Egypt’s White Desert: A Planet Unknown
Two months ago, I had the opportunity to formally put in my two weeks notice at a company I worked at in the wine and spirits industry. In the middle of a pandemic. Where unemployment rates were at a historical high and peaking at unprecedented levels.
One of the destinations I chose to travel to was Egypt. And one of those destinations in Egypt was Egypt’s White Desert. This quote from CNN Travel sums it up best:
“The White Desert is so different from any place on the planet,” Ziad Omran, co-founder of the adventure travel company Destination 31, told CNN Travel earlier this year.
“Once they experience adventure travel there, they end up coming back again with their friends. So, they can experience it for themselves.”
The adventure started from the Marriott Mena House, a hotel located in front of Giza’s Pyramids. We were greeted by a driver that spoke only Egyptian Arabic. Nonetheless, my friends and I decided to get into the car, and trusted that this was the right driver sent to us when we booked the desert tour through WhatsApp. What we didn’t know was that this journey would take 7 hours long in the middle of a heat wave in the Sahara Desert (i.e., temperatures reached up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit).
We drove through the empty sands of the desert, with no signs of life for miles and miles on end. Every so often, we would stop at a petrol station to purchase a few more water bottles in an attempt to combat the blistering heat. Occasionally, we would also stop for our driver to do a quick prayer. 7 hours later, we finally met with our second caravan: a Toyota Land Cruiser, whose driver was the actual tour guide for the desert. He greeted us and invited us into his home for a quick mango smoothie. He listed what the plan was for the tour, and we were on our way to our campsite.
After an additional 2 hours of driving in the heat, we finally arrived to what was called “The Valley of Agabah” (forgive me if this is the incorrect spelling). What came into view were alien-like rocks, shaped so peculiarly that it seemed as if we were on another planet. White sands and white rocks were littered all over. The driver stopped for a few minutes, and we hiked to explore the terrain.
We drove into some sands, and the driver asked us if we wanted to sand-board — yes! I had just started to learn how to snowboard earlier in the beginning of 2021, so I thought this would be the most perfect segway into seeing how well those skills translated on sand. Spoiler alert: they did not translate well at all. Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience to get to view the sunset all the while sand-boarding down dunes in the Sahara Desert. It felt dream-like, as if we were on the set of a Star Wars film.
After our sand boarding session, unfortunately enough, we realized that our cruiser had a flat tire. To our luck however, the sun was already beginning to set, which meant temperatures cooled just a little for the heat to become somewhat bearable. Our guide quickly set to change the tires, which did not take much time at all. He did mention, however, how hungry and thirsty he was (eating and drinking was not allowed until sunset since we were in the middle of Ramadan). After the sun had set and our tire was fixed, we bolted through the desert once more — this time there was just darkness. The guide knew the terrain despite the lack of light and visuals in the desert. A few minutes later, we reached the park where the guide quickly started setting up camp and preparing our dinner. I chose to sleep underneath all the stars with just a single mat and blanket.
If those are seeking an interplanetary adventure, this may just be the closest thing to it before we are able to do so otherwise.
