Arrival Day.
It took me 2 minutes to change my mind, and decide to join Maroun to Egypt rather than travel to Cyprus. The date was set, but transportation and guides were still not organized. After around 7 to 10 days of searching and talking to people we finally found a direction with regard to addressing this subject. Thanks to Maroun, we finally referred to guides Mahmoud and Imad who know the desert inside out. You can check their page here. They were very friendly, caring and hard working. More on them will be shared throughout this post.
We reached Cairo Airport on June 29 at around 1:00pm. The landing was not the best, and my fear of flying kicked in in full force once the pilot took quiet a while to land. I believe he circled around 2 times, twice tightly tilting towards the left. Passengers were calm, and it probably wasn’t as bad as it felt, but in my mind, it was horrible.
We eventually met up with Ahmad our taxi, to start the 6 hour journey to Bahariya. As we left Cairo, and headed south, the environment around us changed. Sand, rocks, the vastness and emptiness of the desert replaced the congested slabs of concrete that make up the city. Villages, resting stops, army checkpoints were scattered throughout the route.
We finally reached Bahariya, and met our guides, who greeted us with a huge lunch in their small resting place. Sitting on the floor, shoes off, relaxing as the sun was setting, we discussed our plan, what we had in mind and where we wanted to go. An hour later, we were all set, and off to begin our 5 day journey in the desert.
Days 1 and 2.
After driving further south for 1.5 hours, we finally reached a path that took us deep into the White Desert reserve, to an area called Aqabat. We were surrounded by large rocks, bulging out of the ground. The darkness, ohh the darkness. What we witnessed on these two nights was even darker than what we experienced in Wadi Rum. The brightness of the Milky Way was amazing, and all 4 of us, looked at it for a while, enjoying its beauty, its clarity and its magnitude. Eventually we got cracking on, and began our first photography night. In the meantime, camp was set up by our hard working guides.
These were the darkest nights we experienced in the desert, and the light emitted by all these stars, gently and ever so faintly lit up the ground. The darkness would give way to daylight. We had our breakfast, then drove and searched for some nice photography spots while enjoying the vastness of this remarkable desert. Evening time would arrive and our guides would prepare a delicious dinner for us. On our first night, we got to see the moon rise over the horizon. It as a beautiful site to see. The second night was as rewarding as the first.
Days 3 and 4.
Breakfast was done, camp was packed and we moved on to another area that was different than the first two nights. Large boulders were replaced by small rock formations, shaped and carved by the forces of nature over thousands and thousands of years. We saw rocks that resembled owls, frogs, faces and even apes. It was all down to what our mind would make out of them. The ground was sandy, yet you would see patches of flat white rocks here and there, some were smooth, others were rough, others resembled miniature shapes of waves.
Daytime was hot, boiling hot, the sun was scorching, and thirst would not leave us far behind. Water was essential, and was needed in plentiful. That 4x4, although it looked small from the outside, it contained resources that would last us for much longer than our scheduled 5 days. The guides did a great job at providing us with all that we needed. We struggled with phone coverage throughout the trip, and by now, it was three days without any proper contact with our family at home. That did not leave them in a good mood, but what can we do about that? By now you might be wondering, how did we shower or did we shower at all? The answer is a big large NO, at least for the first 4 days. More on that below, but for now, some more pics from our trip.
After spending three nights in the white desert, and after much deliberation on where to go next, we decided to go to the Black Desert. On our way, we had some several stops that included a bit of sightseeing. The guides took us to their village, Bahariya, showed us some shops, a large lake used for farming and irrigation, and gave us a taste of some of their food.
We also got a taste of some of their street food. It was tasty.
So back to the shower. After finishing the 4th day, and smelling horribly bad, and in need of a shower, our guides took us to a nice coffee place in a small village while en route to another location. They had a small man made reservoir that would collect water and then send it through different irrigation pipes. Personally i was quiet hesitant to swim in it at first, since there were people around and i had no swimsuit, so it was only my boxers, but my stench and the 4 day old sweat get the best of me. Eventually i got in and it felt superb.
We finally reached the Black Desert, a vast land with some huge mountains covered in black volcanic rocks. We camped there for our final night. I decided not to just photograph, but to actually relax and enjoy my last night in the desert with the company of the group. Our guides had their friends join us, and they cooked up a nice dinner of Harisse. Fatigue set in, and i fell asleep several times during that night.
Day 5 - The farewell.
It was our last day in the desert and we were heading back to Cairo for the remaining two days. We bid our guides a good farewell. As i mentioned in the beginning of this post, these guys worked really hard to make sure we were having a good time, and without them, and their hard work, this trip would not have been as good as it was. So thank you to Mahmoud, Imad and Ahmad for these 5 days in the desert.