Blogs from Western Desert, Egypt, Africa - page 3

So I left the Akram Inn, and the company of the two Australians I met on the ferry, and with trepidation back in my heart, I headed off on my own to the bus station for a 10hour overnight bus to Siwa, a small oasis in the middle of the Western Desert, just 40miles from Libya. On my own, for the first time. It was good to have some company for the first few days, but I was now ready to head off alone - it had all been a bit too predictable and dare i say it, almost too easy so far. I wonder how long I'll regret writing those few words? I found my way to the station, even to the correct platform, was getting used to being the only white face in the ... read more

Jeudi le 21 octobre, Vous avez ete bien chanceux hier d avoir de nos nouvelles! On logeait dans un petit hotel d un oasis du desert egyptien et par miracle, il y avait internet! Voici donc aujourd hui le debut de nos aventures dans le desert egyptien! Carlo est encore debout a l heure des poules, il en profite pour aller faire un tour sur internet, c est a se demander ce qu il va faire pendant 6 jours dans le desert sans ordinateur! Nous n avons pas le temps de prendre notre dejeuner que notre chauffeur, Mustapha Mohammad Ali arrive, a 7:45. Et c est parti pour un 3 heures de route a 150 km/heure. Ce qui devait etre un trajet de 4-5 heures devient finalement un court trajet de 3 heures de route. On ... read more

We've been traveling through the Middle East for almost 3 months now, we've seen desert. We've seen vast expanses of sand and rock. We've visited remote castles and isolated villages. They've been interesting, enjoyable, but none really compare to the spectacular scenery of Egypt's Western Desert. It was already midday before the coach dropped us off in Bawiti, the biggest town in Baharia Oasis (yes, the oases are big enough to have multiple villages in them!), so by the time we'd met the other tourists and the local drivers who would take us into the desert in two 4x4s and stopped for 'bedouin lunch' it was getting fairly late in the afternoon and we weren't too inspired. However the road soon took us far away from other people, to where hours pass with just sand and ... read more

Nice when things live up to your expectations. Films, documentaries and stories have fed my imagination since I was a pup and for me the Sahara became the quintessential desert, populated by Bedouins, small towns clustered around oases, mile after mile of sand hills, rocks eroded by the incessant winds - a hard, extremely fragile environment that takes no prisoners. Deserts are special places for me and this one lives up to its reputation as the daddy of them all. We joined our Dragoman/Intrepid tour on the 23rd. This required us to move from our place at the Juliana Hotel where we were very comfortable - after we sorted a room issue. The place we moved to was OK but it was into a dorm room with 7 people, including us. Dorms I can live with ... read more

I have been patiently waiting to find the right time to travel to this remote oasis located in the Western Desert of the Sahara, only 40 km away from Libya. When I found out in May that my friend from high school, Mushi, was planning to visit me in Egypt, I knew right away that we needed to make the journey to Siwa. After running late and being stuck in horrendous Cairo traffic on the way to the bus station we finally made it onto the overnight public bus. While running through the Turgamon Bus Station to get to our bus gate, I had flashbacks to episodes of The Amazing Race. The bus ride from Cairo to Siwa normally takes 11 hours, however, luck was not on our side and our bus broke down in the ... read more