GILF EL KEBIR & THE GREAT SAND SEA
DESCRIPTION
One of the greatest desert expeditions it is possible to do: into the wild landscapes of the magnificent and grand Sahara in all its beauty and awe, a full immersion of Sahara at its best. See it, feel it, live it, you will certainly never forget it.
DAY 1
Arrival in Cairo and transfer to the hotel, possibly on the Desert Road
Meals: on one’s own
Overnight: Hotel Amarante Pyramids ***** or Hilton***** (all rooms en suite)
DAYS 2 & 3
Early morning departure of the expedition on the tarmac road to Bahariya (km 365 – time 4-5 hrs), then after lunch continue on to the White Desert and the oases of Farafra and Dakhla. In the evenings “Monsieur Gautier’s Hotel” will be ready with tented accommodation in the desert.
Meals: full board (local restaurant and at the camp)
Overnight: L’Hotel de Monsieur Gautier (tents) in the White Desert (eastern side) and at the Desert Lodge in Dakhla (all rooms ensuite)
The tarmac road leading south-west runs on a flat sandy plain interrupted only by low hills and little dunes introducing the oasis, the typical ecosystem of the Western Desert. Impressive landscapes of vast plains, dunes and abandoned featuring interesting tombs and temples. Bahariya is a small oasis with a rich history, surrounded by escarpments which protect its lush palm grove. The depression of the White Desert is a true ‘delight’ of nature with its stunning ‘rock’ formations of inselbergs and “mushrooms”, domes and towers, in colours which vary from shining white to pink, violet, yellow and light blue, all emerging from the golden sand. This unique feature is caused by the “absorbing capacity of the soil”: it looks like chalk but is in fact limestone and fossil powder. The tiny isolated Farafra oasis nestles in this depression.
DAYS 4 TO 8
Leaving behind the last oasis, we continue for approximately 60 km on new tar road leading to Bir Tarfawi Well almost on the border with Sudan, and then we start the real adventure spending a few days in the Gilf El Kebir!
Meals: full board at the camp
Overnight: the Hotel de Monsieur Gautier (tents): near Abu Balas, Gilf El Kebir, at Aqaba and in Wadi Hamra.
A landscape made of vast plains, peculiar clay ‘sculptures’ known as “mud lions”, fantastic “sifs” (long rows of winding dunes) and solitary cone-shaped black hills emerging from the yellow sands. Then the great barrier of black rock leading to Gilf El Kebir’s Plateau, a world of dunes, rocks, walls, gorges and canyons. Through the famous El Aqaba Pass to the astonishing Western Region, on the border with Libya: groups of “pachydermites”, sandstone pinnacles at Morabitum Rocks, white and red sands, paleo-soils and shelters dating back to the Neolithic era, like for example the Wadi Sora ”Swimmers’ Cave” made famous by the movie “The English Patient”. Then the recently discovered “Foggini’s Cave” with its awe-inspiring thousands of paintings, graffiti, handprints and footprints … indeed the most important discovery in the Sahara over the last decades. And lastly a tribute to what remains of the camps of great explorers such as Hassanein Bey, Kemal el Din, Bagnold, Clayton, von Almasy – forerunners and inspirers of the Long Range Desert Group’s heroic raids.
DAYS 9 TO 12
Visit of the peculiar Silica Glass region and then rides on the dunes across the desert of the Great Sand Sea to the White Desert (western side).
Meals: full board at the camp
Overnight: L’Hotel de Monsieur Gautier (tents): in the Silica Glass region, the Great Sand Sea and the White Desert.
The journey northwards moves across fabled valleys and very wide plains, skirting the dunes of the Great Sand Sea, a world of sands and infinite horizons, interrupted at times only by small fossil lakes and rock formations rich in shells. This area was left unexplored until the beginning of the 20th century when British cartographers visited it. A region rich in a mysterious glass, jade or aquamarine-coloured substance, called “Libyan Glass” or “Silica Glass”. Also many paleo-soils rich in prehistoric tools.
DAY 13
Transfer along the tarmac road connecting the oases region to the capital, arrival for lunch at Bahariya and then onwards to Cairo.
Meals: half board (lunch at a local restaurant, dinner on one’s own)
Overnight: the historic Helnan Shepheard Hotel**** in the city centre (all rooms en suite).
DAY 14
A few hours at leisure to explore this fascinating city before the transfer to the airport and your international flight.
Meals: breakfast only