04Experiences

Experience

A night in the White Desert

In the Farafra Depression, about 45 km north of the town of Farafra, lies the White Desert, a protected area since 2002 covering 300 km². Wind and sand have carved its huge blocks of white chalk into mushrooms, pillars and stranger shapes still. Most visitors come from Bahariya Oasis, about 370 km from Cairo, crossing the Black Desert on the way, where volcano-shaped mounds capped with dark basalt, some up to 100 m high, spread over about 30 km. Local guides lead tours from Bahariya into both deserts, and anyone who sleeps among the white rocks watches them change colour at sunset before the clear desert night falls. Dorcas gazelles and fennec foxes live in the reserve, so leave the place as you found it. On the far side of the Western Desert, near Faiyum, Wadi Al-Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, has been on the World Heritage List since 2005 for its fossil skeletons of early whales lying in the sand. Go in winter and pack warm layers: desert nights can drop towards freezing.

0 km²

Area of the White Desert reserve

0 km

Distance from Farafra

up to 100 m

Height of the Black Desert mounds

2005

Wadi Al-Hitan on the World Heritage List