The Western Desert Loop

Sat 14th May

Today we left the craziness of Cairo behind and headed out into the Western Desert. After 4 hours driving, we stopped at the side of the road for lunch. With a fairly brisk wind blowing, sand really does get everywhere - sandy sandwiches for lunch anyone?
After another hour's drive, we reached our camp site. Today has been all about learning how the truck works. It is not a big space for 22 people (20 guests and 2 crew), so there is a system for making things run smoothly. Everyone is allocated a task, e.g. unloading tents from the roof, unloading bags, security, setting up tables and chairs, cleaning, running the bar (the most important task!). We are also split into groups of four for cooking so that you are on cook duty every fifth day.
Great camp site in the Bahariyya Oasis. After dinner, we made the most of the hot springs. It was amazing - like having a hot bath under the moon lit desert skies. A perfect end to the day...

Sun 15th May


After a leisurely start, we headed to the town of Bawiti where we stocked up on essential desert supplies such as water, toilet roll and matches. For the next three nights, we would be wild camping (for the uninitiated, that means no toilets or showers so the matches are for burning your toilet roll and lighting the fire!).
Whilst you might think that driving through the desert would get boring, the Western Desert actually has some of the most diverse desert scenery imaginable. Today we drove through the Black Desert (yes, you guessed it - black sand) and then on to the White Desert. Here the sand is like talcum powder and the rock formations and colours are incredible. Really quite spectacular scenery which words cannot do justice to.I will try to get some photos up soon.
It took a while to find, but our first wild campsite was beautiful and well worth the effort that went into locating it. The day was rounded off perfectly with gin and tonics at sunset.

Mon 16th May

On we drove through the stunning White Desert, stopping at a hot spring to wash. We encountered several road blocks and police checks on our travels today. The police ultimately ended up following us. Not entirely sure why but apparently it is not unusual on Egyptian roads to have to travel with a police guard. They were not very happy with our plans to camp wild but eventually agreed we could as long as the guard stayed with us all night.

Tues 17th May

We continued on our way with the ever present police guard! In the morning, we stopped off at Al-Qasr village. Some local children attached themselves to us and gave us a guided tour.
Late afternoon, we found another amazing campsite on the edge of the sand dunes. After pitching our tents, we climbed up the dunes to find yet more sand dunes as far as the eye could see. I ran for about ten minutes across the desert to reach the highest dune I could see. The vastness of the desert is just incredible and I have never experienced scenery like this before. Definitely a trip highlight!
After dinner around the camp fire, I slept out under the stars.

Wed 18th May

Definitely ready for a shower now! The desert scenery has been stunning and worth all the dust and sand that gets everywhere, but no one was complaining about the prospect of a shower when we arrived in Luxor! Three nights in a hotel in Luxor to get clean again, then two nights in a hotel in Aswan, before we take a 20 hour ferry to Sudan on Monday.
I can hardly believe that I have only been away for a week. Already, I feel that I have seen and done so much yet there is loads more to come..