Mobile Home: The Western Desert

We spent the Eid Al-Ahada holiday on a trip to the Western Desert. Both Seth and I have been wanting to get here somehow since we first moved to Cairo. It's an amazing place and was well worth the wait.

Seth's friend Monica from his bike club in Maadi was arranging the trip, and we were very happy to join up with her crew (thanks again for the gracious invite!). The crew was, like most expat groups here, a small UN. There were delegates from Scotland, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico and Spain. We represented Tejas with Benjamin, our little Texan.

We used Western Desert Tours for the trip. I can't recommend them enough

We left Cairo around 7am on Thursday morning and headed west. Our first stop was the town of Bahairya where we ate a quick lunch. And thankfully were able to use legit toilets. We stopped at a place halfway between Cairo and Bahariya, and let's just say I'm forever changed. The hole in the floor, covered in DNA samples, and looking like a crime scene are forever burned in my memory. Even my 2 year old who will eat old cereal off the floor knew those bathrooms were "yucky, eew, gross mom."

Here's the restaurant (not gross rest stop) where we stopped.

Really cool building, was breezy and lovely inside. Complete with rockin techno music to add an added touch of authenticity.

After eating we left our bus and got into our desert friendly modes of transport- one of the coolest SUV's ever, the Toyota Land Cruiser. And not the lame suburbia type comfort ones either, these are legit off road vehicles.

"This is Ben-jinn's Jeep!"

After loading up the jeeps (I'm just going to call them jeeps from now on. Worked for my 2 year old, works for me.) we headed down the road- last paved one we'd be on for 2 days- to a large mountain. As we approached I thought I was seeing things when I could make out figures of people on top of it. The thing was too high, no way anyone would want to climb it. Then Khalid, our driver, told us we were stopping if anyone wanted to climb it.

Seth did...

Thank You Virginia for the great pic!

Benny and I* did not...

Because this is the view from the top....

just looking at this makes me out of breath. It was a serious climb!

Senor Studly post climb

The first desert we were in, the same one with the mountain that I wasn't climbing, is called The Black Desert. The rocks here are former volcanic lava that flowed all over the hills.

When the hike up death mountain finished we headed off road. First stop was what Khalid called Valley of the Watermelon Stones. The rocks here were actual spheres. I couldn't believe it!

These are all stacked on top of each other by random passer by's

Benjamin and his new buddy Allen had a blast picking up the stones.

After walking around while the guides let air out of the tires (more traction for getting through the sand) we began our off road journey. Because where we're going going we don't need roads....

Luckily for Benjamin and myself- who were both about to hurl in the jeep- our first campsite was about 10 minutes away. This is where we camped the first night. Picture taken before everyone else arrived.

The sand was cool to walk in without shoes, there was a cool breeze blowing and we were in heaven.

The contrast between the dunes and the clear blue sky is amazing. It's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The dunes are also so pristine and wind swept. You can see the lines in the sand in the picture above.

Enough with being pristine! Let's wreck the place!

After everyone's tent was set up our guides began cooking dinner. We relaxed, let the little guys run around, and enjoyed the clear and cool evening. (Thank you to Monica- I'm using some of your pictures)

Dinner was excellent- chicken cooked over the camp fire, rice and vegetables.

After dinner Benjamin and mom were fading fast, so we headed back to our tent to fall right to sleep. I went to brush my teeth, and the little guy was out. No blanket, no need for monkey, just fast asleep.

"Guys, seriously, let me go to bed. I don't need chicken"

Seth stayed up for awhile to enjoy the evening's entertainment. Our guides brought drums and sang for the group.

Benjamin slept pretty well through the night. He woke up early, but luckily we brought Seth's tablet and he watched Megamind for awhile. We had to spend two more days with the group, and didn't want them to hate us for waking them up at 5am. Even I kinda hated us for waking up at 5am.

Once everyone had eaten and packed up in the morning we got a start to Day 2. It was a busy day packed with all kinds of site seeing. Khaled told us "where we camped last night was just regular desert. The area we are in now was once under the sea. 95 million years ago this was the ocean. We know this because of the seashells and fossils that are found in the rocks" So, basically, we got to walk on the bottom of the ocean. Among fossils. That are millions of years old. Is this really our life?! What a privilege to get to see such things.

Giant hole in a giant white rock. By rock I mean chalk- the entire structure is chalk. Oh, and millions and millions of years old.

Seashells embedded in the chalk-rock. In the middle of the desert.

Quick group photo in the hole.

Then we're off again to visit an Oasis. First stop was rescuing another SUV from being stuck in the sand. It needs to be noted that we were basically on the edge of an enormous drop off.

Noted by the kung-fu grip I have on Benjamin as he tries to squirm away and explore...

So our guides help the other SUV out of a jam. Then off the stuck SUV goes down this, and no exaggeration here, like 90 degree drop from the top.

View from the bottom

We stopped at an Oasis for awhile. We were planning on having lunch there, but it was really crowded. Benjamin was asleep in the car, so I stayed with him.

We stopped in the shade for lunch. Staying in the shade was a must.

Then, the reason for coming on the trip. The White Desert. Let me just say right now that our pictures do not depict what it's actually like there. You can't even put it into words. Khaled told us "Welcome to the Moon." He was correct

Like no other place in the world....

Once again, all chalk. So we all had chalk covered butts.

Our tent

Relaxing

Campsite

That night we enjoyed another great meal cooked by our guides. It wasn't as cool as the night before, but still very comfortable. Benjamin was practically begging to go to sleep. So he and I turned in for the night, Seth stayed up for awhile.

Hamduillah, my man B slept till 7 the next morning.

We went to see some interesting structures the next day.

Like the famous Mushroom and Chicken Rock (if you Google White Desert this image comes up the most)