Advertisement
Al-Kharga
Hossam asleep during 4WD drive to desert oases Back again for another instalment of Dave's (not so) epic Egyptian Adventure!!
I think I left everybody with much too succinct account of the Nile Valley portion of the Gecko's "Nile Valley and Western Desert" tour. And as abominable it is to me, I have to apologize for my poor grammar. Anyhow, onwards......
Packed into our four wheel drives and off to the desert with our Bedouin guides, some of the girls on the tour have quickly adopted their Bedouin names, most of which I cannot recall at the moment as the time for reflection has been too little. Heading out towards Al-Kharga (or the "exit" oasis), we stopped by a little area to visit some Coptic tombs/churches, most of which were quite underwhelming (especially compared to the monastery at Wadi El-Natrun), but there are some paintings/frescos of various scenes from the Old Testament. However, back at the little cafe/restaurant situated near the site, hilarity ensued as cheeky Cayley, trying to cool off in the desert heat, decided to splash water from her water bottle at Hossam. War had begun, and let me say, revenge is a bitch. After a decent water fight, complete with collateral damage (i.e.
Western Desert
Our desert campsite at twilight in Western Desert myself), it ended with jugs of water poored all over Cayley, so that she was drenched head to toe, including her white pants - much to the amusement of the "interested" Bedouins.
After more driving (of which there was a lot of during the following days), we reached our desert camp for the night. Sheltered from the wind by our 4wds, and makeshift curtains (for lack of a better word), we explored more sand dunes, climbed small peaks, and avoided stepping in everyone elses shit (there are no toilets per se, and the campsite had been used before), all the while enjoying yet another absolutely gorgeous sunset. We had a nice Bedouin meal by the campfire (lentil soup never tasted soo good), and danced and clapped along to Bedouin songs until we collapsed to sleep under the stars. I remember, briefly, waking in the middle of the night to a blanket of stars and trying to stay awake to take it all in, but my weary eyes got the better of me......
Next morning, we awoke and packed up (making sure the desert foxes hadn't stolen anything), and made our way to Dahklar - the next major Western
Western Desert
Sunset at campsite in Western Desert Desert Oasis. I think we reached the Bedouin "camp" (more like a little resort) around midday to early afternoon. After an afternoon nap and settling in, it was another dinner, followed by more singing and dancing around a campfire. The next day, we started early with a bit of sand boarding over the dunes in the morning. Hilarious fun!! Sand got into bodily crevices like you wouldn't believe!! We cooled of later that morning by visiting the so called "Magical Spring". So-called, as when we got there, the hot spring resembled something more like a sewer, and with the sulfur, smelt just as appealing. Hossam, quite annoyed at this (apparently he didn't recall it being this rank on his last visit), found us another hot "spring". Well, this "spring" was a hot mineral water pump, with associated little pool and irrigation channels. Some of us jumped in anyway, and it was quite refreshing - until we got out and realised the iron in the water had stained some of our clothes. That evening, we set off on our camels into the desert to watch the sunset - and was once again treated to another spectacular view.
Next day we
Western Desert
Climbing sand dune in Western Desert set off to the White Desert for our last night in the desert together. Oh my god, the landscape in the Western Desert is truly remarkable. Having once been the floor of a sea, the chalk formation formed by wind erosion has carved out amazing rock formations. And as the sun decended over the horizon, and the colors change - the view was simply breathless. The pictures don't do it justice and I hope that you get even a glimpse of what it was really like. Dinner was once again a Bedouin meal followed by a sing and dance.
Curiously, as there were a number of other tours in the Western Desert that night, as we were heading off to sleep - some Japanese tourists from another camp came wandering into ours, IN THE DARK, probably coaxed by the chorus of voices and the rhythm of our drums. After noticing that we were retiring for the night, the girls giggled and headed back to their camp.
Early morning start and we headed back to Cairo some 550km away from the Western Desert. There was praise for Kara (aka 'Nora') for resisting the advances of one our Bedouin guides
Western Desert
Camel trek in Western Desert near Dahkla who proclaimed his love for her and for her to be his wife. On the way to Cairo we passed by the Black Desert (as volcanic ash has caked the otherwise sandy desert), and the Crystal Mountain (which wasn't really sparkly). Once back at our substandard hotel and the chaos of Cairo - it was hard to believe all that we had seen over the last 10 or so days. Team Habibi will be remembered as the best tour group I've ever had, and as we prepared to go our separate ways, our usual jovial selves were more restrained. After a disappointing dinner to see the Pyramids of Giza by night, and a lazy morning, we bid farewell to each other.
Sorry to see the others go, i prepared to join my Intrepid group for the next phase of my journey.... Cairo to Istanbul.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.058s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0335s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb