Day 246: Cairo - White Desert (الصحراء البيضاء)

Dec 5 - Awaken drained of energy, but I am eager that we get out of town. Odette still cannot hold any food down, but we pack up and get downstairs anyway at 7:00 where a vehicle is waiting to take us to the Western Desert. Soon are out of the pressing traffic and pollution to the open road west of 6th of October City. We make a certain detour here, which the driver tells me is necessary to avoid the police. There is technically a restriction in place, banning foreigners from visiting points west of here. I did the research and knew this was the case, but decided to do it anyway.

A lot of colorfully painted trucks out this way.

Yes, this is what I wanted to see this morning: a road stretching out into the open desert.

Stop in the town of Bawiti after about five hours, where we change vehicles to a hardy 4-wheel drive. Meet our guides Khaled and Ayman. Odette is pale and throws up into a trash can in the parking lot. Stop by a tiny pharmacy in town, where we wake up the pharmacist who is sleeping on the floor behind the counter and ask for hydrating fluid. He doesn’t have any, but sells me some anti-vomiting pills. Give one to Odette and we continue on our way, turning south in the direction of Al Farafra Oasis.

Another hour and we arrive at Al Heiz Oasis, where there is a peaceful restaurant, really just a mud brick building with carpets on the ground for dining. Odette is feeling a bit better, and continues to be in a good mood. The restaurant has spring water flowing along a ditch in the floor, so we sit with our feet in it, and let the quiet, unstressed feeling of the desert wash over us.

The spring and restaurant.

A mural on the wall of the restaurant.

Odette eats a ton, and we don’t stop her, as this may well indicate that she is out of the woods health-wise.

Today’s route: (A) Cairo, (B) Bawiti, (C) Al Heiz, (D) White Desert.

Continue heading south for about an hour more, to an unmarked turnoff heading east. We enter an area called the Crystal Valley, with outcrops exhibiting banded quartz and calcite crystals.

This region is extremely dry, with not a hint of plant life to be seen.

Odette on an outcrop of almost pure calcite.

More calcite.

Once I saw this, I realized we were looking at an eroded system of underground caves.

We carry on for another 40 minutes east, to where we will camp for the night. The terrain becomes incredible, with sharp topography, some flat sandy areas, and chalk deposits everywhere. The region was a sea about 80 million years ago, and the rocks formed have undergone not tilting or other deformation since, other than occasional fracture patterns in the chalk.

One of the flat sandy areas near our camp. The place we stop is called the ‘Airport Area’.

Looks like snow, but it is all chalk.

A Maastrichtrian Khoman Chalk outcrop, sculpted by wind. It contains an abundance of iron-rich pseudomorphs, replacing crystals, and aquatic plants and animals.

A good example showing the texture of wind sculpted chalk, iron replacement structures, and sand.

There is no noise here at all, except for us and the wind. And no insects.

About 20:00, a fennec fox comes to the camp, nosing around in the darkness. It is a grey color with large ears and a white tipped tail. I am surprised to see one, as they are extremely shy. But the smell of food brings them in.

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