Oasis route through the desert

From Cairo there are different routes we can take to go south: along the Red Sea coast, along the Nile or through the Western Desert. We do not take the road along the Nile because it is too crowded and we will probably ride along the Nile for some time after Luxor. The route along the coast brings us to the beautiful beaches of Hurghada, but the chances that we will go there some day are quite good. That might be different for the desert.

In the guest book of Isis Garden Camp we read that the oasis route through the desert and especially the “White Desert” was one of the highlights of Egypt for several overlanders. Sue and Helal also are very excited about the desert landscape. With the map of Egypt on the table Helal points us to places of interest and places where we can get benzine, wood and water. He also shows where we can bush camp in the desert. We would really like to sleep under the stars, so we store enough food and water to camp several nights.

The first place we go to is in the “Black Desert” at about 20km from the Bahariya oasis and about 400km south-west of Giza. A fairly long journey, so the alarm goes early that morning. It is still nice and fresh as Sue and Helal wave us goodbye (in their thick winter coats).
On the road it is pretty busy, though it is questionable whether the traffic is ever calm in Cairo. We drive from Giza to ’6 October City’, another suburb of Cairo. With a full tank, we then head towards the Western Desert Road. Just outside the city there is still some industry and hence a lot of big trucks, but once the buildings stop we are suddenly in the middle of the desert and almost the only vehicles.

We had prepared ourselves for some hot days in the desert and had left off our sweaters this morning. Although the sun is shining brightly, the wind is still pretty fresh and we both have our heated grips on for the first part of the day. Until the Bahariya Oasis there are no villages and there is only one gas station. Because we do not know when we can get fuel again we refuel both bikes. The only buildings that we see from there on are telephone poles, bus stops and the occasional abandoned office of an oil company. Every hour we only pass a handful of cars.

After more than 350km we can do some last minute shopping in Bawiti, the largest village in the Bahariya oasis. The closer we get to Bawiti the more vegetation we see along the way. Palm trees, low bushes, but also fields of corn. It is also busier on the road with cars, donkey carts and mopeds. Along the side of the road we see the first signs for hotels and restaurants. Bahariya Oasis is easy accessible from Cairo and is therefore often visited by tourists who will stay a night or two in the desert. Once in the village it is clear that they are accustomed to tourists. When we stop to take benzine people come towards us from different sides to offer us a room in their hotel. We thank them kindly and drive out of the village at the end of the afternoon.

The desert is not as flat as earlier in the day. There are large pointed black hills, like small volcanoes everywhere. The ground is strewn with jagged black rocks and give this part of the desert its name “Black Desert”. On both sides of the road we see tracks disappear into the desert and when we see no other traffic we turn right. The gravel road turns into a sandy path that leads into the desert. We find a beautiful spot not far from the road, but completely out of sight where we set up our tent on a sandy plane. At dusk we get out the cooking gear and by the time the pasta is ready we sit down to eat in the light of the nearly full moon. The moon gives so much light that we do not even need a flashlight to find our stuff.

The rest of the evening we lie on our backs looking up at the stars. Even though that evening is not so long, because around 20:00 we both can only just keep our eyes open so we crawl into our sleeping bags. It is quiet, very quiet! The are no background noises, we hear no cars, no dogs, no highway or planes, no wind, nothing. Maybe this is what they call ‘deafening silence’.
In the middle of the night Peter suddenly wakes me up. He hears something and thinks that someone is walking on flip-flops towards the bikes. That is about the only thing we do not want. We both listen for a while, but hear nothing. Then it turns out that Peter woke up from the sound of his beard against the sleeping bag and his own heartbeat!

After an otherwise quiet night, we make coffee at first light and take our time to eat breakfast. This evening we want to go to the “White Desert” which is only 100km away. We only want to look for a camping spot at the end of the afternoon (to reduce the risk of unexpected visitors) so we have the whole day to cover that distance. We pack our stuff, ride over the black stones and through the sand back to the main road and then continue south.

All along the route are several police checkpoints where we are asked to stop. In a log our names, our nationality and the number of our Egyptian license plates are written. In addition, the policemen want to know where we are going. The further we enter the desert, the more checkpoints we encounter. There is little traffic on the road and the officers seem pretty bored. When we slow down for the bumps just before the checkpoints they suddenly wake up and come running out to stop us. Some still in their underwear holding a toothbrush in their hand.
A friendly “Salaam Aleikum” from our side, is answered with a warm welcome to Egypt. They ask if we are married, whether we have children, whether we were afraid in Libya, what we think of Egypt, how much our bikes cost and much more. We are often invited for tea. Although we usually friendly decline, today we decide to stop, this to the delight of the agents. We have plenty of time and we would like a cup sweet mint tea. Despite the language barrier, we make a friendly chat. After the delicious tea and some pictures they call their colleagues at the next checkpoint to tell them that there are two “Hollandi” coming. At the next checkpoint, they are already waiting for us. Not for the formalities, but also for a chat and photos of the bikes.

In El Heiz, a village in a small oasis between the Black- and the White Desert, we stop to buy wood. Helal had told us exactly where we could find the wood and also told us what we should pay. Once in El Heiz we find the teahouse next to the police station, but unfortunately they do no have any wood. One of the villagers asks us to follow him because he does have wood. Not much later, we drive out of the village with on the back of our bikes a large pile of wood for a camp fire. Great!

The desert changes as we drive through the sandy hills. We have left behind the black tops and the color of the desert is now brown again. At the top of one of the brown hills, we suddenly have a beautiful view over a white valley, the beginning of the White Desert! To the left of the road we see jagged white peaks and a dirt road that runs in between them. This appears to be a great place for lunch.
The Western Desert Road then leads us further into The National Park White Desert. As far as the eye can see, there is a white plain with small white pointy hills in all kinds of special shapes. At the end of the afternoon we leave the main road to find a place to camp. After some climbing we see a nice place at a slightly higher plateau which we can also reach with the bikes. It appears to be a super place with a nice view over a valley with white turrets. Everywhere we see small black dots on the white ground. It seems we share the platform with goats or rabbits. If we look closer the dots however appear to be fossilized coral. The stones we have most beautiful forms. Incredible to think that this barren desert once was an ocean. Against a bright pink sky we eat a large plate of pasta. After dinner we make a camp fire and we continue to look at the stars until the fire is out.

The next morning we drive through the White Desert into the Farafra Oasis. We buy food, drinks and benzine and also get freshly fried falafel for lunch. Today we will go to the Dakhla Oasis about 300km away. In El Qasr there should be some hotels. Apart from the police checkpoints there is nothing much to see along the way. We have left the White Desert behind us and have now swapped it for a big yellow plain. All around us we only see sand. We both listen to music through our intercom and only stop at a nice spot to eat our falafel. It is now quit hot and as we can not find any shade, so we quickly eat lunch and get on the bikes again to enjoy the riding wind.

Along the way, we do not see much traffic. If we encounter cars or trucks, there is always a hand sticking out the window to say hello. Some come up to drive next to us to call from the window “Welcome to Egypt!” Others even stop to give us water and oranges. We drive with our light on and that is not common here, so oncoming traffic keeps signalling us with their lights. If after a while we do turn off our lights, everyone continues to signal us. So it was to say hello too.

Half way to the Dakhla Oasis we are approached by another two cars that are again signalling their lights and the drivers are also very busy waving at us. As we get closer we see that they are two well equipped overland trucks! We stop, turn around and drive back to stop alongside the cars that are now also by the side of the road. Just like that we meet Susanna and Karl from Austria and John and Ruthi from Australia in the middle of the Egyptian desert. Overlanders that have been on the road for a while and are now on their way from Cape Town to Cairo. It is super nice to meet other overlanders, to hear their stories and to share tips. We are given the coordinates of a camp site in El Qasr and are advised to take a dive in the hotspring. After we have exchanged email addresses and have said goodbye to everyone we drive away with new energy about all the beautiful things that still await us in Africa.

Using the coordinates Beir El Gebel Tourist Camp is found quickly. We are warmly welcomed by Hatem, a large man in a white jalaba. His three children follow him closely as he shows us the camp site and the rooms. The site houses traditional buildings made of mud brick that are painted in cheerful motifs. Although we could set up our tent, we choose for a little more luxury after two nights in the desert and take a room.
That evening we eat fish from the Nile (600km away) and we meet Friedel, a German lady who lives in a house behind the camp. About 25 years ago she traveled with her husband in a car through Egypt and the Egyptian desert (at a time there was no asphalt and GPS did not exist). She was touched by the Dakhla Oasis and had always said she would try to go back. And that is what she did. Eight years ago they bought a piece of land and had them build a beautiful home. She now lives in El Qasr for five months each year. During that period she also receives tourists for meditation, dance and drum workshops. The perfect place to get away to relax.

After the delicious fish, we take a dip in the hotspring. A year ago, Hatem, Friedel and some local farmers had a well made. The source is hot water of about 38 degrees! The water has been used to turn part of the sandy desert floor into green fertile farmland. If the water does not go to the fields, the hotspring can be filled. When Hatem opens the tap the water roars into the tub. The water contains a lot of iron and smells funny, but it is delicious and very hot! We wash off all the desert sand and float under the stars until our fingers wrinkle.

It is such a nice place that we decide to stay two nights. In the garden we can read in the shade at ease, surf the net, update the blog and Skype with our family back home. That evening we again enjoy a delicious meal and talk with Friedel about her life in the desert. Later that evening Hatem, his wife and their three children join us. Hatem happily smokes his shishah while he asks us about the journey, the route and the bikes. We become friends on facebook and show him our blog.

Before we leave the next morning, we get a tour through Friedel her beautiful home and garden. Truly a very special and beautiful place, especially when you consider that they bought an empty piece of dry desert land where now is a little green oasis. It was a special meeting that we remember with great pleasure and a place that we might visit again.

When we finally leave El Qasr our tanks our almost empty and we start by finding usable fuel. Until now we used ’90’ or ’92′, but that is not readily available on the desert route. Most gas stations have only ’80’, which is fine for the 40-year-old cars the Egyptians drive, but not so good for our 2012 Hondas. At the advice of Hatem we take a little detour, where we indeed find ’92’ to fill our bikes. With a full tank we drive through the Kharga Oasis towards Baris (also known as Paris).

On the map Baris seems like a big town. At several police checkpoints on the road we are told that there will be a hotel there. At the end of the day we drive into Baris and before we know it we drive out of Baris again at the other side of the village. It is smaller than we had expected and we did not see a hotel yet. We stop and soon there is a large group of men around us. We ask for a hotel or camping. They look worried and point us to Luxor (300km away) or Kharga, where we just came from. After heated discussions the men find the solution: at Dush Temple we should be able to camp. The men call some boys and order them to take us to the road that leads to the temple.

We follow the group of guys on motorbikes to the edge of the village. They stop and point: if you follow this road for another 10 kilometers you will arrive at Dush Temple. It is around five o’clock and the sun is almost setting. We quickly continue to avoid having to drive in the dark. After 10 kilometers we reach a fork. There is a sign but we can not make sense of the Arabic text on it and we have not seen a temple yet. Now what? A truck stops next to us and the passenger asks: “Dush Temple?”.  We nod yes and he gestures us to follow him. After a kilometer the asphalt road stops. On the top of a hill we see some ruins. The man who spoke to us earlier gets out of the truck and introduces himself as “Magdi, guard of the temple.”

The temple complex is examined by French archaeologists from October to December. The team then stays in the houses next to the temple. The archaeologists are now gone, but the site is still under constant surveillance. Tonight is the turn of Magdi and Ahmed. They show us where we can put up the tent and invite us to their campfire. After the tent has been put up we take our cooking gear to the campfire so I can make pasta. Even before I open my bag, there are plates with feta cheese, tomato and bread in front of us. No cooking tonight.
Magdi prepares some sweet tea and stokes the fire nicely. With the little English they speak we fill the evening talking about their wives, their children, our journey, the French and the temple.
We ask where we can refuel at Baris and where we can buy bread. Again the worried faces. In Baris we can only get ’80′ and bread is only available very early in the morning. But they know a solution. Ahmed takes his telephone and says at the end of the conversation: “Do not worry, it’ll be fine.”

The next morning, Peter climbs up the hill to the temple for an exploration of the complex in the first sunlight. He makes some nice pictures. After we have packed the tent, we again join Magdi and Ahmed. Their fire is still burning and stoked to make new tea. They first light a cigarette while they are stretching and rubbing their eyes waking up. They played dominos for the greater part of the night and only slept for a few hours.

Just when the tea is ready we see a car approaching us. The man that gets from the car holds a 20-liter jerry can of benzine in one hand and a bag full of bread in the other. Ahmed called a friend in Kharga (100km away), who came to Baris the evening before to bring our benzine! We cut a water bottle and use the top of the bottle as a funnel to fill the tanks of our bikes. We pay for the benzine, the service and the bread and say goodbye to our new friends.

Distance travelled to Dush Temple: 7085 km (4403 miles)

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