Desert & Dunes

We were at breakfast early this morning as the driver from Western Desert Tours was due to pick us up at 8:00am. We were ready 10 minutes early, which was just as well since the driver was 15 minutes early!

The tour proper actually starts from Bahariya Oasis, which is about a five hour drive south west of Cairo. The first bit was getting out of Cairo, and this proved more challenging for our driver than we would have expected. Quite a few times he wound his window down to seek directions from drivers in the lane next to him. Once, after stopping to talk to a chap on the median strip, he did a u-turn - only to do another u-turn a couple of kilometres later after stopping to talk with someone else. All this helped to compound the feeling that it takes a long time to get out of Cairo, with a steady stream of apparently new suburbs coming into view just when we thought we had reached the outskirts.

The Egyptian road stop.

Once we did get out of Cairo the scenery became a whole lot less interesting with a fairly featureless landscape. After about three hours we stopped for a rest break at a little Egyptian style road stop. Not much to choose from in the way of food (mostly nondescript biscuits or cakes) or drinks (mostly sugary and fizzy). We tried some local chocolates with mixed success. About 10 minutes later we had a quick fuel stop at a  modern service station that looked like it had a much more agreeable selection of snacks available. Pity.

It was about 1:00pm when we made it to Khaled's place in Bahariya Oasis. Khaled, who is the founder and owner of Western Desert Tours, wasn't there himself - he was off organising something else - but our driver (Hamhuoda) and guide (Mahmoud) were waiting for us with the 4WD all ready. First we were served lunch, which was both plentiful and delicious - and set the tone for the next couple of days. Once we had eaten we packed a small bag with what we needed for 48 hours, including two nights camping in the desert, and left the rest of our gear in storage at Khaled's place. On the way out of town we stopped briefly at another house to pick something up and happened to meet Khaled, who was there at the time.

The Black Desert.

New road with wall under construction.

Then it was on the road as we headed out of town just before 2:00pm. It is a very good quality road at this point - recently upgraded to a dual carriageway with a dividing rock wall still under construction. Almost immediately we could see along both sides of the road black conical hills amidst the otherwise black sandy terrain. The area is consequently known as the Black Desert and is the result of volcanic hills formed long ago from the eruption of a dark volcanic material known as dolerite, which has gradually been eroded to coat the desert with a layer of black powder. Within 15 minutes we stopped to allow Laura and I to climb one of the volcanic hills so we could get a panoramic view from the top. The climb was quite steep on sometimes loose stones but there was a well worn path and thankfully the climb only took about 10 minutes in the afternoon heat. The view was certainly worth the climb.

A refreshing dip.

Our next stop was about 20 minutes later, at an agricultural station where water was being pumped from underground to irrigate a plantation of dates and other fruits. We were invited to relax in the little pool that the water was pumped into before flowing off to do irrigating duties. It wasn't a very big pool but it made for a nice refreshing dip nonetheless.

Leaving there about 3:20 we travelled for another 30 minutes before we turned left off the highway and headed off the grid for nearly 48 hours. We were now driving around and over sand dunes as we made our way into the desert proper. We drove through an area known as Crystal Mountain. The name is derived from the abundance of crystalline rocks in the area. Hamhuoda explained that they were formed by a combination of calcium carbonate and calcium manganate being heated to 1,500◦C and then rapidly cooled by water. As the desert is a national park it is illegal to remove these crystals, so no souvenirs were allowed.

Sand ridge nearing sunset.

From there we drove on to the Agabat Valley where the floor of the valley was littered with what looked to be salt pans. After driving around some of these we eventually stopped for the night on  a sand ridge at about 5:15pm. While Hamhuoda and Mahmoud set up camp Laura and I climbed over the ridge behind the camp and watched the sunset. We also clambered on top of a little rocky knoll above the camp for a view.

The lean-to is set up.

Desert panorama.

After dusk we had time to relax in the lean-to that had been erected and tied to the 4WD, as Hamhuoda and Mahmoud prepared a nice dinner of beef stew with salad. While eating dinner we saw a desert fox come trotting out of the darkness and sit on a little nearby hollow in the cliff. We think he had grown accustomed to the possibility of food scraps and Hamhuoda confirmed that desert foxes were neither tame nor a threat but were not scared of people either.

View from the lean-to.

After dinner I took advantage of the clear desert sky and the new moon to try my hand at some Astro Photography. I found that the light of the camp fire served well to silhouette the 4WD and illuminate the face of the ridge which provided a nice foreground to the Milky Way in the sky. I was even lucky enough to get a falling star streak across the sky during one of the 20 second exposures, which particularly thrilled Laura as she said it had been a very long time since she had seen one. I also tried a 10 minute exposure to get some star trails circling the north star.

Shooting star in desert sky.

Come bed time, which was early for me with no digital devices or TV as a distraction, we all just rolled out some mats and sleeping bags and slept in the lean-to, which meant that we could see the stars very distinctly in the clear desert sky.

The next morning I was up early for a dawn photo shoot, with sunrise at about 6:10am. It was nice to watch the morning light gradually creeping across the valley floor. Breakfast was not a rushed affair, which was nice. The freshly made fruit salad was particularly tasty - I don't think I'd ever tried pomegranate before but it is deliciously sweet compared to Australian pomegranates.

Embedded sea shells.

After a leisurely breakfast and pack up, we drove off through the valley to Wadi Henis. Here Hamhuoda  pointed out to us some fossilised mangrove roots on the ground. Nearby there were rocks that contained embedded sea shells. Clearly once upon a time there was a smidgen more water hereabouts!

Dry magic springs.

We continued on to Magic Springs. This spring was considered magic for two reasons. First it is on a high point, when springs are usually found in a low point of the terrain. Secondly it appeared to only run when there were people around to see it. The sad news though is that very recently - after hundreds if not thousands of years - the spring has stopped running altogether. A victim of climate change? A result of too much ground water being extract from underground aquifers for irrigation? Too early to tell.

Roman bones.

A few hundred metres away was an old grave site containing human bones, which forensic archaeologists have dated to Roman times. We also visited another nearby spring - El Maqfi - which was still running. Continuing a bit further we stopped in a shady spot at the foot of a large sand dune where we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch. This was followed by a walk along the ridge of said sand dune.

A shady lunch stop.

Just after lunch we stopped a the top of another large sand dune which offered the chance to do some sand boarding. Laura and I tried this some years ago in South Africa so we didn't feel the need to embarrass ourselves again! However we were happy to watch Hamhuoda and Mahmoud give it a go - though I'd have to say that Mahmoud's style was a little unconventional.

Hamhuoda shows his style.

A less conventional approach...

Moving right along we encountered a rock that was an entire mangrove root system in fossilised form. Pretty amazing. A little further on and we entered the White Desert - renowned for its large white chalk rock formations, created through the weathering action of the wind and sand over thousands of years. It is a very surreal type of landscape.

A shark tooth and a stone age tool.

On the edge of the desert we stopped at a "secret mound" which Khaled and his guides have built over the years, and meticulously covered with fossils and artifacts found in the area. There were fossilised bones, sea shells, shark teeth, stone age tools, fragment of pottery, old clay drinking vessels and even the remains of what looked like very old metal tent pegs. Basically there was items that were millions of years old through to a few hundred years old. Quite an impressive treasure trove.

The desert looking like a choppy sea!

Pano of the desert shapes.

By now late in the day, Laura and I hopped out of the 4WD to walk to the spot where our guides planned to setup camp for the night. It was good to stretch the legs and have a close up look at some of the bizarre shapes that have been created.

By the time we reached camp, Hamhuoda and Mahmoud had the setup well underway. We watched the sunset before kicking back to relax in the lean-to until dinner was ready. Tonight it was chicken, and just as delicious. After dinner, since it wasn't as windy as last night, we decided to try the tent option for sleeping, so we set it up about 20 metres away from the lean-to.

Milky Way and chalky desert mound.

Tonight I wanted to try taking a series of photos that I could merge together to create a star trail circling the north star. I setup the camera on my tripod about 50 metres from our tent, positioned to get one of the white chalky formations in the foreground. First I took a few astro shots of the milky way while using a torch to illuminate the foreground. About 8:30pm I configured the camera to take a continuous series of 30 second exposures and used the cable release to set it running. There were only a couple of other 4WD groups camped about a kilometres away in different directions so I figured it was pretty safe to leave it unattended while I went back to our tent - no-one was going to come looking to steal it in the dark.

The culprit!

The damage.

However when I went back about two hours later I was having trouble spotting the tripod. It was hard to tell in the dark exactly where I had set it up and I couldn't see it silhouetted again the clear night sky. Nor could I hear it clicking every 30 seconds. Eventually I had to start scanning the ground with my torch until I spotted the tripod - lying sprawled on the (fortunately) sandy ground. On closer inspection I was relieved to see that my camera was undamaged but that the remote release cable - which keeps it taking photos one after the other - was in two pieces. Then I spotted the culprit - a desert fox lurking nearby in the shadows. No, not Rommel, a real desert fox - who had apparently been intrigued by this clicky thing mounted on sticks in his domain and had managed to use the dangling cable release to pull the whole thing over. Obviously I was relieved that the camera was not damaged but annoyed that my chance of capturing a star trail was ruined. I collected my camera, tripod and severed cable release and returned to our tent. I guess the lesson is to never leave a camera unattended, even in the desert! It turned out that instead of getting just over two hours worth of photos to merge into a star trail picture I got less than an hour's worth before the desert fox had wreaked its havoc.

Since I was awake early next morning I rose to capture another sunrise over the desert. Of course we were amidst very different scenery compared to yesterday's sunrise and it was interesting to see the play of light on the white outcrops. I went back to "bed" afterwards since there was no rush for an early breakfast.

Mahmoud opens the camp oven.

In fact we were still having breakfast (including more delicious fruit salad) after 8:00am when the other two 4WDs from the one-night tour, already packed up and on the go, came by to say hello. One of the couples even posed to take photos in front of our tent for some reason (?!). We had an extra treat as part of our breakfast today. Mahmoud cooked some bread by putting the dough in the ground and covering it with hot coals and sand. It tasted very nice and we were given the left overs to take with us.

Laura as King of the Castle!

Later, as Mahmoud and Hamhuoda finished packing up, Laura and I strolled over to a large white hillock that offered a nice view of the surrounding surreal landscape. With so much white you sure needed your sunnies in this environment! When the 4WD was all packed and ready our trusty guide and driver came past and picked us up and we continued on to see more of the amazing White Desert, including a number of the different outcrops which bore resemblances to different things. Most notable were the duck, the mushroom and the skull.

The duck.

The skull.

The mushroom.

Leaving the White Desert we continued through more "conventional" desert for a while before we reached the main highway again. After a short stop to look at a well that contained allegedly drinkable water (we opted not to test it) we turned right and headed back towards Bahariya Oasis. Somewhere along the way we passed where we had turned off for Chrystal Mountain two days previously. Already it seemed like a long time ago and we were amazed to realise that there were so many different things to see in what superficially appeared to be a flat and featureless desert landscape.

We made it back to Khaled's place about 12:45pm, where first we had to clean up the mess I'd made on the backseat of the 4WD when the tube of sunscreen in my pocket had leaked. Such a waste of a precious resource! Having arrived back just before the two 4WDs from the one-night tour, Laura and I were able to grab first use of the shower for a much needed cleansing. This was followed by another delicious lunch of generous proportions for all of us. We were a little anxious to get underway since we were booked on the 7:45pm sleeper train from Cairo's Ramses station to Luxor. We were pretty sure we could catch the train at Giza instead of having to drive all the way into central Cairo, but we were not sure how long it took the train to get from Ramses to Giza. Finally at about 2:20pm it was time to bid farewell, pile into the car and head off.

Once again we were surprised at just how cautious our driver was - or how desperate he was to avoid the slightest damage to his car. On one long-ish section of road that appeared to be ready for re-surfacing he drove at not much more than a walking pace the whole time. We stopped at the same roadside stop as we had on the way up, but we made a point of indicating that time was of the essence if we were to make it to the station in time for our train. Having sampled them during the desert tour we now knew that the pound cakes on sale here were actually pretty nice so we bought one to share.

As we subsequently entered Cairo just after sunset and hit the heavy traffic we started to get increasingly anxious about making the deadline for the train. Just as well we weren't trying to catch the train from Ramses because there was no chance we'd have made it. Given we were not sure how much leeway we had to catch it at Giza we still weren't sure we'd make that either as I followed our progress on Google Maps. To his credit our driver picked up on our anxiety and started to drive more like a Cairo cabbie than a nervous nellie. We finally screeched to a halt outside Giza station about 7:50pm and security waved us past the x-ray bag checks when they saw our desperation to reach the platform. In the end we still had about 15 minutes to wait until the sleeper train arrived from Ramses station but it was a lot less of a safety margin than we'd have liked.

However, once we were safely on board and in our cabin we were able to breathe a deep sigh of relief and appreciate the wonderful desert tour we had experienced.