Western Desert: Part two: Farafra & Dakhla
Photo and Text by: Ammar Keylani, Film Director, Pof. Photographer, Lecture and Writer Mobile: 080 071 9439
You could find a variety of hotels and lodges in that town ranging from 35 pounds (200 Bat) till 1000 pounds. Since I have all my catering equipment in my vehicle and since I still consider my self a poor traveler, I chose the former. The town is famous with its hot springs that could reach 60 degrees and I had to wait until nightfall to dip my self in its rushing waters, which could ascend in some wells from 1000 meters deep and enjoy its healing powers. It is not recommended to stay more than half an hour at a time. There is a lot to see around the town from old Egyptian artifacts to Roman ones, another white desert and last but not least the Sand Museum of that gentle soul named Badr (tel. no. +20121704710) who gave his entire life to create art from whatever the desert could offer him.
Thus I found unique drawing from the sand, sculptures from sand and rocks, oil and water coloured paintings describing love, agony and the desert. It is free entrance and most of what he created is for sale while others are his intimate and private collection. On my way out of Farafra I passed by a car accident that just took place minutes before my arrival. I used my powerful electric wench to drive the car, which had flipped twice before landing in the ditch beside the road, back on the road. Egyptians are known to be the worst drivers in the world and they would make accidents on an empty road surrounded by nobody except the Sahara! Don’t ask me why but once you step inside Cairo and take a Taxi, then you would understand perfectly what I am talking about.
Rare species of spiders in Farafra Olive press in Dakhla El-Qasr
I left Farafra and I head to the last town El Dakhla 250 kms away and the last frontier of civilization before I would hit the great oceans of sand and nothingness all the way till the borders of Sudan and Libya. In El-Dakhla there stands an ancient town called El-Qasr that had been ravaged by mercenaries time after time for the last 800 years and now only the black smith go to open his antique shop there! There are no cheap accommodations except for two camping areas one is called Nasser at the outskirts of the town where you can find yourself in a small swimming pool and you would pay 50 pounds per night.
No matter how good you are equipped and how strong or well maintained your vehicle is, you should never ever attempt to cross that distance across the Sahara on your own. 3 vehicles are a minimum. Food, water, wood for fire, thick blankets and spare parts are life saving items. There are few good traveling companies that could make this trip worth the money you would pay. One of the best worth trusty is called Apple. The worst is called Aquasun where the tour leader and the owner of that company could easily loose his way in his own bathroom! It is a 10 days trip and 1000km to cross in a terrain that has nothing to offer except heat in the morning and zero or below at night.
And although you could find Land Rovers with 2.4 liters 4 cylinder petrol engines still heavily loaded the best of choice would be the 4.2 diesel 6 cylinders turbo engines Land Cruisers. Almost unstoppable. Mine is an old 1972 with 4 cylinder petrol engine and overloaded. Much of that load I had to leave in Cairo.
I had to make a thorough check on each part of the car and read at night more about the western desert preparing my self for my first challenge; Abo Ballas, where the pharaohs in the old kingdom had ordered an artificial well made of 200 clay jars filled constantly with water to supply the caravans on their way to Libya. I decided to spent my last night in the western desert where I met a married couple, Cristoph and Dalia with their Cherokee Jeep who were only spending the night and then on their way back to Cairo. They knew well that crossing the Sahara is not to be taking lightly and I was left alone on my way to Abo Ballas but that is another story in the next issue.
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