Egyptian Magic Land

White desert
A main geographic attraction of Farafra is its White Desert (known as Sahara El Beyda, with the word Sahara meaning a desert). The White Desert of Egypt is located 45 km (28 mi) north of the town of Farafra. The desert has a white, cream color and has massive chalk rock formations that have been created as a result of occasional sandstorm in the area. 

My visit to white desert

white desert location map

 In the remote past, the White Desert was a sea-bed, the sedimentary layers of rock formed by marine fauna when the ocean dried up. Later a habitat for many roaming herds of elephant, giraffe, gazelle and other animals, the desert would have been a savannah with lush green areas and lakes full of fish, an ideal hunting ground for pre-historic man. The landscape we see today was formed  by the plateau breaking down, leaving harder rock shapes standing while the softer parts are eroded away by wind and sand. In some parts the chalk surface still has the appearance of delicate wind-ruffled waves on water.

white desert surface layar

The valley is flat and is interrupted only by a few isolated standing conical hills. The soil is blown with sand. It can be here but in places some minerals such as pyrite and marcasite (iron disulfide are both, but with different crystal form), especially in the north of the valley in the area of ? Ain Bischw?. The materials have been but never mined in mines.

The soil is blown with sand

white desert structure 

Formed by centuries of erosion and sandstorms, these unique calcium rock formations crop up across the landscape like great abstract statues. Some that resemble food have been given names like “mushroom” and “ice-cream cone,” while others have inspired more grandiose designations, such as “the Monolith” and “Inselberg.”
Arguably the most characteristic of these peculiar natural formations is the famed “chicken and tree” set, also called “chicken and mushroom,” or, better yet, “chicken and atomic bomb.” Only in The White Desert will you encounter such a bizarre and awe-inspiring natural museum of chalk-rock.

ice cream cones

Mushrooms

Mushrooms

Tour by a camel

A natural wonder of Egypt, the White Desert is now a protectorate, known as the White Desert Park, where designated routes must be followed when driving in 4WD vehicles. The outer parts nearest the road are known as the Old Desert and can be reached in a normal vehicle.

car's road 

Many people opt to spend a night camping in the desert with Bedouin guides, where they can observe the changing faces of chickens and mushrooms and monoliths as the bright sun of the afternoon sinks into a shadowy dusk. As the sun goes down, the calcium sea seems to reflect all the fuchsias and oranges of the sky. And while any night under the stars of the Western Desert is an experience not soon forgotten, the lucky few that catch a full moon will witness the desert giving off a ghostly, iridescent glow.

sunset in the white desert

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