Egypt: Black, White and Crystal Deserts3

The journey began on a few rutted, paved roads, until we went directly into the sand and spent very little time on pavement. Most often it was impossible for me to understand how our driver had any idea where he was or where he was going. Occasionally there were slight ruts in the sand that disappeared in front of us just off in the distance. I'm sure he had a compass in his possession and that he navigated as much by silhouettes of the horizon as direction. We never got lost, but the worst of my concerns was realized when we did in fact get deeply stuck in the sands many miles from civilization and the last vehicle we had seen. All that surrounded us was sand, sand, and more sand.

I envisioned us getting out and pushing the vehicle laboriously as a group, toiling to find presence in the sand that could have sucked us right in. I was ebullient and amazed to realize that this was not at all necessary. Our driver somehow disengaged us from the sand on several occasions using forward and backward motions in very low gears that did not even require us to exit the heavily laden vehicle. The engine groaned and the clutch caught and struggled, yet throughout the whole ordeal I couldn’t help but think that this was still better than a camel! Our driver’s skill was miraculous, and his techniques actually reminded me of the moves needed to extricate a vehicle from the snow.

At our first stop before leaving paved roads, we exited the Cruiser to find a sort of trough that carried steaming hot water from one of the many local hot springs. They bubble up from the earth frequently in this land of desert oases. It was much too hot for us to fully enter, so we cautiously dipped our feet in. We thanked our guides for allowing us to experience it, and went on to our next stop.

We went off-road and traveled a fairly short distance through relatively obvious tire tracks to an area that our guides called the flower desert. Many others were aware of this place; and they were all rather unceremoniously collecting the astounding black rocks that are shaped like clusters of flower buds. I asked permission before I gathered a few. The ground was positively littered with them, despite the many hands that routinely collected them. They were quite magical.

Another journey through the thick and relentless desert sands brought us to our campsite for the first night. A moonscape of hills topped with coal-like black rocks surrounded us. No civilization was in sight. These sandy black hills around the area of the Bahariya Oasis are a combination of ferruginous quartzite and dolorite. The nearly white desert sand mounds and hills crowned with stark black rocks were other-worldly. Our guides made a snug camp using the Land Cruiser as a wind-break. In any amount of wind the fine sand constantly swirled around us. It found its way somehow everywhere; no orifice was spared the intrusion. Itchy ears and irritated eyes were the most obvious and unavoidable effects.

EGYPT, BLACK DESERT MOUNTAINS

Huge colorful cloths were hung upon the side of the vehicle, and they were large enough to cover the ground beside it. The SUV was oriented to break the force of the wind and protect us from the biting sand, though any change in weather defeated the careful placement. Dinner was served to us there, and we were then given the option to sleep in the open air, or inside a small pup tent that had been erected.

As the sun was getting lower on the horizon, it became obvious that the temperature was dropping toward freezing very rapidly. We had winter clothing, yet we were not really prepared for such low night temperatures. We expected cold nights, but not the bitter and biting weather that we had to endure. One glance at the beautiful stars emerging against a midnight black sky convinced me to vote for a night in the open, even if it meant a shiver or two. A little persuasion convinced Dan to do the same. The depths of the cold would probably not have been much less within the flimsy tent.