Desert Weekend

11/16

This was a nice little weekend trip - not too long, not too exhausting, and a nice escape from the bustling city. Destination: the Black and White Desert.

Steve, Jon, Olivia and I were the ones from my group of friends that were able to take most of the weekend away from school work. Since there were only four of us going, we got teamed up with another small group of students from AUC who happened to be going to the desert also. A few of them also happened to be from my Arabic class, so we kind of knew each other. Fortunately not too awkward.

The Black and White Desert is located to the west of Cairo. Southwest, actually, I think. The Black and White Desert is probably nothing like you imagine a desert to be. While technically part of the Sahara (I think), the Black and White Desert severely lacks the ever-stretching, rolling sand dunes that pictures of the Sahara usually show. While there is sand (of course) the Black and White Desert is famous for its rocks - the Black Desert for being inexplicably covered in smooth black stones; the White Desert for it's equally inexplicable, huge mushroom/flower-like, chalky white rock formations.

We woke up at an ungodly hour and got picked up by a taxi near the dorms. Our trip out to the place to meet our guide was delayed a little by some unusually thick fog. We actually had to stop for about half an hour or more, because it was so bad. When we finally got out to the little desert tour outpost, we were fed a traditional bedouin lunch, consisting of tomato-potato soup, pita, weird cheese, fresh tomatoes, and cucumbers. It was good. Then, we met our tour guide, loaded ourselves into some jeeps, and were off.

First we stopped at some dunes right around the Black Desert. Ok, I lied, there are some rolling sand dunes, but not many. Anyway, we stopped, climbed around in the sand, took some pictures, etc, etc. Then we got back in the jeeps and drove on to some different parts.

It was hot. The Black Desert was cool, some of the rocks had really interesting shapes.

Sometime during the late afternoon, we stopped at an area with a particularly nice view. We had only intended to stop there for a little while, however, the sand was pretty loose, and one of the jeeps had engine trouble, and it got stuck. Eventually, after hooking it up to the other jeep, and all of us pushing, and lots of hullabaloo, we got the other jeep started and drove off.

By the evening, we had reached the White part of the desert, and stopped to set up camp. The two jeeps made a little corner for our camp site, and our guides set down blankets and mats for the eating/sleeping area. We all roamed around and took pictures, and climbed on things while the guides finished setting up camp and started cooking dinner. For dinner, we had another traditional bedouin meal, consisting of guava, the same potato soup, and chicken roasted over the fire. Followed by tea time around the fire.

Sleeping in the desert was amazing. Absolutely clear sky, full of stars. Hadn't seen the starts for quite some time now, living in Cairo, so it was nice to know they're still up there. It got really cold at night though. We all had to bundle up in all the clothes we had with us and zip our sleeping bags around our heads.

The next morning, we toured more of the White Desert, including Crystal Mountain, then headed back to HQ.

These are probably some of the more interesting pictures I have, so be sure to ask to see them.