Egypt: White Desert

One night in a thousand stars hotel…
For a long time I dreamed to go to Egyptian White Desert for an overnight camping and at the begin of this year my dream came true…

White Desert National Park is located between the town Farafra and Bahariyya Oasis. The area is protected since 2002. The first time I heard of this place was in a popular Bollywood movie “Kabhi khushi kabhi gham” (Sometimes happy, sometimes sad) featered stars Kajol and Sharukh Khan.

All the tours to this White Desert were so expensive so I decided with my friend that we will go another time and that we will find more people for this adventure.
When we came back to Cairo from our trip in the south of Egypt, my friend received a message around 10 pm at evening, that a group is going following day to the White Desert and they’re looking for more people to join. When she asked me if I want to go to the White Desert next day, I couldn’t say no.

The next day at 5 am we were on our way to the Bahariyya Oasis with people we met in the morning and where had to meet our driver and the rest of the group.

We reached our camping place after the sunset. For a dinner our driver cooked a chicken, rise and vegatables. The only light we had, came from the moon and from the bonfire. Drinking tea and listening to music never was so calming. I slept like a baby…

In the morning the white chalk rocks that look like a huge mushrums and the rising sun welcomed us in a purple-pink atmosphere. I will never forget this epic breakfast view.

On the way back to the Bahariyya Oasis we visited two other places. The first one: Crystal Mountain.

Crystal Mountain are actually ridges in different form. To belong to the top of one of a ridge we had to clawl into a cave and then climb up the rocks. The sand in this cave was the softest sand I´ve ever touchted.

After our visit to the Crystal Mountain we stopped by the Black Desert. The mounds look like molehills. Of course we had to climb up on one of them, and it had to be the highest one. On the way up I thouth I will die. At this time my condition was very bad and the path was covered with sand. It made climbing even more difficult. Two steps up and one step down. At this place I have to thank my friends to motivate me not to give up. It was worth the effort. The view was amazing. The photos don´t give it justice.

It wasn’t a comfortable trip. The night was very cold (I guess around 0°C), we didn’t have a toilet or a shower. But what don’t we do to fulfil our dreams?