes that car driers will stick to e-
istig slops whe they cross the ul-
erable parts of the desert ad oly
fa out whe they hit pure sad.Camel riding and walking
Camels also leae tracks- but theseare egligible compared to those
left by a car. Camels are silet-
apart from sortig ad coughig.
They walk at huma speed, maybe
4.5km/h, so you are as comfort-
able o or off the saddle. Ridig
a camel that is part of a camel
trai is easy- keep oe had o the
saddle ad use the other to steady
the book you are readig- you ca-
ot read while beig drie i a
car- camels smooth out the bumps
rather better.
Camels are arguably more roma-
25
D E S
E R T T O U R S
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Bedoui legeds aboud i
Wadi Rayya of buried trea-sure. Rayya they claim was akig who was laid to rest here
with all his gold. Stragely, widespread i the Wadi arecircular ‘sad dollars’, fossil-ised aemoes that look likestoe cois. Maybe this is thereal treasure.
DID YOU KnOW??
Short Trips
The Fayoum ad especially Wadi
Rayyan are a great place to rst
taste the desert.
Wadi Rayyan
To get here from Cairo takes about
an hour and a half if the trafc is
ne. Wadi Rayyan is a protected
area with lakes ad desert promis-
ig iterest for all.
Wadi Hitan - Whale Valley
It is easy to isit the Whale Valley i
a day from Cairo. A accompay-
up to 3 days weeked getaways
1. AROUnD FAYOUM AnD WADI HITAn
ig rager from Wadi Rayya will
usually guide the drier.
The whales i questio are etict
mammals with eel shaped bodies
about 20meters log- bigger tha
a grey whale- closer to the size of
a blue whale. The teeth were sharp
ad saw-like, idicatig a differet
diet to moder whales. They are be-
lieed to hae eisted here 40millio
years ago. Kow as basilosaurus
isis they retai feet, of a kid, u-
like moder whales which ust hae
remat proectig boes.
The icredible lies of ertebrae,each oe weighig 20kilos or more,
make for a eerie sight, as if oe
has arried at a graeyard of the di-
osaurs, which, i a sese, oe has.
There are smaller whale remais
too- the ve meters dorudon which
may be related to eistig whales.
Wadi Hita
Wadi Rayya
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O the Red Sea Coast south
of Marsa Alam there is the
Middle East’s largest rock
spire- the Bereice Bodki.
not ofte climbed due to its
remote locatio it is isible
for miles.
DID YOU KnOW?
?
27
S H O R T T R I P S
Climb Egypt’s highestPeak- Gebel Shayib
Egypt’s highest cotietal Africa
peak is Gebel Shayib- the oerall
highest beig Gebel Kataria i
the Siai, which is classed as Asia.
Gebel Shayib is reered as a mou-
tai of mystical importace to the
M’aaza ad whe oe climbs i the
early daw ad sees the equisite
raibow effect of the su shiig
through a ‘mist oasis’ oe ca u-
derstad their reerece.
The Eastern Desert
You eter a quite differet world
whe you cross the nile from the
sandy Western Desert to the moun-
tainous and rocky Eastern one. Still
dry ad arid, but this time there are
hills, ad alleys ad wadis, cuttig
through the whole area from the
Red Sea to the nile Rier.
Monastery of St Anthony
St Anthony (251-356AD) is cosid-
ered to be oe of the fouders ofChristia moasticism ad as such
the moastery raks as the oldest
i the world. 320meters aboe the
moastery is the cae where St A-
thoy lied. Climb the 1158 steps
which will take oer half ad hour to
get to the cae. The etrace is tiy-
but it wides out ito the tiy chapel
where the mok worshipped. It is
hard to imagie liig here for forty
years- but of such commitmet
moasteries are built.
2. AROUnD HURGHADA In THE EASTERn DESERT
St Athoy’s Moastery
Church of St Athoy’s Moastery
St Paul’s Moastery
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Log Trips
The White Desert is justiably the
most well- kow desert destia-
tio i Egypt- ad for good reaso.
For sheer quatity of uearthly ad
beautiful wid-cared rock forma-
tios it is uequalled i ay desert i
the world. It also eoys easy accessfrom the road- some of the best
camp spots beig oly a couple of
kilometers from the asphalt- though
you would eer kow that.
Monoliths and canyons
Comig alog the road from
Bahariya you will be struck by thehuge iselbergs, mooliths that
look like rockets o the lauch pad
ad the huched shoulders of gi-
ats. This area betwee the road
ad the escarpmet edge, which
rus pretty much parallel to the road
is a great place for eplorig.
i depth eperiece4-7 days allowig more
1. THE WHITE DESERT CIRCUIT
The Sphinx Valley
Further alog the road to Ain Dalla
o the right is the icredible alley of
the sphies- atural sphies that
again conrm the origin of Phara-
oic art i the atural forms of the
Wester Desert.
of the desert
The White Desert
The White Desert
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Camels ca go a etire
witer without drikig as
log as there is fresh eg-
etatio aailable for them
to eat.
DID YOU KnOW??
29
L O n G T R I P S
settig of high dues ad hills that
surroud the small lake.
Sand Boarding
Here at Bir Wahed you ca also try
your had at sand boarding. But
the bigger dues are further south-but all withi a reasoable distace
of Siwa. You ca brig your ow sow-
board- which does work- especially
o the really steep dues, ad the
Siwas hae all the right waes to
make boards really y. They also
hae custom boards that are the
fastest of all.
Though a fair amout of car pow-
ered due bashig goes o at Siwa
it is far more i keepig with its tra-
quil atmosphere ad ecologicalleaigs to take atural powered
trasport. Your basic motor will be
your feet with camel back up. For a
break there will be wid assistace
for sad sailig ad graitatioal
pull for sad boardig.
Bir Wahed
Bir Wahed is a mii oasis ad hot
sprig some 12km south of Siwa at
the start of the dues of the Great
Sand Sea. Bir Wahed was drilled by
ma i search of oil- but the result
is more marelous- especially i the
2. AROUnD SIWA- WALK, SAIL, SURF AnD DIvE THE GREAT SAnD SEA
3. TOWARDS THE jARA CAvES
Do’t worry about sakes ad scor-
pios- it is far too dry for these crea-
tures- ad if you are carryig a torch
eerythig alie dow there will hide
away from you.
Iside the cae are a few prehistoric
carigs of atelope ad giraffe.
After a day’s trael ig from Ba-
hariya you will nally arrive at the
Jara Caves, or El Caf as the Bed-
oui call it.
These are the largest dry caes
i Egypt - it is easily the size of a
church dow there, with great thick
stalactites hanging down. The oor
is sady ad tracked by beetles.
The Great Sad Sea
The Great Sad Sea
Sad dues ear Bahariya
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The area betwee Siwaad Bahariya is supposedto be where the Lost Army of Kig Cambyses mettheir doom in a terricsadstorm i 524BC.
DID YOU KnOW?
?
Epeditios
Bahariya road
The ‘road’ from Bahariya to Siwa
takes you past a sequence of large
oasis lakes, most of which are
salty and without sh. Most of the
oases were ihabited i the past,ad ee ot so log ago were the
summer quarters of some Bedoui
people ad their aimals.
eplorig the deepdesert areas
from 10-21 days
1. ExPLORInG BETWEEn BAHARIYA, SIWA AnD THE GREAT SAnD SEA
Arag
Arag is the earest oasis to Siwa
ad o the opposite side of the
road from Bahrei. You caot see
it from the road, it is beyond therst ridge of what becomes the
Qattara depression- scee of that
Great War moie Ice Cold i Ale.
Arag has also got rock cut tombs
which are always worth a peak.
The Great Sand Sea
South of Siwa you soo eter the
Great Sad Sea. This is the world’s
largest sad sea with dues up to
400meters high.
Bahariyya Oasis
Siwa
The Great Sad Sea
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Laszlo Almasy, the real l ifemodel of ‘‘The Eglish Pa-tiet’’, i the moie of thesame ame, belieed hediscoered the log lostoasis of Zerzura i the wa-dis of the Gilf Kebir.
DID YOU KnOW?
?
31
E x P E D I T I O n S
ad baboos. The art here is accu-
rately dated by the last time there
was ay water i the regio- 5000-
7000 years ago.
Silica glass
Thought to be caused by a giant
meteorite landing about 29 million
years ago, the silica glass is spread
i surprisigly small area- about
50 square kilometers or less, i the
Great Sad Sea. Kig Tutakha-
mu’s chest scarab was made of
silica glass. How it was trasported
from that remote part of the desertto Thebes is aother mystery.
For people who hae see the mo-
ie or read the book ‘‘The English Pa-
tient ‘‘ the this is the tour to make.
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 i a bit of hurry to see
the Gilf as well so at Uweiat they
look at the rock art i the alley ofKarkur Talh. This alley, amed af-
ter the acacia trees which still grow
here, is home to ast quatities of
rock art- both drawigs ad egra-
igs.
The Gilf Kebir - Wadi Soura
and the Mestikawy cave At 900metres high, souring up from
the at desert is the astounding
major plateau known as the Gilf
Kebir. This is where Laszlo Almasy,
the real life character o whom
‘‘The English Patient’’ was based,
discoered, or, more accurately,
rediscoered the caes cotaiigpictures of the famous swimmers.
nearby is the Mestikawy Cae,
foud i 2002 o a epeditio led
by Coloel Ahmed Mestikawy, co-
sidered the largest sigle site of rock
art i Africa. It cotais a amazig
quatity of pictures of aimals log
sice etict here such as giraffes
2. DOWn TO THE GILF KEBIR AnD BEYOnD
Mestikawy Cae
Silica Glass
Wadi Hamra
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that ca be mied with more geeral holidays i Egyptoureys
D E S E R T A L T E R n A T I v E S
SAKKARA, DAHSHUR, FAYOUM, WADI RAYYAn
Head out of Cairo towards the stepped pyramid of Sakkara ad
the aciet temple comple. The iestigate the Red Pyramid
ad the mysterious Bent Pyramid before cotiuig alog the
road to Fayoum Oasis and Wadi Rayyan.
The Temples of Luxor and Karnak are a must for ayoe with
a iterest i Aciet Egypt. You ca the take the bus or a tai
to Kharga ad the Dakhla where you ca iew more aciet
moumets.
Alexandria is the old cetre of Ptolemeia Egypt, eplore the
catacombs ad the ew Library, eat great seafood ad head
towards the old battleelds of El Alamein ad the the sea resortof Marsa Matruh. The take the three hour bus or car drie dow
to Siwa where you ca sample all the delights of the desert.
Many people, perhaps on the rst trip to Egypt, want to mix a desert journey with appreciatio of the aciet sites of the nile valley ad perhaps also
the Red Sea resorts. With that i mid it is possible to make may shorter
combied tours of great iterest.
LUxOR, KHARGA, DAKHLA
ALExAnDRIA, EL ALAMEIn, MARSA MATRUH, SIWA
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This is the graddaddy of mied trips with a big desert compo-
et. Start i Cairo ad head out ia the Pyramids. The dow
towards Bahariya- if i a 44 you ca take i the valley of the
Whales. The isit Farafra and Dakhla and Kharga, before edig
up at the glorious archeological treasure troe of Luor.
Millios of tourists come to Egypt for its ecellet diig. Hurghada
is oe of the mai cetres ad offers a wide ariety of diig op-
portuities from reefs to wrecks to sorkelig. Oce you hae had
your ll under water check out the surface at Gouna where there
is one of the nest centres for kite-surng in the world. After thathead ilad ad climb the highest moutai o mailad Egypt-
Gebel Shayib.
With ot much time o your hads but a desire to see the deserthead out of Cairo West to the Pyramids ad after eoyig them
to the full cotiue alog the desert road towards Bahariya. After
a hudred kilometers tur south towards Lake Qarun, followig
your way through the amazig fossil beds o each layer of the
escarpmet. At the edge of the lake pick up the road ad head
towards Wadi Rayya ad the valley of the Whales.
Hurghada, home to sea, sad, diig ad ightlife makes a great
place to start ay holiday i Egypt. With resorts spread alog the
coast either side of the mai tow there is plety of choice. Whe
you tire of the pool head ilad for the culture- ad take i the Valley of the Kings. From Luxor head out to Kharga ad the des-
ert.
CAIRO, PYRAMIDS, FAYOUM
HURGHADA, vALLEY OF THE KInGS, KHARGA
HURGHADA DIvInG, GOUnA KITE SURFInG AnD CLIMBInG GEBEL SHAYIB
CAIRO, BAHARIYA, FARAFRA, DAKHLA, KHARGA, LUxOR
33
D E S E R T A L T E R n A T I v E S
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of Desert ToursTemplates
7 - D A Y T O U R
This icredible alue tour takes i three of the ‘must see’ sights of the Egyptia
Desert- Whale valley, jara Caes ad the White Desert.
Leaig Cairo early you arrie at Wadi Rayya where it is possible to iew both
the giat Lake of Qaru ad the smaller lakes of Rayya.
Whale valley is a short drie further o ad you will be able to admire the
eposed gigatic remais of fossilized ad log etict whales. From there
you cross the world’s logest sigle due system, the mysterious Abo Moharik
due. This takes you to the huge stalactitic jara caes, which iside is big
enough to t several buses!
You cross ow to the ewel of the Egyptia wilderess- the White Desert- a
strage ad woderful ladscape of chalky buttes ad iselbergs replete with
beautiful soft sad ad marelous wid cared boulders. You may also isit
from here Farafra Oasis, famous for its hot sprigs. From here it is a day’s drie
back to Cairo ia Bahariya Oasis where you might care to stop ad iew the
illustrious Golde Mummies discoered i 1999.
Importat note: These tours are eamples ad for iformatio purposes oly.
Broadly similar tours are aailable but idiidual operators will amed ad tailor
them to suit coditios ad demad.
Whale valley & Beyod
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1
2
34
5
6
7
8
9
10
QarounLake
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QarounLake
WadiEl Rayan
WhiteDesert
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Oasis
FayoumOasis
FarafraOasis
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A b u M
o h a r i k Dune
D e p r e s s
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D e s e r t
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er n
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ALEXANDERTHE GREAT TEMPLE
TONA EL
GABAL RUINS
BANI HASAN
TOMBS
TEL EL
AMARNA
PYRAMIDS
OF GIZA
PYRAMIDS
OF SAQQARA
Bawiti
Qasr Farafra
Abu Minqar
Mallawi
Memphis
Beni Suef
El Minya
El Fayoum
Asyut
Sohag
Giza
Cairo
ROUTE:
1 Cairo,
2 Lake Qaru,
3 Wadi Rayya,
4 Whale valley,
5 Abo Moharik Due,
6 jara Caes,
7 Wadi Karawee,
8 White Desert,
9 Farafra Oasis,
10 Bahariya Oasis,
Cairo
Sphi ad The Great Pyramid i Giza
Bahariya Oasis
35
W H A L E v A L L E Y & B E Y O n D
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of Desert ToursTemplates
8 - D A Y T O U R
Follow i the footsteps of Aleader the Great ad isit Siwa by traelig
through the fasciatig wilderess of the norther Coast.
You start from the tow amed after its fouder, Aleadria ad motor south
ito the Qattara Depressio, the lowest poit i Egypt, a iid ad etraordiary ladscape of shiftig sads ad rare plats, scee of the famous moie Ice
Cold in Alex. Your rst stop is El Mogra, a salt water lake surrounded by ve
fresh water wells. It is 34meters below sea leel ad a place of jurassic fossil
remais. From here you traerse the depressio to the tiy oasis settlemet of
Qara. The it is time to go south to Siwa, the most remote Oasis i Egypt ad
the most culturally dierse with its mi of Berber, Bedoui ad Egyptia cultures.
Here you may care to cosult the oracle ust as Aleader did i 332BC.
north from Siwa lies Marsa Matruh, a delightful sea resort ad home to the
cae comple used by the Germa Geeral Rommel to mastermid his at-
tacks o the British ad Australia forces at El Alamei. Which is your et desti-
atio- a uique historical eperiece with a military museum ad cemeteries
datig from WW2. It is oly a few hours’drie back to the fasciatig city of
Aleadria.
Importat note: These tours are eamples ad for iformatio purposes oly.
Broadly similar tours are aailable but idiidual operators will amed ad tailorthem to suit coditios ad demad.
Qattara Depressioad the north Coast
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1
2
3
45
6
7
L
I B Y A
e d i t e r r a n e a n S e
WhiteDesert
Siwa
SiwaOasis
BahariyyaOasis
FarafraOasis
BorgEl Arab
W h i t e D e s e r t
T he G r e a t
Sea S a n d
WadiEl Natrou
Q a t t a r a
D e p r
e s s i o n
W e s
t e r n
D e s e
r t
AMON
TEMPLE
ALEXANDER
THE GREAT TEMPLE
QaraOasis
SallumSidi Barani
Gabal
El Mawta
GabalEl Dakrur
CleopatraBath
AragOasis
Bawiti
Qasr Farafra
Sidi Abdel Rahman Porto
Marina
Marsa
Matruh
El Alamein
Roset
Siwa
Alexandria
ROUTE:
1 Aleadria,
2 El Mogra Lake,
3 Qattara Depressio,
4 Qara Oasis,
5 Siwa Oasis,
6 Marsa Matruh,
7 El Alamei, Aleadria,
Aleadria
Marsa Matruh beach
Wester Desert, edge of Qattara Depressio
37
Q
A T T A R A D E P R E S S I O n A n D T H E n O R T H
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of Desert ToursTemplates
1 0 - D A Y T O U R
The remote ad mostly uihabited oases of the orther Sad Sea offer a
uique ad woderful isight ito the Wester Desert i ladscapes of rare ad
stuig beauty.
It is oly a half day’s drie to Bahariya Oasis, your gateway to the orther Sad
Sea. From here, where you may eoy bargaiig with the locals oer Bedoui
hadicrafts, you trael offroad to the largest of the uihabited Oasis lakes-
Sitra. The it is o to nuwamisa, ad the Bahrei where there are aciet
tombs cut ito the hillside- some ee with mummy wrappigs ad skeletal
remais. north from Bahrei is the idyllic oasis of Arag, which is still used from
time to time by Bedoui herdsme. There are more abadoed dwelligs
here ad the chace of glimpsig the rare gazelle of the Egyptia desert.
net stop is Siwa, surrouded by salt water lakes it is place packed with aciet
moumets together with a people both welcomig ad helpful. If you getthe chace to hear some Siwas makig music- take that opportuity for they
are truly gifted.
From Siwa you pluge south ito the Great Sad Sea, driig betwee the log
lines of dunes that reach over three hundred and fty meters high. Your desti-
atio is the old well of Ai Dalla, kow sice before Roma times ad after
that the maestic White Desert ad the cosy oasis tow of Farafra.
Importat note: These tours are eamples ad for iformatio purposes oly.
Broadly similar tours are aailable but idiidual operators will amed ad tailor
them to suit coditios ad demad.
The Sad Sea Oases
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2
34
5
6
7 8
L I B Y A
Qaroun Lake
N
i
l
e R
i v e
r
QarounLake
WadiEl Rayan
WhiteDesert
Siwa
Siwa
Oasis
BahariyyaOasis
FayoumOasis
FarafraOasis
DakhlaOasis
KhargaOasis
Ain UmmDabadib
W h
a l e
V a l
l e y D e p r e
s s i o
n
Q a t t
a r a
W h i t e D
e s e r t
T he G r e a tSea S a n d
Ne w V a l l e y
El Natroun
G e l f K ebir
W e s t
e r
n D
e s
e r t
AMON
TEMPLE
ALEXANDER
THE GREAT TEMPLE
AL BAGAWAT
NECROPOLIS
TONA EL
GABAL RUINS
BANI HA
TOMBS
TEL EL AMA
PYRAMIDS
OF GIZA
PYRAMIDS
OF SAQQARA
Qara Oasis
Siwa
Arag
Bawiti
Baris
Qasr FarafraAin Dalla
Abu Minqar
Regenfeld
El Qasr
Mut
Mallawi
Bulaq
MeGabalEl Mawta
CleopatraBath
El Barhein
Nuwamisa
Sitra
Al Kharga
BenSue
El Minya
El Fa
Asyut
Gizaa ro
ROUTE:
1 Cairo,
2 Bahariya Oasis,
3 nuwamisa,
4 Bahrei,
5 Arag, Siwa Oasis,
6 Great Sad Sea,
7 Ai Dalla,
8 Farafra Oasis,
Cairo
Islamic Cairo
The White Desert
39
T H E S A n D S E A O A S E S
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of Desert ToursTemplates
1 3 - D A Y T O U R
visit the largest sigle site of rock art i Africa- the Mestikawy Cae, the itriguig rock
carigs of Karkur Talh as well as the Swimmer’s Cae, made famous by the moie
‘‘The English Patient ‘‘.
From your start at the remote oasis of Dakhla, the oldest cotiually ihabited place
i Africa, you trael through remote desert to Bir Terfawi, your etry poit to the ast
sad sheets that lead to the Gilf Kebir. It is here you will iew the astoudig rock
paitigs ad egraigs of the Shaw cae, located i recet times by eplorer
W.B. Keedy Shaw, the Mestikawy cae, which was foud i 2003 by eplorer
Ahmed Mestikawy ad the Cae of the Swimmers which was amed by Laszlo
Almasy, the Hugaria real life model o whom ‘‘The English Patient ‘‘ is based.
Further south ear the massif of Uweiat you may isit Karkur Talh, a area full of rock
art ad offerig the chace of glimpsig the rare ad reclusie wild sheep kowas the wedda.
From the Gilf you may retur ia Abu Ballas, a eerie hill where thousads of broke
pots hae bee foud. It is ow belieed this was part of a water storage trail lead-
ig to Uweiat i Pharaoic times.
Back i Dakhla you should isit the restored fortress tow of Qasr- a labyrith of twist-
ig passages o wider tha two people- a truly amazig place.
Importat note: These tours are eamples ad for iformatio purposes oly.
Broadly similar tours are aailable but idiidual operators will amed ad tailor
them to suit coditios ad demad.
Rock Art i the Wester Desert
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1
23
4
5
6
7
8
9
Gilf El-KebirProtectorate
SUDAN
L I B Y A
DakhlaOasis
Tro pic of Cancer
S i l
i c c a
V a
l
l
e
y
WadiAbu ElMalik
WadiSoura
WadiWissa
WadiFuraq
a l l e
Gel f K e b i r
UWEINAT MOUNT
1 934 M
El Qasr
Mut
Regenfeld
Abu Ballas
Peterand Paul
Karkur Talh
MestikawyCave
MemorialTarfawi
Well
ROUTE:
1 Dakhla Oasis,
2 Bir Terfawi,
3 Wadi Furaq,
4 Shaw Cae,
5 Uweiat (Karkur Talh),
6 Mestikawy Cae,
7 Swimmer’s Cae,
8 Wadi Wissa,
9 Abu Ballas,
Dakhla Oasis
Qasr illage i Dakhla Oasis
Wadi Hamra 41
R O C K A R T I n T H E W E S T E
R n D E S E R T
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of Desert ToursTemplates
1 4 - D A Y T O U R
The largest Sad Sea i the world is your ocea for a few weeks as you eplore this
amazig desert of towerig dues, little kow oases ad prehistoric remais.
Leaig Cairo behid you make your way to Bahariya Oasis ad the o to the ma-
estic uihabited lake of Sitra. Driig through the orther ed of the Great Sad
Sea you alterate isitig the fasciatig oases of Bahrei, nuwamisa ad Arag with
rollig dues ad cayos of remarkable beauty. As this area was oce uder the
Mediterraea there are ample opportuities to see fossil remais such as shark’steeth ad ‘sad dollars’.
You emerge from the orther leg of the ourey at Siwa, the calmest ad most
mysterious of the Oasis tows. Your stay should take i the collapsig mud tow of
Shali which looks like a set out of ‘‘Star Wars’’! From here you will be eager to plunge
deeper ito the Great Sad Sea, driig dow the edless due corridors past fa-
tastic displays of star, barcha ad seif dues. Through this surreal ladscape you
emerge at the Ammoite scarp, most recetly discoered by the Germa eplorer
Rohlfs. The top of the scarp is littered with the fossil remais of ammoites.
From here you reerse the ourey Rohlfs made i 1873 ad arrie at the place he
called Regenfeld- ‘raineld’ in German- a place where it rained and allowed him to
rell his water bottles. Past Regenfeld you hit the Abu Ballas trail and view the strange
water moutai ad its myriad broke pots before leaig the sad at Dakhla ad
returig to Cairo ia the stuig White Desert.
Importat note: These tours are eamples ad for iformatio purposes oly.
Broadly similar tours are aailable but idiidual operators will amed ad tailor
them to suit coditios ad demad.
Sailig the Sad Sea
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2
3
45
6
7
8
9
10
11
L I B Y A
Qaroun Lake
N
i
l
e R i v e r
QarounLake
WadiEl Rayan
WhiteDesert
Siwa
SiwaOasis
BahariyyaOasis
FayoumOasis
FarafraOasis
DakhlaOasis
KhargaOasis
Ain UmmDabadib
A b u M
o h a r
i k D u ne
S i l i
c c
a
V a
l
l
e
y
D e p r e s s
i o
Q a
t t a
W h i t e
D e s e
r t
T he G r e a tSea S a n d
Ne w V a l l e y
G e l f K e b
i r
W e s t
e r n
D
e s
e r t
AMON
TEMPLE
ALEXANDER
THE GREAT TEMPLE
AL BAGAWAT
NECROPOLIS
TONA EL
GABAL RUINS
BANI HA
TOMBS
TEL EL AMA
PYRAMIDS OF GIZA
PYRAMIDS
OF SAQQARA
EZBET DUSH
Qara Oasis
Siwa
Arag
Bawiti
Baris
Qasr Farafra
Abu Minqar
Regenfeld
El Qasr
Mut
Mallawi
Bulaq
Me
Dush
GabalEl Mawta
CleopatraBath
El Barhein
Nuwamisa
Sitra
Ain Dalla
Al Kharga
BeniSuef
El Minya
El Fay
Asyut
ROUTE:
1 Cairo,
2 Bahariya Oasis,
3 Sitra, nuwamisa, Bahrei,4 Arag,
5 Siwa Oasis,
6 Great Sad Sea,
7 Ammoite Scrap,
8 Regefeld,
9 Abu Ballas,
10 Dakhla Oasis,
11 White Desert,
Cairo
Sad dues ear Bahariya oasis
necropolis of Qila el-Dabba, Mastaba of Ketika i Dakhla oasis
43
S A I L I n G T H E S A n D S E A
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of Desert ToursTemplates
1 9 - D A Y T O U R
For the ardet eplorer of deserts the Grad Tour beckos. You will be able to isit the
remote rock art sites of Uweiat ad the Gilf Kebir, trael up to the mysterious ad wo-
derful zoe of silica glass followed by a epic orther crossig of the Great Sad Sea
to Siwa- a journey only rst completed in 1933.
Driving down from Cairo you rst leave the asphalt at the White Desert to get a brief
itroductio to the woders of the Egyptia Desert. From here you proceed south util
you gai Abu Ballas, the broke pot moutai which guards the etrace to the Gilf
Kebir regio.Driig swiftly the seeral hudred kilometers to the Gilf, you eter the plateau, which
rears 350meters aboe the desert, ad cross its souther part through Wadi Wissa. Here
you may iew the rock art of the Shaw Cae before headig dow to Uweiat to see
wildlife such as the rare wedda sheep ad etesie rock art i may differet loca-
tios.
Back to the Gilf you will take i both the epic Mestikawy cae ad the famous Swimmer’s
cae as see i the moie ‘‘The English Patient ’’. Both cotai amazig rock paitigs.
The it is time to go oer the Gilf Plateau by ascedig the Aqaba Pass ad desced-
ig ito the 100km log Wadi Hamra, agai a site of much fasciatig rock art. From
here you drie orth to the Silica Glass area, a highly localized source of pure atural
glass formed whe a meteorite hit the desert 29millio years ago. net you follow the
rst motor explorers of the Western Desert and head north to Siwa past the atmospheric
‘forest’ of petried palm trees. As you enter Siwa from the south you may glimpse the
ackals that still ihabit this regio.
From the etraordiarily idyllic Oasis of Siwa you retur across the desert to Bahariya ad
the to Cairo haig completed a ourey of truly epic proportios.
Importat note: These tours are eamples ad for iformatio purposes oly.
Broadly similar tours are aailable but idiidual operators will amed ad tailor
them to suit coditios ad demad.
Wester Desert Grad Tour
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2
3
45
6
7
89
10
11
12
13
14 L Y B I A
Qaroun Lake
N a s s e rL a k e
G u
l f o f S
u
N i l e
R i v
e r
Saluga& Ghazale
WadiEl Rayan
WhiteDesert
Siwa
SiwaOasis
BahariyyaOasis
FayoumOasis
FarafraOasis
DakhlaOasis
WadiAbu ElMalik
WadiSoura
WadiWissaWadi
Furaq
KhargaOasis
Ain UmmDabadib
Tro pic of Cancer
A b u M
o h a r i k D une
S i
l i
c c
a
V a
l
l e y
D e p r e s s
Q a t t
W h i t e
D e s e
r t
T he G r e a t
Sea S a n d
New V a l l e
y
Gel f K e b i r
W e s t
e r n
D e s e r t
D e s e r t
E
a s t e r n
S i n
ST ANTONY’S
MONASTERYST PAUL’S
MONASTERY
SERABIT
EL KHADIM
MONS
CLAUDIANUS
MONS
PORPHYRITES
UWEINAT MOUNT
1 934 M
AMON
TEMPLE
ALEXANDER
THE GREAT TEMPLE
EZBET DUSH
AL BAGAWAT
NECROPOLIS
ABU SIMBEL
PHILAE
AMADA
WADI
EL-SUBUA
SAAD EL-ALI,
THE HIGH DAM
KALABSHA
DANDARAKARNAK
TEMPLE
OF KHNOUM
ABYDOS
VALLEYOF THE KINGS
TONA ELGABAL RUINS
BANI HASAN
TOMBS
TEL EL
AMARNA
PYRAMIDS
OF SAQQARA
Qara Oasis
Siwa
Arag
Bawiti
Baris
Dush
Qasr Farafra
Abu Minqar
El Qasr
Regenfeld
Abu Ballas
Mut
Peterand Paul
MestikawyCave
Memorial
Mallawi
Bulaq
E l - A
r b a e i n
R o
u t e
Za’farana
Ras SidrMemphis
RasGharib
AbuRudei
QasrIbram
Tushka
Qena
Kom Ombo
Al Kharga
TarfawiWell
El
Beni Suef
El Minya
El Fayoum
Esna
Asyut
Sohag
Luxor
Edfu
Asw
Cairo
ROUTE:
1 Cairo,
2 White Desert,
3 Abu Ballas,
4 Wadi Wissa,
5 Shaw Cae,
6 Uweiat,
7 Mestikawy Cae,
8 Wadi Soura,
9 Aqaba Pass,
10 Wadi Hamra,
11 Silica Glass,
12 Great Sad Sea,
13 Siwa Oasis,
14 Bahariya Oasis,
Cairo Wadi Soura
The White Desert
45
W E S T E R n D E S E R T G
R A n D T O U R
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The Bedoui are the traditioal o-
madic tet dwellers of the Arabia
ad Egyptia deserts. There is a
tribal culture reected in the saying,
“My brother ad I agaist my cousi.
My cousi ad I agaist the world.”
Groups traditioally formed aroud
a patriarch gure. In times of strife
or special eed the groups worked
as oe tribe. The Bedoui of Arabia
were the rst converts to Islam and
spread it throughout north Africa as
far as Spai i the 7th cetury.
Bedoui people are traditioally a
oral culture ad their history is kept i
stories ad poems. It is hard there-
fore for outsiders to get a complete-
ly denitive version of their history.
Bedouis derie a idetity from a
cofederatio of families that hae
commo iterests, rather tha a
commo origi. This meas the
origial Arabia tribes oer time
foud commo cause with the i-
digeous omadic tribes of Egypt.
Though omads are aerse to their
daughters marryig settlers they are
ot too opposed to them marryig
other omads of perhaps differetancestry. This exibility explains why,
despite edemic discrimiatio by
the settled folk of Egypt, the Bedoui
cotiue to thrie.
The mai tribe o the orther coast
of the Egypt are the Awlad ‘Ali. They
date themseles from Bedoui mi-
gratio i the 11th cetury AD. O
the East coast there are two mai
tribal groups: the Ma’aza ad the
Ababda. The Ababda claim de-
scet from the Arab migrat Abad i
the 13th cetury. Culturally they are
closer to the hamitic Bea omads
of Suda ad Ethiopia. The Ma’aza
are a large tribal group comprisigmay clas or families that hae
arried oer the ceturies from the
Arabia Peisula. The most recet
cla is the Khushma who came
about 150 years ago. Though the
Ababda ad the Ma’aza hae tra-
ditioally bee somewhat opposed
Bedoui life& lore i the desert
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ad the Egyptias cotrolled the
fertile nile valley ad Delta. The
Bedoui cosider themseles Arabs
with their origi beig the triagle
from Syria to Iraq dow to Saudi
Arabia. They rst arrived as part ofthe origial iasio force of Egypt
durig the great Islamic coquests.
This rst wave of Bedouin married
ito the Egyptia populace, though
some aturally ihabited the des-
ert regios which they shared i a
ueasy truce with Berber ad Tebu
tribal groups.
Further waes of Bedoui repeatedly
arried either through the Siai or
across the Red Sea from Saudi Ara-
bia. The latest migratios were little
more tha two hudred years ago.
The Bedouin now
nowadays the Bedoui of Egypt
ca be ery roughly diided ito four
groups. There are the Siai Bedoui
– who are still close to their omadic
roots- ee those that are workig i
Sharm el-Sheikh. They were able to
adapt from omadic trael i the
hills to takig tourists alog their old
routes. The there are the Red Sea
Coast tribes: maily the Ma’aza ad
the Ababda. These retai a co-
siderable amout of old practices
though they hae adopted mod-
er techology ad some moder
coeieces. Ieitably, the richerfamilies who hae made moey
from sellig lad for resort deelop-
met hae chaged more tha the
poor.
Thirdly you hae the Awlad Ali who
domiate o the orth coast- these
hae bee assimilatig for years
ito Aleadria culture. Most re-cetly they hae also become
wealthy through deelopmet of
seaside apartmets all alog the
orth coast.
either side attacks the other o
haig less authetic origis. Their
disputes are about lad ad be-
haiour ot about race.
Europeas oer the ceturies hae
bee fasciated by the Bedoui.
Such gures as Jacob Burkhardt,
Sir Richard Burto ad Wilfred The
siger were eamoured of their ho-
our code ad tough ways- i sharp
cotrast they felt to the effete ways
of city dwellers. The Bedoui hoour
code icludes such otios as au-tomatic protectio of guests, guar-
ateed hospitality to those who ask
ad acts of secret charity kow
oly to the gier. These otios e-
ist still but are much udermied by
the coditios of moder liig.
The traditioal ustice system of theBedoui is a court atteded by all
the elders of the tribe- ad other
tribes if there is a itertribal dis-
pute. I Egypt, amogst the Red
Sea tribes, this would be held i the
presece of a small boat hagig
from a tree. The boat symbolizes our
trasitory stature o Earth ad how
we are duty boud to moe o.
Perhaps, too, it is an inuence from
earlier ihabitats of the area who
cared boat shapes o the rock
walls- the same shaped boats used
by the Pharaohs.
Util the early 19th cetury the Bed-
oui cotrolled the deserts of Egypt
47
B E D O U I n L I F E & L O R E I n T H
E D E S E R T
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Fially there are the Bedoui who
lie i the Wester Desert oases.
They are coected by iterest to
both the Awlad Ali ad the Red Sea
Bedoui, though their lieage may
be somewhat distat from either,haig lied for seeral ceturies
or more i the oases. These were
the truck driers of the camel age-
trasportig produce to the nile by
camel up util the 1980s. May
the tured to farmig ad the
to the much more lucratie tourist
busiess. They still retai a lot of Bed-oui characteristics though- a loe
of falcory, the desert ad camp-
re music.
Bedouin, camels and cars
Bedoui look after their camels ad
their cars ery well. I Africa cou-
tries oe is used to cars beig ia poor state- ot the lad cruisers
drie by Bedoui. Because they
eed to be ultra-reliable for desert
use the Bedoui keep them i bet-
ter coditio tha most Europeas
keep their cars. This is a carryoer
from the care of camels. Whe
you trael with Bedoui do’t e-pect a cup of coffee or tea whe
you stop. First they will uload the
camels ad the they will make
them comfortable ad feed them.
Oly the will they make camp ad
food for themseles ad ayoe
traelig with them. Likewise i cars
if you hae had a pucture durigthe day the Bedouin will x the tyre
before xing food for anyone. Their
quiet ability to keep workig ad
workig hard is a sometimes surpris-
ig cotrast to Europea otios of
a happy go lucky people.
Bedouin Travel Tips
If you carry water bottle wrap it i
a cloth ad wet the cloth eery so
ofte. Do this i the early morig
whe the water is still ery cold ad
it will remai cold i the heat of the
day.
Istead of tyig comple kots sim-
ply utwist the strads of the rope
ad past the ed through makig
a loop. You ca add a stop kot if you like.
Stand your kettle in front of the re
so that the wind blows the ames all
roud the kettles sides as well as the
bottom. Wid ca be strog at ight ad a
apping tent can be annoying- or
ee blow dow. The Bedoui use
the saddles ad erry cas to build a
kid of eclosure about kee height
or maybe a little more. Whe you lie
dow behid it you are completely
out of the wid.
Always make some kid of reas-
surig oise whe you are aroud
camels. It does’t matter if its hum-
mig, clickig or quiet sigig or
whisperig- the reassurace is the
thig.
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Bedouin cooking
Bedoui ca be great cooks. Two
faorite dishes are sad baked
bread ad fried dates. To make the
bread you mix a dough of our, salt,
a little sugar ad water. This you roll
out at. You then scoop away the
embers of the re and lay the bread
i the sad. The coer with sad
ad embers. After te miutes tur
the bread oer ad cook the other
side. Adust the time depedig o
the thickess of the bread ad how
may embers you hae. Though
you may imagie the sad will stick
it does ot. Carefully brush with your
had ad you will hae a marelous
loaf of bread.
Finding direction
Bedoui are reputedly brilliat at
nding their way in the desert and
they are- but there is o magic to
it, ust etreme familiarity. They kow
that the wid is usually from the
north West ad that dues alig with that preailig wid. They kow
that the su, i witer at midday, is
i the south. Fially the ladscape
i its mai features is simple- eery
oasis has a escarpmet alog oe
or more sides. These cliff edges that
ca ru for hudreds of kilometers
ca be used as hady referecepoits for traelig, as ca the
legthy orth/south Wester Desert
road.
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B E D O U I n L I F E & L O R E I n T H E
D E S E R T
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Fried dates is ery simple- ust a little
oil in a pan over the re. Eaten when
soft with the bread they are sweet
ad delicious.
How to travel like a Bedouin?
The Bedoui are quite simply the
best people i the desert. They are
the most at home there ad they
respect it more tha other groups,
for eample oases dwellers, who
may make a liig out of the des-
ert but do ot appreciate it i thesame way.
The Bedoui attitude to the desert isot setimetal. It is more like that
of a coastal dwelling sailor or sh-
erma to the sea. He may ee
profess ‘to hate the desert’ but this is
ust talk. The desert is i their boes
ad they are brought up to eoy its
bouty, its freedom ad to respect
greatly its dagers.
Bedoui do ot take uecessary
risks. O ay ourey more tha a
walk from the highway they will take
two ehicles- pick-ups usually. You
sometimes get people smugglers
usig a sigle ehicle as they cross
from Suda. These are ot Bedoui, who would eer take such a risk.
I camp they are itriguig to watch.
They all work i a kid of coordiat-
ed system yet without ayoe gi-
ig orders. Ee the head guide will
do food preparatio ad settig up
the camp. There is eer ay sese
of the big leader recliig while the
miios do the hard work.
This sese of iate democracy e-
teds ee to traelig. Bedoui cadig their heels i ad be reluctat to
go somewhere. It may be because
they are worried about their camels,
or it could simply be that they are get-
tig hugry themseles. But the iter-
estig thig is they are always ope
to a reasoed debate. If you are set
o somethig ad ca calmly butpersuasiely put your poit across
they will chage their mids. Agerand ordering eventually backre- the
best method is to sit dow ad e-
pect a good log sessio of talkig.
Bedoui are aturally well ma-
ered. They keep clea ad they
either crack okes about laatory
habits or epect you to crack okesabout theirs. They do ot make a
big deal about toilet arragemets
but, they eer leae aythig i
a place you are likely to stumble
upo.
Though the left had is traditio-
ally the oe used to wipe the back-side you will see they eat with both
hads, though faorig the right.
There is o eed to be paraoid
about touchig someoe or some-
thig with your left had. They are
far more sesitie to you puttig
your feet ear their faces or food.
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The ew desert
associatioof E.D.K.
EDK stads for Egyptia Desert Keepers.
Their isio is to make the Egyptia Desert the ultimate destiatio for re-
sposible traelers while preserig its culture ad ecology for geeratios
to come.
The missio statemet of EDK is as follows: “We are a professioal associa-
tio of trael agecies that orgaizes, promotes ad sells resposible desert
trael i a way that coseres the eiromet ad improes the well beig
of local people. We are a cohesie body of desert tourism eperts that share
eperieces ad kowledge i order to eleate Egypt’s desert tourism to the
highest possible eco stadards.
E . D . K . C O D E O F E T H I C S
• Safety
• Quality Cotrol (esure a quality product
ad eceed customer epectatios)
• Sustaiable Deelopmet
• Respect for the eiromet ad local culture
• Take nothing and leave nothing.
• Do’t touch pre-historic paitigs ad egraigs.
• Respect the silece of the desert.
• Respect local customs ad traditios.
• Ask your tour operator for releat brochures.
E . D . K . C O D E O F C O n D U C T
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T H E n E W
D E S E R T A S S O C I A T I O n
O F E . D . K .
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Practical Ifo
Forget T-shirts ad shorts- if you are
walkig for ay legth of time you will
get badly su burt ee with the su-
cream o. Brig a hat with a brim or
better get the guide to show you how
to wear a Bedoui style scarf- easily bought at ay oasis. Log quick-dry
type trousers are best, baggy ad
lightweight. The kid with zip off shorts
ca be opeed to let i the breeze
rather tha zipped completely off. O
a really hot day a baggy ma-made
bre shirt is best. On ordinary days a
wickaway or coetioal est will
keep you cooler loger. Baggy cotto
and linen shirts are also ne if they are
ot too heay.
I the eeig it ca get really cold
by comparison. Bring a eece and a
widproof acket of some kid, or asweater ad maybe a dow acket.
Logohs are ot a bad idea too.
Brig boots or, better, Tea type sa-
dals as log as they comfortable.
Traiers are ot so good.
CLOTHES
You do ot eed much. Suglasses,
su cream ad plasters for potetial
blisters. Your preferred paikiller- a hot
dry day ca leae you with a head-
ache if you’e ust arried from the
froze orth. A headlamp is ery use-
ful- you do’t eed the most epe-
sie but do’t be tempted by the ultra-
cheap oes as they always break.
Small bioculars ca be useful. Ay
camera should be kept i a plastic
bag most of the time as sad gets e-
erywhere- ad will am motors.
PERSOnAL GEAR
The best way to the see the desert is
o foot. now you ca either walk u-
accompaied all the way or you cadrie to a ice part of the desert ad
the walk, or you ca walk alogside
a camel carryig all your ictuals ad
supplies. The choice is yours.
May take the car optio- ad i
Egypt there are umerous guides ad
guidig compaies who will set up e-
erythig you eed for a good desert
trip. If you stipulate you wat to walk at
least two hours a day, or oe, they will
be happy to oblige. Usually you start
walkig i the morig as they pack
up the camp ad the you ca also
get dropped off some way from campat ight ad walk alog the tracks they
leae. Ay guide who wo’t allow you
to walk ad eoy the utter freedom of
the desert is ot worth goig with.
All guides will carry sadplates for
gettig out of soft sad, a ack, spare
tyre if ot two, ad a few key spares
such as fa belt ad perhaps water-
pump. May ow hae sat phoes-
though this is ot really as great a help
as it may seem. Sat phoes do’t stop
mistakes happeig- it is better to go
with a good guide in the rst place.
Wet wipes are essetial for gettig
clea i a o-washig eiromet.
Use them before a meal as ifectios
are most easily spread from had to
mouth. Take a toilet roll ad whe you
have nished burn the toilet paper- it
will last as log as papyrus otherwise-
thousads of years. Bury the rest uder
a good pile of stoes.
TRAnSPORT
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MAPS
Haig a map makes it more fu. You
ca get maps off the et or from the
Egyptian Map Ofce in Giza. It is best
to ask the guide or a tour compay
represetatie to make the purchase
as it ca get complicated.
WATER
I summer you may eed 5litres a
day. If you drik aymore the you
are doig too much eercise. You
may well feel sick too. I witer ad
spring 1-3litres should sufce in addi-
tio to ay driks ad soup you may
cosume.
Water is usually carried i bottles ad
boes. This is ot ery eco-friedly-
make sure the guide collapses the
bottles ad brigs them back to the
Oasis. jerry cas of water are better
but clumsier ad potetially dirtier. Oa camel trip you might carry a few
boes for ust drikig ad the rest i
erries for cookig.
SHELTER
Tets are usually offered but you brig
your ow sleepig bag. Get a three
or ee four seaso bag as it ca get
chilly at ight i witer. I started off
always sleepig i tets- ow I rarely
do- the apping sound made by ee a small breeze ca be rather
distractig- ad you do’t get to see
the incredible night sky! Mattresses
are always proided but agai if you
wriggle dow i some sad you will
be plety comfortable with ust your
sleepig bag.
FOOD
Desert food is simple food. Traditioally
it is dates, bread ad tea. A little meat
ad rice if you are lucky. Fortuately there are some great desert chefs out
there- some of the best food i Egypt
is cooked upo the desert i my e-
periece. Epect pasta ad rice ad
bread as the carbohydrate ad the
meat ad egetable sauces ad le-
til soup which can be terric.
Also barbecued lamb ad chicke o
the camp re. For breakfast- bread,
hoey ad eggs- most guides kow
how to make bread under the re in
the Bedoui style ad that’s always a
fu thig to do.
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P R A C T I C A L I n F
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Do’s & Do’tsThe desert is a beig eiromet – util you make a mistake- the it
ca be lethal. I summer you ca epect to last less tha three days
without water. I witer, much loger, probably a week. It is the ery
lack of water that makes the desert a dagerous place to make a
mistake. Also its remoteess. I would ot iclude dagers from sa-
kes ad scorpios because they are rarer here tha i more built up
areas of the Mediterraea. I hae see more scorpios i the South
of France than in the Sahara!
Do take care of the eiromet
ad make sure you leae the
campsite as you nd it.
Don’t take away aythig that da-
mages or reduces the ladscape iayway.
Do feel free to tell driers ad tour
guides to take away rubbish rather
tha bur it.
Do take two or more ehicles. Whe
makig a log trip ito the desert- which meas ay trip where you will
be more tha 25km from a road it is
adised that you take two ehicles.
Don’t bother with forcig three e-
hicles o a trip whe you oly hae
two. For a trip to the Gilf Kebir the
old adice was to take three ehi-
cles, but this was i the days of less
reliable cars. Two will sufce as long
as they are ot oerloaded.
Do check out the guide. Whe hi-
rig a guide with ehicles see how
he loads the car- does he store fuel
et to food? Is the ehicle itself dirty
ad almost all guides go well pre-
pared.
Do ask to see the camels rst on a
camel ourey. Do they look reaso-
ably healthy? Do they hae humpsor are they skiy ad emaciated?
For a log trip you wat a healthy ca-
mel. net ask to mout a camel (if
it is your itetio to eer ride- may
camel traelers eer ride- they
simply walk alogside their beasts)
ad see if the guide holds dow the
eck util you hae mouted pro-perly. Most accidets with camels
whe moutig or dismoutig-
whe the camel suddely bucks
ad throws its load- you- off. If a
guide is attetie at these momets
he kows.
Do plan on drikig betwee 1 ad
3 litres of water a day i witer i ad-
ditio to ay tea, coffee or soup.
Do drink i log bursts whe you are
cool- early morig ad early ee-
ig ad luch beig best.
Don’t wear traiers for walkig the
D O ’ S & D O n ’ T S