14 Nights / 15 Days Through the Western Desert to the Gilf Kebir

Al Bahariya Oasis - Al Dakhla Oasis - Abu Ballas - Mud Lions - Eight Bells - Prince Kamal El Dine Memorial - Gilf Kebir - Wadi Wasa – Wadi Faraqh – Magharat Al Kantara (Shaw’s Cave) - Wadi Sura - Cave of Swimmers - New Cave (Foggini-Mestekawi-Cave) - Wadi Abd El Malik - Silica Valley - Great Sand Sea - Siwa Oasis - White Desert - Black Desert

Day-by-Day-Itinerary:

1^st Day: Cairo – Al Bahariya Oasis

In the early morning we will pick you up at the reception of your hotel in Cairo and you will travel to the Al Bahariya Oasis. If you stay in any other part of Egypt such as Luxor or the Red Sea we can of course organize the transfer to Cairo for you.

Al Bahariya is one of the biggest and most important oases in the Western Desert. Visit the town of Al-Bawiti where you can see the oasis’ fruit-growing and lifestyle, and discover remains of the region’s history. Lunch will be served in a local restaurant. A necropolis of the Greco-Roman contained countless different mummies, among them numerous gold-plated ones, the so-called ‘Golden Mummies’. You will see some of them here in the museum. Further you can see the remains of Ain Al-Tibniya, a temple dating back to the reign of Alexander the Great who is said to have passed by this oasis, the tomb of Banentiu where you can see well preserved colored hieroglyphs and paintings, and the temple area of Ain Al-Muftella with four around 2,600 years old chapels whose walls are preserved up to a height of around two meters, showing various beautiful decorations. The evening will be at your own disposal. You will have dinner in your hotel.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in the Bahariya Oasis.

2^nd Day: Al Bahariya Oasis – Al Dakhla Oasis

After breakfast you will head to the Dakhla Oasis, a vast green area surrounded by rosy cliff. On the way you will visit the remains of Al Qasr, an old Islamic fortified settlement with various well preserved buildings – houses, mosques, a mill, a madrasa (Koran school) and craftsmen’s workshops. You will have dinner and spend the night in a hotel.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in the Dakhla Oasis.

3^rd Day: Abu Ballas – Mud Lions

After an early breakfast we will head southwards through the desert in our well-equipped 4x4 jeeps. You will see the lonely butte Abu Ballas, the ‘Father of Jars’ which once served as a water depot for the caravans using this trail; numerous potsherds of the huge jars which were used to store the water remain on the hill’s foot until now. They are more than 3,500 years old. Up the hill you can find some prehistoric petroglyphs (rock carvings). After around one more hour of driving you will see the ‘Mud Lions’, bizarre loam sculptures formed by the wind. We will set up camp, and after dinner you will experience the first night under the stunning starry desert sky.   

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight camping.

4^th Day: Eight Bells – Prince Kamal El Dine Memorial – Gilf Kebir

After breakfast we will head to the well-known landmark Eight Bells, an old British military airport dating back to the Second World War, embedded in vast a sand plain with eight hills looking like bells which gave the area its name. Countless jerry cans filled with sand are depicting the airport’s name as well as an arrow which once showed the way to the English pilots. Sometimes bullet casings and tins can still be found here in the sand. Further you will see the Prince Kamal El Dine Memorial, a simple stone pyramid built up in 1933 to honor the great royal desert explorer. Now you will already reach the Gilf Kebir sandstone plateau, one of the most fascinating places in Egypt, as large as the state of Puerto Rico. Visitors can discover here not only beautiful desert and rock landscapes, but also numerous rock engravings and painted pictograms, witnesses of a people that was living here 10,000 years ago.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight camping.

5^th Day: Wadi Wasa – Wadi Faraqh – Magharat Al Kantara (Shaw’s Cave)

You will cross the Wadi Wasa, a large gorge with various side valleys and small buttes. In the Wadi Faraqh you will see rock drawings in the cave Magharat Al Kantara, also known as Shaw’s Cave; animals and hunters are depicted here in different colors.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight camping.

6^th Day: Wadi Sura – Cave of Swimmers – New Cave (Foggini-Mestekawi-Cave)

Today you will reach to the most famous location in the Gilf Kebir – the Wadi Sura, a valley cutting through a 300 meters high steep cliff. Here you will explore the famous Cave of Swimmers with its renowned paintings from prehistoric times. Swimming men are depicted, a dynamic illustration going back to a time where this place was not the barren desert that it is today. Further you can see pictures of moving people and also diverse animals. Only some kilometers away you can see another wonderful example of ancient rock art – the Mestekawi-Foggini-Cave, maybe better known as the ‘New Cave’, discovered only in 2002, is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Eastern Sahara, showing a mosaic of countless ocher pictures. You can see countless silhouettes of human hands, paintings of people in different dynamic positions and activities, such as hunting, dancing, playing or holding hands with their children, various animals and ‘the beast’, a mysterious creature whose meaning is not clear.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight camping.

7^th – 10^th Day: Wadi Abd El Malik – Silica Valley – Great Sand Sea – Siwa Oasis

On the way back from the Gilf Kebir to the oases you will first of all drive through the Wadi Abd El Malik, a relatively comfortable route to leave the plateau. It is around 50 kilometers long and today still many trees can be found here. Then you will head through the sandy vastness of the Great Sand Sea with its dunes. Also you will cross the Silica Valley which features a very special and beautiful material – the Silica glass, also known as ‘Libyan glass’ or ‘desert emeralds’. It was probably created when an asteroid crashed down here, and until now it is the only place known on Earth where it can be found – such a unique green-yellow piece was even chosen for Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s pectoral decoration.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight camping.

11^th Day: Siwa Oasis – Culture

After breakfast in your hotel we will pick you up and make you discover the extraordinary flair of this vast green area with its lakes and springs amidst the desert. You will visit Shali, the old labyrinth-like part of Siwa, and the rock cut tombs on the Mountain of the Dead, containing beautiful paintings as well as well preserved mummies. Afterwards you will have lunch. Then you will be transferred to Aghurmi, the oldest settlement in the oasis, where you can see Siwa’s greatest historical treasure – the  Temple of Amun and its famous oracle, once even consulted by Alexander the Great himself. Besides you can swim in Cleopatra’s Bath, a rock pool fed by a natural hot spring, and you will see the remains of a second Amun Temple in Umm Ubeida. Then you will visit Balad Al Rum with rock cut tombs dating back to the Greco-Roman era, the remains of a Doric temple and the relics of a bid mud brick building which is reported to once have been a church. Finally we will transfer you to Dakrur with its limestone hills; they contain some burial chambers, but most of all they offer a great view over the area when you climb up to the top. You will spend sunset here. Then you will travel back to the town for dinner. You will spend the night in your hotel.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in Siwa Oasis.

12^th Day: Siwa Oasis – Nature

After breakfast you will leave the oasis to enjoy a 4x4 jeep tour through the Egyptian Sand Sea surrounding Siwa, with its great sand dunes created by wind. Also you can find numerous fossils and petrified trees. On the way back you will stop at the Bir Wahid, an idyllic hot spring surrounded by palms where you can have a bath. You will also enjoy a picnic lunch here. Only some meters away you can further see a small lake embedded in the desert’s sand dunes. Finally we will make a tour to the Lake Siwa with the nowadays silted island Fatnas. You can go swimming or just enjoy the relaxed time in the great landscape. You will besides see a wonderful sunset here. In the evening you will return to your hotel where you will have dinner and spend the night.

Breakfast, lunch (picnic) and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in Siwa Oasis.

13^th Day: Siwa Oasis – Al Bahariya Oasis – White Desert

In the morning you will leave Siwa and head to the Al Bahariya Oasis where you will have lunch. Then you will start to explore the White Desert National Park. Once the seabed of an ocean it features myriads of white chalk sediments, formed by the rough desert weather to spectacular shapes.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a camp in the White Desert.

14^th Day: Bahariya Oasis – White Desert

After an early breakfast you will enjoy more of this unique landscape; you will among others see the famous Crystal Mountain, a ridge laced with sparkling crystal, and the scenic Valley of Al-Agabat where white cliffs meet sand dunes and yellow limestone rocks. Lunch will be served as a picnic. You will spend the evening in Al Bahariya where you will have dinner and spend the night in a hotel.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner included. Overnight in a hotel in the Al Bahariya Oasis.

15^th Day: Al Bahariya Oasis – Black Desert – Cairo

After breakfast you will drive into the Black Desert with its countless rock formations and witness buttes covered by black basalt. Then we will have lunch. In the afternoon you will travel back to Cairo and we will transfer you to your hotel. This concludes our program and services.

Breakfast and lunch included.

Included:

• All mentioned transfers in high-class air-conditioned vehicles
• Guided tours in your language
• Entrance fees for the above mentioned sights
• Hotel accommodations in the oases with half-board
• Camping in the desert
• Meals, mineral water and soft drinks during the excursions and tours

Not included:

• Gratuity (tips) for drivers, tour guides
• Personal items, meals, drinks or services not mentioned
• Listed optional activities
• International and domestic flights
• Visa

      See also: Through the Western Desert to the Gilf Kebir Plateau