The Western Desert

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Day 93 cont… – The Western Desert (Black Desert)
It was only 3 – 3 ½ hour drive until sundown, we were now in the Black Desert (part of the Western Desert). We continued on for a little bit longer until Nick spotted the turnoff that leads to a bush camp he’s used before. We found a flat spot to park the truck and then set up camp. Nick recommended sleeping under the stars (‘cos how often do you get the chance), most went for it but there were a few couples that set up tents. It was beginning to get cold, so once the fire was started we all spent a good 2 hours around it while dinner was cooked and then everything packed away. There is a rotation system for cooking and also cleaning the truck. We are not on cooking until almost the end of the tour, but we are on truck cleaning when we get to El Kazr. We definitely had a fantastic meal for being cooked in the desert; pasta with a chunky tomato and eggplant sauce and sausages. Hot chocolate for dessert! This is all good and well except for the fact that Jess then had to get up 3 times in the middle of the night and go to the loo… no flush toilets out here, not even any toilets, squatting it is!! She’ll get used to it . The Black Desert gets its name from the black colour that it appears to be (duhh..), there are millions of black rocks on the surface of the sand, small and big that give it this black appearance… pretty cool place to be camping under the stars.

Tuesday 3rd Jan, Day 94 – The Western Desert (White Desert)
Bright and early, up with the sun, this morning! Nick wanted to have breakfast at 7:00am and on the road by 7:30am, not hard when everyone’s awake by 6! Brekky was porridge but there was also cereal and fruit. We got on the road early, which is a good start for day 2. Today, we drove into the White Desert. Before we got there though, we had to pass a few oases, a few toilet stops and a few tourist spots. First tourist spot was “The Crystal Mountain” which was also the entry point to the White Desert. This ‘mountain’ was really only a little hill of rocks, which shone in the sunlight because of small crystals of quartz. The White Desert gets it’s name not from the colour of the sand, but all the chalk in the area, and as we headed further in, we could see more and more chalk rocks sticking out of the sand. After a while, we stopped for lunch at a cool looking place called The Mushrooms. Here all the chalk rocks from a distance looked like mushrooms, but as we checked them out before lunch, they all had different shapes making them look like anything; from frogs to sea turtles. Our first truck lunch was pretty good; naan bread with cheese, ham, some salad and fruit. After that, it was just a quick 20min drive back to our camp stop for the night. It was a fair bit off the beaten track, towards this massive sand dune that came between two cliffs which looked very cool from the road, and even better when we arrived. We still had plenty of time this arvo, so we went for a bit of a stroll towards a rocky outcrop to get some photos, have a rest, and then headed back to camp. When we got back, everyone bar 4 people had put up tents for the night, afraid of sand blowing in their faces. We didn’t, another night under the stars.  Jess proceeded to have another rest, while Mischa played soccer with himself, kicking the ball up the sand dune, and waiting for it to roll back down. It amused him for over half-an-hour before someone else joined in. Before long, the sun was setting, so we headed up the cliffs to try and get a good view from the top. Unfortunately, seeking no direction we went up through a wrong valley, a very steep wrong valley, and never made it to the top. Mischa also went without shoes, so it wasn’t the most comfortable trip. We got down safely before it went too dark, so we had a ‘baby wipe’ shower and waited for dinner to be cooked. Dinner came and went, and as we had 2 birthday’s today, Nick had made 2 cakes too!! What a treat!! Twinkie Cream Cake and Huava Ho Ho Cake. The Twinkies were a hit, the Huava was VERY sweet, so didn’t go down as well. We also had another visitor while washing up, a desert fox. Apparently very inquisitive but fairly shy, they have been known to sniff peoples’ faces during the night when not in a tent (Jess got nervous…). After that, it was a bit of chatting round the campfire, before heading to bed as the temperature starting dropping.

(4th Jan) Day 95 – The Western Desert (El Kazr – Mo’s Rooftop)
Final day in the desert started fairly early, as Nick decided we would head to a ‘bathing’ spot for breakfast as we were all starting to get a bit on the smelly side. So, packed and on the road by 7:30am, we arrived at some hot springs at about 8:30am. The hot springs reminded us a bit of home, as they were packed full of sulphur, but it didn’t stop most people getting their togs on and having a bit of a dip. It was hot, so Jess put her feet in but Mischa stayed far away, helping with breakfast. We all ate and headed off, just back into the Oases a bit to have a look at a local artist’s gallery, Badr’s Gallery. This guy has displayed artwork around the world, including sculptures, sand painting and water-colours. His main dream was to create something that you can touch….feel….share. He introduced himself and his gallery, explaining about his guest house he had created like a traditional mud brick house. It was quite interesting, and you could see he was very passionate about his countrymen, country and artwork. We all enjoyed it immensely, and grabbed our complimentary postcards before hopping onto the truck to head towards El Kazr.
On the way, we stopped very much in the desert for lunch, surrounded by hills that weren’t as big as some of the girls wanted to hide behind for toilet breaks. It was a pretty big drive day after that, pulling into El Kazr and Mo’s (Mohammed’s) Rooftop for the night about an hour before the sun went down. This gave us enough time to head up the road to the deserted, original El Kazr made entirely from mud bricks. This was built around the 11th/12th Century, and had many original buildings intact to walk through. With our guide, we had a look at the prison, the school (one room), the hanging place (outside the door to the school!!), the judge’s house, the mosque, the grinding rooms and finished up in a little museum that had a number of old artifacts in it. We also had the opportunity to climb the minaret, which a few (incl Mischa) took up to get some great views over the city as the sun set. Back at Mo’s Rooftop, we grabbed some snacks for the next long drive day from the closest ‘shop’ before having a wonderful dinner. Mo’s Rooftop is like a mini-hotel come restaurant. He provided heaps of food, from chicken, to soup, to potato chips. We all were very satisfied as we headed up to the top of his place where we were sleeping for the night (in our sleeping bags). We had a fire going to try and warm it up, but the wind was still a bit chilly, so we didn’t last long before everyone went to sleep.

(5th Jan) Day 96 – Aswan (huge drive day)
Our biggest drive day, starting before the sun came up and finishing after it went down, pretty much all in the truck. Luckily, we were all able to charge devices up at Mo’s place, so we were set to listen to music, watch movies, read some books, do puzzles or play some chess. We got up before the prayer call started to go out at 5am, had some breakfast, and hit the road. There wasn’t much to see on this trip, as we had been in the desert for a few days, and it doesn’t really change that much. We did pass through a few oases, and headed out of the White Desert so the scenery changed a little, but not enough to amuse us too much. A bit of sleeping, a nice truck lunch stop where it was a bit windy so threw sand into the food (but not too much) and a lot of nothingness happened today. In the last few hours, the chess came out, and Mischa got involved in that as Jess continued to finish puzzle after puzzle!! We also hit a bit of a speed bump (not literally), but at a checkpoint for the shortcut to Aswan, we were not allowed through, so we had to take the MUCH longer way along the River Nile, which was nice, but very slow as we passed through many towns, most of them hauling tractors full of sugar cane to the mill for the night. This was very busy, a bit like South America, with cars, buses, trucks, tuk tuks and motorbikes coming centimeters from each other, even one tractor’s load scraping down the side of the truck. When we did pull into Aswan, thankfully dinner was waiting at the hotel’s restaurant, so we checked in, had a quick shower before heading down to fill up. The food was good, but we were about to get used to it, as chicken, rice and soup became a staple over the next few days!! After dinner, even though we hadn’t done much, we were all very tired, so called it a night. So we will too. Night.

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