Bahiriya Oasis and the Black and White Deserts

Last weekend (beginning on Thursday, Nov. 14), my group of travel friends and I journeyed over to the Bahiriya Oasis (about 4 hours west of Cairo) in the Libyan Desert in order to see the famous Black and White Deserts south of Bahiriya and north of the Farafra Oases.

On Wednesday, the day before we left, both Ike and I came down with some sickness. Ike must have had food poisoning, and I think I had a stomach bug. Both of us were bed ridden for the day, and convinced we wouldn't be joining our friends on the trip we had been planned on taking. That night, we both started feeling a little better. I picked up some medicine from a local pharmacy, and went to bed assuming I would try to go on the trip, but if I didn't feel up to it, then I wouldn't go. Luckily, I was able to wake up incredibly early 5 am, pack up, and get ready to head out with the rest of the group. We took a bus from Cairo to Bahiriya. The ride wasn't too bad, especially considering it cost us about 10 bucks each.

After driving in the desert for about 4 hours or so, you begin to notice hills in the distance, and below these hills, in the valley below, you notice a sea of green. As you guessed, we had arrived at the Oasis. To give you an idea of what it looks like amidst the desert and hills around it, I snapped a photo from our "base camp." Or as we called it, Chicken Coup Number Two (remember Aqaba, Jordan?).

The Return of the Chicken Coup

After settling into our huts, the owner of the campsite took us on a tour of Bahiriya. Bahiriya, like most oases, contains a couple of natural springs, and tons of palm trees. We visited a hot spring and cold spring. The hot spring wasn't quite what I had expected. I guess I was thinking of something I had seen in National Geographic: Little pools of hot, steamy water. The hot spring at Bahiriya consisted of a pipe coming out of the ground with water flowing out of it into a cement bath. The cold spring, on the other hand, was more of a small lake. Both, however, absolutely reeked. This took away from the experience a bit, but nonetheless, the appearance of water in the middle of the Libyan Desert was a fantastic sight to behold.

From the springs, we drove over some sand dunes (or as I like to call it, an Egyptian Roller Coaster) and arrived at Pyramid Mountain, which looked beautiful in the setting sun. 

Pyramid Mountain

After climbing up part of Pyramid Mountain and getting some pictures of the valley oasis below, we headed over to the English House on top of another hill to watch the sunset.

The English House with moon in the background

The English House seems to have been some sort of fort for the Queen's soldiers in Egypt. After trying to research this little gem, I couldn't really come up with any information other than its great location affording excellent sunset views.

Sunset at Bahiriya

After getting back from a wonderful night in Bahiriya, we all hit the hay for a long day of desert touring ahead of us.

Descending down a sand dune

As you can see, we piled into an old 4x4 for our desert adventure. Our first stop was a large dune in the black desert. We actually got stuck at the top of the dune because one of the girls screamed when she realized that we would be descending the dune, thus forcing our driver to stop. We all had to get out and rock the SUV side to side in order to get sand under the tires, thereby raising it up and allowing it to get more clearance for getting over the summit of the dune. From there, we drove through the desert until we arrived at the Dune of the Horse, a huge mountain (not really a dune) near the road. The climb up the small mountain was not the safest of ascents, but it was a fun challenge, worth the view from the top.

View of the Black Desert

As you can see, the Black Desert is true to its name: the desert is riddled with small black stones. Another long drive brought us south and closer to the highlight of the trip, the White Desert.

First we stopped at the edge of the White Desert to get some naturally growing crystals and a great view of what was in store for later.

It's amazing how different the two deserts are

Despite a satisfying lunch, Ike finally succumbed to the wrath of the White Desert

As sunset neared, we entered the prime attraction of the White Desert: an expansive plain of wind-carved white sand stone forming a beautiful contrast with the colorful setting sun on the horizon. After walking around this sea of white, we set up camp.

White Desert at sunset

As the sun dropped, the temperature fell through the floor. Before we knew it, each one of us was bundled up in multiple layers, fighting for space around a small fire our guide was using for cooking our dinner, which, by the way, was amazing and left us more than satisfied. With our stomachs full, spirits high, and at the edge of sleep, we snuggled into our sleeping bags under the beautiful blanket of stars above. The sky wasn't as quite as beautiful as Wadi Rum, but it seemed a universe away from Cairo.

Sunrise in the White Desert

The Mushroom and Chicken

Waking up the next morning felt like falling into a Salvador Dali painting. The rising sun and spectacular rock formations only reminded me of one of his surreal paintings. After eating a small breakfast, we got back into our ride and made our way back to Bahiriya, and from there, to Cairo.

Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed going to these two deserts.

Ma'a salaama,

Blair