On My First Trip to Egypt
I knew I would visit the Pyramids of Giza and the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. Being a nature lover (I talk about my love for nature traveling here), I wanted something beyond the busy attractions. That’s how I stumbled upon an overnight White Desert Tour. After an afternoon of walking around Cairo and dodging vehicles racing down streets, I needed some quiet time outside the city.
I read some info and blogs online about White Desert Tours but didn’t know if it would be as magical as people described. I had never been to a desert before. This blog post takes you along the ride of my experience escaping from the noise and crowds of Cairo in May 2022 into an otherworldly landscape.
Start of the White Desert Tour: Cairo to the Bahariya Oasis
Early in the morning, four other travelers and I pile into an air-conditioned van to travel 370 kilometers away from the city into the Western Desert of Egypt. As we drive, the congested traffic dissipates. The view outside the window becomes an endless horizon of golden sand. Odd low-growing shrubs are the only contrasting color in the land.
By noon, we arrive in Bahariya Oasis, eat lunch, and meet our bedouin guide and driver who shows us to the 4×4 Jeep that will take us into the desert. We pile the trunk up with camping gear and food supplies: sleeping bags, flashlights, vegetables, bread, and chicken.
Entering the Black Desert
With a full belly, combined with the midday sun blazing, and the monochromatic sandy scenery, I’m lulled into a sleepy hypnosis. Few vehicles pass us on the two-lane highway that runs through the wild open plain.
“First, we stop at the Black Desert,” our guide announces. The sun has leathered his skin, and he squints rather than wearing sunglasses like us foreigners.
After a few hours, we spot black conical mountains among the taupe flattened terrain. The ancient volcanos that retired millions of years ago match the silence and stillness of the barren landscape.
We climb out of the car to climb up one of the extinct volcanoes to take panoramic pictures of the identical black peaks around us. The dark granules layered over the reddish earth crunch under my soles.
It’s a stark contrast to the jarring street noise in Cairo. Now all I hear is my footsteps and the wisps of wind through my hair. The silence is a relief and fine-tunes my awareness of details.
Sparkles at Crystal Mountain
Our second stop on the White Desert tour is at Crystal Mountain. At first, I was disappointed since the ‘mountain’ appears as a modest mound of rock and sand from a distance.
We swerve off the desert highway onto a dirt track toward the sandy-colored mound. Our guide shuts off the engine and tells us to follow him. My boots sink into the silky sand as I trudge up the hill.
Once around the back of the mound, we face a mass of transparent crystals that jut out of the sand vertically, creating a dazzling sparkly blanket. Other sections of the mountain that I thought were rock from afar turned out to be individual shards clumped together forming a giant hunk of crystal.
“Barite and Calcite crystals.” Our guide points down to one of the bigger slabs of clear crystal poking out of the sand. We kneel on the ground to watch how the shining sun reflects on the crystal causing it to glitter and shine.
It seems random that this massive collection of beautiful stones exists in this desolate sandy place. This is no ordinary desert of dunes and sand storms. From the charred tips of the Black Desert to the hidden gems here, I’m starting to believe that deserts aren’t such bleak environments after all.
White Desert Tour Campsite
As we drive away from Crystal Mountain, tall cliffs appear in the distance on either side of the highway. A few hours later, we turn off onto another dirt track next to a sign that reads, “White Desert National Park”. Popping out from the tawny-colored sand are chalky white clumps of rock jutting upwards in mushroom shapes.
For the first time all day, we see other jeeps full of foreigners on their own White Desert Tours driving along the sand tracks. Our guide swerves into different wheel-marked paths until we find a spot to ourselves. We find a tall rock formation with a broad top like a colossal diving board above the sand that was once the bottom of the sea.
With the sun beating down, the pasty-white rock is blinding. The countless mushroom-shaped stones aren’t what I’d expect to encounter in a desert. Walking between these calcified rocks is like passing through a bizarre, alien-like forest.
As the sun lowers toward the horizon, we arrive at the tent in the desert designated for us and our guide.
“We leave this up for our tours.” Our guide peels away a corner of the red and orange patterned fabric of the tent’s door to show us inside. “We’ll eat dinner here, but you can either sleep in here or in a sleeping bag in the sand tonight.”
While our guide prepares dinner, we tourists climb onto a wide rock to watch the sunset over the White Desert around us. The bright white of the chalky limestone formations convert into shadowed silhouettes as the the sun glows into a deep orange.
Sleeping Under the Stars
After eating our barbecued vegetables, chicken, and rice, we unfurl our sleeping arrangements for the night. The weather at night is refreshing and not too cold. There are no mosquitoes or many insects in such an arid environment, so I agree with the rest of the group to camp under the stars.
It’s May. The daily temperature rises above 30 degrees Celcius, but at night the temperature drops to around 20. Some argue the best time to visit Egypt is the winter, but had it been any cooler, I would have slept inside the tent. At around 20 degrees, I’m comfortable with a sleeping bag insulating me from the light breeze.
I zip myself into my sleeping bag and face the sky above. Stargazing is always my favorite part about coming out into the wilderness. Growing up in Toronto, each night sky was a black cover with a dim orange hue layered over it.
Looking up at a 360-degree view of glimmering stars in the sky, the perspective of the Earth’s curvature and the size of the universe is clear. The wind brushing through my hair quiets. There’s no sound, not even a cricket’s chirp, or the rustling of sand in the wind.
In this silence and clear atmosphere, the stars in outer space don’t feel so far out of reach. Sleeping under the twinkling lights, I feel a stronger connection to the world around me.
An Adorable Visitor
In the morning we wrap up our sleeping bags. Suddenly, there’s a scurrying noise behind the tent. Our guide makes a clicking noise like he’s calling a dog. A short shadow bolts behind the tent to underneath the jeep.
“What is it?” I ask.
“Fox.” Our guide whispers and clicks through his teeth again.
One of the few specimens of desert wildlife here is the Fennec Fox. It’s smaller than the red-furred foxes I’ve seen back home in Canada. The Fennec Fox sports larger ears, and a dusty beige color to blend into its sandy habitat.
These cute creatures must be accustomed to munching on dinner scraps left out by campers like us. After ten minutes of riffling through the scraps we left outside the tent, the fox runs into the empty desert.
Moon Rocks in Agabat Valley
There’s one stop left on our White Desert tour before returning to Cairo. We turn off the highway again this morning to a wide valley of taller cliffs like I saw in the distance yesterday. There aren’t any sparkly crystals or ancient volcanoes—the tall mountains warrant a stop.
Sand wraps up to the sides of one of the cliff faces, where our guide urges us to try sand boarding. I decide to walk up for a view of the mountains instead. I drag my feet across the dunes of sand, kicking tiny granules up the back of my legs as I move. I reach a sturdy rocky surface where we have a higher viewpoint of the surrounding canyon.
One of the guys on the tour points out that the black smooth stones at our feet are heavy relative to their size.
“I’ve never felt a rock this dense and heavy before.” he tosses the inch-long shiny black rock up and down into his palm.
I kneel to pick one up myself. “It’s like it’s from another planet.”
While the brown and yellow rocky mountains around me seem normal, the heavy black stones at my feet make me feel like I’m in a scene from Star Wars. I spin around to take in the vastness, silence, and stillness one last time before jumping back into the jeep.
End of the White Desert Tour: Back to Cairo
Touring through the Western Desert reminded me that no matter how much cities expand and rise tall, places like the White Desert exist. These kinds of natural and surreal landscapes can instill a sense of peace and calm. If I find myself in this area of Egypt again, I will look for other places to explore in the desert region.
Booking a White Desert Tour
Seeing the unique landscapes of the Black Desert, Crystal Mountain, Agabat Valley, and the White Desert was a great first desert experience. I was glad I made the time for this White Desert tour during my week in Egypt to see it.
The only thing that could have improved my experience is if I had the option of an extended tour of more places further in the Western Desert not included in the White Desert Tour.
With more time, I would have liked to visit the Siwa Oasis. Western Desert Tours offers multi-night tours and customized private tours (I didn’t travel with them, but they have great reviews).
For a budget-friendly hostel in Cairo with a convenient location, I’d suggest Dahab Hostel. Through them, I booked my tour through the White Desert. If you are looking for different or longer tours you can search for other companies like Western Desert Tours.
Have You Visited the White Desert?
I’m interested to hear others’ thoughts and experiences and if there are any other tours that you’d suggest for the Western Desert region. What other places in Egypt did you like best?
If you enjoyed this blog you might also like to read about my thoughts about sublime landscapes replacing religion in the modern world.
Thanks for reading friends, I wish you all the best in your next nature adventure!
Much love,
Dee 