Western Desert Circuit - Day 1

Our transport through the desert

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Monday was the start of our four day adventure out into the Western Desert with the Bedouins.  We were going to spend the next 4 days doing the Great  Desert circuit which runs for over 1000K  from Cairo to Luxor. It was nice to leave the caos and pollution of Cairo behind and explore a part Egypt's lesser know areas.  We were met early morning by three Bedouins - Saleh, Hussain and Mohammed. Our transport was two very old Landcruiser troupe's with tape players that played non stop arab pop !.  It was two hours before we actually said goodbye to Cairo as this was how long it took to get out of the Suburbs ! A city of 20 million certainly spreads out a fair few K's.   Our first stop was a pee stop and this is where all us girls got to know each other very quickly, 7 lily white asses lined up behind a sand dune !! Bahariya Oasis was our next stop,  a small rural community and not quite  what I expected of  an Oasis,  there was no  ring of palms encircling a tempting pool instead it was miles of palms encircling bricks and mortar, some in major need of repair !  The major highlight of this Oasis is the children following us around in packs and who loved posing for photo's.  They also kept asking us for pens and if we had known this we would of stocked up on them.    On leaving the town we continued through the Oasis passing the Valley of the Golden Mummies the largest stash of mummies ever found and into the Black Desert.  The black desert looked very volcanic and it was like being on the moon, we stopped at a neat little hill that you could climb to get a 360 degree view.  Our lunch stop was a little roadside cafe/shop where the Bedouins would make use of the kitchen facilities to prepare  lunch.  We all had to take it turns helping with lunch and washing up over the next 4 days so I volunteered to help with the preparation of the salad.  Lunch was simple food of Pitta Bread, tomato salad, eggs and tuna.  The White Desert was where we were heading for in the afternoon and when we got there it was  amazing.  We stopped first at Crystal Mountain an area composed entirely of quartz crystal. On entering the White Desert we could see white pinnacles of all shapes and sizes sticking out the ground, we have never seen anything like this before it was spectacular.  The further we drove into the desert the more spectacular the white pinnacles became. Our camp spot for the night was off road into the desert itself, our campsite was simple, we slept on bedouin mats and thin foam mattresses.  Sleeping under the stars, the deafening silence and the silhouette of the white desert formations against the moon made this place truly magical.  It was only spoilt by one minor thing.. I got the dreaded Mummy Tummy so I didn't get much sleep that night  !!