Ramblings from the desert...
I had forgotten just how much I enjoy the desert, or maybe I was just already really tired, being towards the end of our week-long trip. And SICK. Catching food poisoning one day before the desert tour isn't ideal - I didn't sleep at all the night before, didn't eat for 24 hours, and so I wasn't feeling the most excited about endless expanse of sand.
But this probably ended up being my favourite part of the trip.
One doesn't think of the desert as a place that has much of anything. But the Western Desert in Egypt was quite the contrary! (In my 1st desert experience back in 2014 in Wadi Rum of Jordan we mainly spent time making fun of each other in the car, climbing rocks and hills, and taking lots of photos). This time, our guide Osama spent a bit of time explaining all the geological history and characteristics of the desert - how the oasis in Egypt is usually a depression in the land (and the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt has a population of 60,000 - quite different to the image that some of us have of an oasis simply being a few palm trees surrounding a pool of water); how the desert is actually full of underground water, and that a lot of palm trees (among lots of other fruits) are grown in the area which produces dates and Egypt is the world's leading exporter of dates, and that the harvest is in October (so yes we got to pick and try some FRESH dates during our visit!).
...and that the desert used to be part of the ocean, so if we were to do a longer tour (we only had 2D/1N) we could have driven further out to see whale bones and fossils strewn across the sand; that magma and lava and volcanoes formed the topography (hills and valleys etc) and gave the desert its different colours (black and white etc).
At night, the millions and millions of stars absolutely plastered the sky, we didn't even know where to look. The milky way was clear as day. Shooting stars waiting to be spotted and wished upon. While the temperatures dropped to somewhere a little too chilly to be entirely comfortable, we were too mesmerised by the wonder of the night sky, and comfortable with the bon fire at our feet, and ended up spending a long while lying outside on the sand before retreating into the warmth of the tent and blankets.
A lot more can be mentioned - the foxes' paw prints in the sand right by our tent in the morning, the sand-boarding, the crystal mountains, the fun trying to make out shapes and characters from the rocks...but one particularly memorable moment was: breakfast.
Our guide Osama mentioned the unwanted attention that some of his guests feel when they're in Egypt, and empathised and understood when guests distance themselves in order to protect themselves. But as guides and representatives of their country, they try hard to make sure that guests feel safe and relaxed, being extra patient with guests and giving them options to have their own space, so that they can enjoy being in the desert. I felt very reassured and comforted by him saying this and for empathising with us. Not least because of an incident that happened to me just a few days before in another part of Egypt, where things came very close to indecent harassment. And in general, as foreigners - especially as FEMALES in Egypt, we attract a lot more attention than usual, often more than what we're ready for. We had come across many people during the trip (tour guides, people driving us in cars / horse carts / camels / sail boats, hostel/hotel staff etc) - most of them nice, but also some not so nice, a few downright rude and indecent.
At the start of the tour, I did think: it's just two of us girls, and two of them, "strangers", men, going out into the desert - with no one around. We knew we had to stay cautious and conservative. But thankfully - we couldn't have asked for nicer people.
The HUMAN INTERACTIONS can really make or break an experience. And don't get me wrong - most of the Egyptians we came across WERE nice and decent. But it just takes 1 or 2 to ruin your impression of a country. But it could also take 1 or 2 to rectify it. Thank you, Osama & Mr Jamaica. Because of people like you, you've made this trip even more positively memorable.
(these guys: https://www.westerndeserttours.com/ )
I had forgotten just how much I enjoy the desert, or maybe I was just already really tired, being towards the end of our week-long trip. And SICK. Catching food poisoning one day before the desert tour isn't ideal - I didn't sleep at all the night before, didn't eat for 24 hours, and so I wasn't feeling the most excited about endless expanse of sand.
But this probably ended up being my favourite part of the trip.
One doesn't think of the desert as a place that has much of anything. But the Western Desert in Egypt was quite the contrary! (In my 1st desert experience back in 2014 in Wadi Rum of Jordan we mainly spent time making fun of each other in the car, climbing rocks and hills, and taking lots of photos). This time, our guide Osama spent a bit of time explaining all the geological history and characteristics of the desert - how the oasis in Egypt is usually a depression in the land (and the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt has a population of 60,000 - quite different to the image that some of us have of an oasis simply being a few palm trees surrounding a pool of water); how the desert is actually full of underground water, and that a lot of palm trees (among lots of other fruits) are grown in the area which produces dates and Egypt is the world's leading exporter of dates, and that the harvest is in October (so yes we got to pick and try some FRESH dates during our visit!).
At night, the millions and millions of stars absolutely plastered the sky, we didn't even know where to look. The milky way was clear as day. Shooting stars waiting to be spotted and wished upon. While the temperatures dropped to somewhere a little too chilly to be entirely comfortable, we were too mesmerised by the wonder of the night sky, and comfortable with the bon fire at our feet, and ended up spending a long while lying outside on the sand before retreating into the warmth of the tent and blankets.
A lot more can be mentioned - the foxes' paw prints in the sand right by our tent in the morning, the sand-boarding, the crystal mountains, the fun trying to make out shapes and characters from the rocks...but one particularly memorable moment was: breakfast.
Our guide Osama mentioned the unwanted attention that some of his guests feel when they're in Egypt, and empathised and understood when guests distance themselves in order to protect themselves. But as guides and representatives of their country, they try hard to make sure that guests feel safe and relaxed, being extra patient with guests and giving them options to have their own space, so that they can enjoy being in the desert. I felt very reassured and comforted by him saying this and for empathising with us. Not least because of an incident that happened to me just a few days before in another part of Egypt, where things came very close to indecent harassment. And in general, as foreigners - especially as FEMALES in Egypt, we attract a lot more attention than usual, often more than what we're ready for. We had come across many people during the trip (tour guides, people driving us in cars / horse carts / camels / sail boats, hostel/hotel staff etc) - most of them nice, but also some not so nice, a few downright rude and indecent.
At the start of the tour, I did think: it's just two of us girls, and two of them, "strangers", men, going out into the desert - with no one around. We knew we had to stay cautious and conservative. But thankfully - we couldn't have asked for nicer people.
The HUMAN INTERACTIONS can really make or break an experience. And don't get me wrong - most of the Egyptians we came across WERE nice and decent. But it just takes 1 or 2 to ruin your impression of a country. But it could also take 1 or 2 to rectify it. Thank you, Osama & Mr Jamaica. Because of people like you, you've made this trip even more positively memorable.
(these guys: https://www.westerndeserttours.com/ )
