Out to the Desert

After my high-priced trip to see the pyramids that I arranged through the hostel, I was somewhat apprehensive about the rest of what I had booked through the hostel. I had booked two other trips through them, and given the apparently ridiculous mark-up on transport to the pyramids, I was wondering what it would be like for the next trip, the night in the desert. But the money had been spent and it was now water under the bridge, as it were. Now I would either have to go and try to winge my way out of it, or just try to have the best time possible. And it was always possible the taxi business to the pyramids was a one-off. Maybe it had really been a surprise to Mohammed. Okay, I know. I'm rationalizing and just trying to hide the fact they ripped me off.

Heesup had also signed up for the trip and she had told me that she found other trips to the desert, that sounded similar, if not exactly the same, for 200 pounds less than what we were paying. Koreans always seem to find the best sorts of deals for these kinds of trips. But again, we had paid and now it was just time to suck it up and have the best time possible.

So, bright and early, we got up and, along with a couple of American girls who were also going, got ready to go to the bus station for the 8 o'clock bus. There were two other people who were also supposed to go, but they had slept in believing that an overnight desert trip that was going to require several hours of travel to arrive at the site of the camp would be leaving at 8 in the evening instead of in the morning. I don't know how anyone could have a thought process that went like that, but they managed it. As a result, they decided to go the next day and it was going to just be the four of us. It was also New Year's Eve, so I was doubly happy. I would be spending New Year's Eve under the stars in the desert with, hopefully, profound silence surrounding me. Even grossly overcharged for the trip, it would still be worth it for just that.

We headed to the bus station and then rode a bus for about 5 hours to get to Baharia Oasis. This is the first and most accessible oasis from Cairo. It is also the biggest oasis in Egypt. In Baharia's town, we were met by Sammy, our guide. He put the two girls into one vehicle and put Heesup and I into another. Then we were off to the desert. Only the two vehicles separated at first and we went to one spot to wait for Sammy. We waited and waited and no Sammy. Eventually we began to wonder what was going on, and the two guys in our vehicle seemed not to know what was going on either. So Heesup and I called the hostel to find out. This seemed to cause some consternation with everyone, with them thinking we were afraid or distrustful. We simply had no information about what the heck was going and we wanted to be informed.

Eventually we did meet up with Sammy again and headed out to the desert. But this was not an auspicious start. This trip was starting where my last one had left off, with me (and Heesup and the two other girls) having not enough information about what was going on. But again, the money was paid and we were out in the desert, so there was little else practical to do other than to take a deep breath and assume it was going to work out better in the end. So I went with it.

We drove out to the desert. First we stopped at a place called the Black Desert. This was an area where a bunch of volcano-like mounds were sitting all over the desert floor. Sammy told me they were in fact extinct volcanoes, but I'm not quite convinced. In any case there was volcanic rock all over the desert floor, and it was mostly black, hence the name of the area.

Shortly after that we stopped at some place that seemed to be associated with Sammy somehow for lunch. This was not totally unreasonable, as all tours in these less rich nations seem to stop at places with the operator. More money into his/her system.

And then it was off into the White Desert National Park. Here the sands were white. And, although I wasn't to find this out until the next morning in the light of day, there were all these fantastically shaped rock structures jutting out of the desert floor that were of white limestone. Apparently the whole area was the sea floor at one point in time.

Just at the entrance to the national park there was a formation called the Crystal Mountain. It was made of some kind of crystals covered by rocky deposits. It was quite nice-looking.

And was a good place to watch the sunset.

Then we headed to the camping area. It was by now dark and so it was impossible to see the landscape. At the campsite, we could see these fantastic shapes looming in the darkness, but only those that were close by. It promised a nice view for the morning in the light of day though. Camp was set up and we had some dinner, and a nice fire. But it is winter and it was quite chilly. In fact it was downright cold. As I have been in tropical countries for some time, I really don't have much warm weather clothing, and I was a bit worried about how I would fare. I was going to be in a tent by myself and nothing much to keep me warm. Hmmm...

But the main event was midnight for me. The others, all seven of them (three visitors and four “staff”) went to bed before midnight and I was left alone to greet the new year. This was not a problem for me as I wanted to experience the night in silence. The half moon set some time shortly before midnight and as the new year came, the dome of stars was bright above me. The silence of the desert was profound, even with the whoops of people from nearby campsites. I was very happy to see the night sky again, and I missed the times in the past when I have seen it before. I resolved to find some way to do so again, soon.

Then I went to bed myself and spent a mostly sleepless and frozen night trying to keep from shivering myself to death. I think I probably got about an hour of sleep before dawn came and we were roused. The two American girls had decided to remain for one more night in the desert, which really made sense, as Heesup and I had spent eight hours in vehicles the day before (as had we all) to get to the desert camp site, only to spend about 12 hours, much of that asleep (or trying to be) before getting up very early to head back to Cairo, eight more hours in vehicles away. And all for the low, low price of about 100 dollars. It didn't seem to be worth it. Personally it was worth about half that, so the markup by the hostel wasn't as gross as the pyramid scheme had been, but it was still quite bad. I was getting less impressed with the hostel's “help.”

But on the way back to the bus station in Baharia, we stopped at a couple of spots in the White Desert to see some of these fantastic shapes close up. In particular, there were the mushroom and the chicken rocks. But the whole area was full of amazing white rocks sticking up out of the desert floor. What nature can do really is stunning.

And then it was a return to Cairo to prepare for the train trip to Aswan that evening.

I am glad that I went and experienced that night in the desert. It was a fantastic night in many ways. But it was way, way overpriced, and anyone asking me if they should do it would get a resounding, “Yes!!!” But they would also get the suggestion to find someone who charges less. I know they are out there. And they should also plan on more than one night out there. It's too much travelling for just one night.