So this past weekend I went to the Black and White Desert in Bahariya, Egypt. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever. The AUC group consisted of me and four other girls, a family of three people and five Arab men who were our drivers/ “tour guides.”. I use the word tour guide loosely because it wasn’t a very touristy experience—but I liked that about the trip.
We left around 7:30 in the morning for a long 5ish hour bus ride to the Golden Valley Hotel where we then ate a nice lunch and relaxed and waited to leave for the desert. After the guys finally packed up the jeeps we were on our way down the long, never ending road in search of the perfect end to our day. We passed by tons of “black” mountains in the black desert and stopped to climb one of them. The sun was blazing, and the climb was amazing, but tiring.
After we made our way back down the mountain we got back in the jeeps and were back on the road on our way to the white desert area. Once we got there we did the touristy thing and took pictures while the men “made” our camp and dinner, etc. We were finally ready to go to our campsite, away from all of civilization when one of the five men, general manager of the travel agency we used, asked us if we wanted to walk or drive. Feeling adventurous, and being told it wasn’t too far away we decided to walk.
After about an hour it was clear that we were lost. As our tour guide stood in the middle of the dessert climbing a limestone mountainous hill for cell phone reception yelling feen (where in Arabic) the other girls started to look concerned. This interaction proceeded for a while, I’m not sure exactly how long, but our tour guide insisted he wasn’t lost. After all, he said he’s been working at this desert for the past 25 years.
On the way we ran into a car which we thought was ours, but soon it drove away and the rest of the girls looked confused as we continued to search for our campsite. We finally made it to our campsite without view of any other people. We chilled out a bit, used the bathroom in the desert (which by the way was quite the experience) and sat by the campfire while we watched our chicken dinner being cooked.
Then we all gathered around, sat on the floor and ate some delicious rice, chicken and vegetables. We just spent the evening in the dark underneath the stars listening to the Bedouin-esque men (I’m not sure if they really were Bedouins, or if they just considered themselves to be) play their instruments and sing and dance. Later they told us riddles to stump us and I’ll have you know some of them did.
We finally were ready to sleep and had some mattresses set up outside. We slept outside in the desert while it was pitch black. Looking at the stars was amazing; cheesy as it may sound. I was able to see the Orion’s belt stars and I think I may have even seen a shooting star out of the corner of my eye!
The next morning we woke and ate a delicious breakfast and just chilled out a while. It was super cold during the night that I had to curl up in a ball. I had many layers of clothes on plus two gigantic blankets but was still shivering. I finally put the blankets over my face, and I guess the blocked out the sun because when I woke up the sun had already came up L I didn’t get to see it…but that’s okay.
Anyways, we made our way back to the hotel where we met….but not before making a few stops a long the way. We stopped at many places, one of which we saw crystal and black mountains—the sparkly mountains were pretty awesome.
Funny story: we were driving super fast in the jeeps through the sand. Because there were so many of us we were spit into two jeeps. My driver gunned the car and we made our way up the sand dune…the other driver. Well, let’s just say he had some troubles. His car didn’t want to make it all the way up…the car kept on going backwards down the hill; sometimes it seemed to be going out of control. At one point the car even seemed like it was going to tip over. It was quite interesting to watch, though I suppose if I was in the car it would have been quite frightening.
Anyways, I just got distracted by me roommate…GR I lost my train of thought…
Ok, so we just kept on doing the desert thing out in the middle of nowhere and enjoyed ourselves. I took plenty of pictures which I will post later, but the place was just so amazing and vast that I’m not sure if the pictures will do it justice.
Anyways, we finally made it back to the hotel where we stopped for lunch and headed back home. I wish we could have stayed at the desert longer instead of just one night; but that one night was amazing. We finally made it back after a long 4 to 5ish hour long drive to Cairo…and I took a MUCH needed shower.
I feel like so much happened that I couldn’t possibly write it all down, but that’s the jest of my Black and White Desert experience…..
I’ve got a research paper and midterm this week…but pictures coming soon, inshAllah J
