Sahara Oases Grand Tour Details

Style: Culture tourism, ecology tourism and desert safari

Cairo– baharia oasis – farafra oasis – dakhla oasis – kharga oasis –Luxor

Program Itinerary

 Day 1:        Cairo

Arrival Cairo airport, transfer to hotel and  overnight

Day 2: Cairo visits

Breakfast, our day will start by visiting Pyramids Area of Giza the last survivors of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, after that you will visit a local Egyptian Perfume and Papyrus shops, lunch at local restaurant,

 Then will drive to visit the Egyptian Museum where we will explore corridors lined by sphinxes, halls with giant statues and rooms with scores of golden artifacts,

 Day 3: Baharia Oasis

06:00 departure from Cairo 09.30 Arrival to Baharia Oasis Breakfast. Visit Golden Mummies and Qasr Selim Tombs.

 Visit Qasr Selim built in the Pharaonic era from the 26th dynasty the place acquire beautiful tombs like tomb of Bannentiu a four columned burial chamber with an inner sanctuary, continue your tour visit the scant remains of Alexander the great temple were it is considered only place in Egypt where his cartouche and image were found, continue to visit the Bahariya Museum witch contains 4 of the Golden Mummies that was recently discovered in the area known as the valley of the golden mummies where about 800 mummies were discovered and expected to reach about 10,000 in this area dating from the Greco Roman era lunch during the tour, explore the hot & cold springs at the sunset end your tour visiting the old English Army House Visit the traditional market of Bahria. and the old town.

Lunch  meet your guide to drive by Jeep(4x4) towards the incredible White Desert an otherworldly region of blinding white rock formations shaped by wind erosion, surreal formations made by nature, the white chalk sand desert gets colored by the sun and sky colors depending on witch part of the day it is ranging from extreme white in the early morning to pink and orange at sun set, enjoy watching the beautiful shapes of Lime Stone hills, and ElHeiz Area is an interesting area and promises to reveal much about the Romans in Egypt, as well as Egypt's conversion to Christianity &   watch birds and enjoy the green scenery.

Departure to the Crystal Mountain.

Arrival at Cyrstal Mountain.

It should once be put right, that the crystals from the known Crystal Mountain (28° 26' E and 27° 39' N) between the oasis Bahariya and Farafra, northern of the White Desert, are no Quartz crystals. They are probably Barite (Schwerspat, BaSO4) and/or Calcite crystals (Kalkspat, CaCO3), which to ascertain at the hardness of the crystals easily. Quartz (SiO2) has the hardness 7, Barite and Calcite in the hardness 3.5-3.0 (after Mohs-scale). Quartz crystal can scratch glass, Barite or Calcite can it not.

Departure to El-Aqabat

Arrival at EL-Aqabat 

El Aqabat - Sunset The marvelous evening light on the limestone underground between sand dunes and high rocks of the El Aqabat area which lies east of the big road through the Western Desert.

 Visit the area and move on the White Desert Park, Arrival at the White Desert

The White Desert was declared a national park in 2002 as an area of outstanding natural beauty, it now covers an area of 3900 km2. Visitors to the park will marvel at the white chalk in selbergs. carved by nature into fantastical shapes. Lying on the ground, small calcite crystals together with fossils and black nodules of iron pyrites can be spotted. Elsewhere in the park, small uninhabited oasis and the scattered mini-depressions are a surprising feature in the desert as they create small patches of green that contrast with the golden-beige sand and the white chalk. The visitor may catch a glimpse of the the-ever present fox, the Sooty falcon or other secretive desert wildlife.
Design and construction of facilities for empowering conservation, managing visitors and serving ecotourism included the visitor center, audio visual exhibits , ticket office, guard outpost and entry landmark.
The visitor center is located in the town of Farafra 13 km from the park's southern border, it's mud architecture is rooted in the region's traditions which is evident in the nearby old village of Qasr. The grounds' landscape mimics the region’s natural and surrounding landscape with palm trees over mounds which are intended - over time - to be “vegetative mounds”. Tamarix , halfa and other wild species are encouraged to germinate.
The exhibits introduces the park's fantastic geology, flora, fauna and its captivating landscapes. It also presents the local culture and the region's history. An audio presentation available in 3 languages was designed to take visitors on a tour along the entire exhibits in 20 minutes .

 In El Mokhayamat Area (ticket) where one can set up tents. Pend the rest of the day in the White Desert.

Dinner and Overnight.

 

Day 4 :          Farafra Oasis

07.00 Breakfast and departure to farafra.

08.30 Arrival in Farafra – visit Qasr El Farafra Islamic Suite (Qasr Al-Farafra: or simply Al-Qasr, Farafra's only "town" is home to the ruins of an old Roman fortress which was built to protect this part of the desert caravan route.).

If you want to trace back the glory of the Roman civilization, visit Qasr Farafra. . Most of the Roman ruins are centered around Qasr El-Farafra. The Qasr or fortress on the northern side of the town dominated the top of a ridge overlooking the surrounding desert.

 Move on Foot to Badr Museum

Badr is the name of a local artist who developed his own artistic talent in different arts including glazed pottery and stone carving ) – then move to hayat Association for Handicrafts Where one could buy some locally manufactured Egyptian handicrafts. Then , drive to Ain Besay , a natural spring located 15 km south of Farafra . The site including remains from the Roman and Coptic periods.

      Lunch at farfra oasis then Departure to Dakhla Oasis. Arrival in Dakhla –Check in Shanda lodge – dinner and overnight.

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Day  5      : Dakhla Oasis

07.00 Breakfast 

07.30 Visit El-Qasr village and the ethnographic museum.

(DAKHLA- Al-Qasr)


Street scenes of old Al-Qasr
 

Description

Al-Qasr is the most memorable part. With an old town with many streets in excellent condition, it offers the best illustration of the oasis' past. at the foot of the limestone cliffs and on the edge of the lush oasis, is little changed from medieval times. With a population of around 700, the town was built from the it's Roman ruins and has narrow covered streets. There are 54 lintels, some dating from the Ottoman and Mamluk era which adorn the old houses, one of which dates to about 924 AD.

The Friday Mosque of Al-Qasr

   

The mosque dates back to the Ayyubid period. It has a three-story mud-brick minaret, 21 meters high, and wooden lintels decorated with inscriptions from the Koran at the entrances. Other local sites of interest include a pottery factory and an old corn mill. Mud bricks are still made in an ancient manner and there is a foundry where men still work mettle using bellows flamed fires.

The madrasa of Al-Qasr
  
The madrasa dates back to the 10th century, and predates the mosques of Al-Qasr. The main congregation hall, which served as both lecture room and prayer hall is really nice, with painted liwans (see top picture) which were used as libraries

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• Sun Set on Shanda Hill
• Dinner with badoun nights
• over night at shanda lodge

 

Day 6 Dakhla Oasis

Breakfast  Then, drive to Al-Mouzawaka, a site with almost 300 Roman tmbs adorned with vivdly colored mud brick walls.

Muzawaka Tombs
 

The table-top mountain an effective connection to the afterlife. Tombs are dug out all the way around it, The Tomb of Sadosiris has colorful wall-paintings.
A family grave was the solution for the "higher middle class" of ancient times. The grave is small and not decorated, but the corpses have been embalmed

The Muzawaka Tombs refer mainly to the nicely decorated tombs of Petosiris and Sadosiris, which were discovered by Fakhry in 1972. They date back to Roman times, as do many of the other tombs around this table top mountain.
 

• Move to Deir Al-Hagar, a sandstone

(Deir el-Hagar )
 

temple built by the Roman Emperor Nero in the 1st century AD and also decorated by the Emperors Vespasianm Titus and Domitian dedicated to the Theban Triad ( Amun , Mut and Khonsu ) and Set , “ Lord of the Oasis “.

• After noon we can also enjoy camel &hours  rideing  & Badwain nights with dinner
• dinner and overnight Shanda oasis  hotel

Day 7 :           Dakhla Oasis / Funny day 

• Then drive to Qalamun

DAKHLA
Beautiful little Qalamoun

Enjoy swimming at hot spring , then will go to the dunes to enjoy sand boardingQalamoun is a quick ride out of Mut and much of its old quarters are still inhabited, and well-kept. It is clearly one of Dakhla's nicest settlements, and the setting doesn't make it any worse. Coming to Qalamoun you will pass luscious lakes (keep repeating to yourself: This is in the middle of Sahara) while the the hilltop village grows in front of you. Upon leaving the village, the village is immediately replaced by golden sand dunes.
Hot Spring & Sand Dunes & Medtation& SandBoard
     

Fish pond

The artificial lake northwest of Mut is both called "Man-made Lake" and "Fish Pond".
It is clearly worth the stop for anyone interested in bird-watching. Many of the birds here migrate from Europe, and the Rough Guide travel book series list avocet,

Budkhulu village
 

Entrance to the Ayyubid mosque.

Among the villages that gets visitors, Budkhulu is among the smallest. The main attraction here is the 12th or 13th century Ayyubid mosque which looks almost like an old-style factory with chimney.
And just behind it, dark smoke might appear as it did during my visit. This was the place of an old style bakery, which you will be heartily invited to enter.

Dinner and overnight  Shanda oasis  hotel

Day 8 : Dakhla Oasis / khargha 

06.00  Breakfast and departure to Balat , a village located 25 km from Mut.

(Balat village)

 Balat has its moments. Many of its quarters appear just as they must have done centuries ago. Walls and street are well-kept, colours often bright, doors worn down yet more beautiful than any new door can be. Many walls are illustrated, telling passers-by about the owner's trip to Mecca for the pilgrimage.
Balat has unlike several other villages of Dakhla a living old town, and what is even better, is that the mosque has not yet been replaced with a Cairo-designed pre-fab mosque. Look inside, and you will see delightfully thick columns (as they are made from clay and brick they have not the same carrying capacity as stone or cement), and only smooth curves; never a straight line.

 Asment.

Visit the Roman and Coptic site of Asment.

• 30  Departure to Bashandi.
• 00  Visit Bashandi village

(Bashendi village )

The man Kitnes being greeted by gods. From the Tomb of Kitnes.

Description A village of Pharaonic design located about 40 km. east of Mut, Bashendi Village hosts an lslamic cemetery as well as Roman tombs, the most significant being the Tomb of Kitnes.

In Bashendi village you will find one of the most colourful and well-kept old towns in Dakhla; there are mud-brick houses in many different colours and narrow lanes set in a luscious oasis. But Bashendi is more, it has a selection of interesting and old sights. The most important is a sanctuary of the holy Muslim man called Pasha Hindi, who as his name indicates may have been of Indian origin. It is after him that the village has been named.
Bashendi also makes a claim to fame by its production of carpets, embroideries, baskets and dresses, all according to old patterns. You won't have to search for this, vendors will spot you as you arrive along the only road into the village. If you have time you can accept the invitation to enter the schools and production facilities.

 and departure to the rock of inscriptions – on the way we will visit Ain Berbiya , a sandstone temple built in the Ptolemaic period for the veneration of the otherwise unknown deity  Amun-Nakhat, Then, move to tineida, where visitors can investigate prehistoric rock inscriptions and drawing of human figures and animals.

• Arrival in Kharga

Kharga Oasis

• then visit El-Kharga Museum (ticket).

    

• Deprture to Bagawat and Qasr Al-Kashef. Visit Bagawat Coptic Site (ticket)

KHARGA
(Oasis of temples and castles)
 General Information : Kharga is the most modernized of Egypt's western oases. The main town is a highly functional town with all modern facilities, There are extensive thorn palm, acacia, buffalo thorn and jujube forests in the oasis surrounding the modern town of Kharga. Many remnant wildlife species inhabit this region. Although it offers a variety of sites of interest to the visitor, including ancient fortresses and villages, in Kharga it is the landscape that most overwhelms the traveler, for it is in Kharga that we encounter the desert as we had always imagined it to be.

 

(Bagawat Necropolis )

about three KM north El kharga , and behind HEBIS TEMPLE The Necropolis of Bagawat is a reminder of one of the most central battles of early Christianity; the dispute over the nature of Jesus. The 5th century bishop

Nestorius was exiled to Bagawat (as the village was called) for having claimed that only one of Jesus' natures had suffered on the cross; the earthly nature, not the divine. The tombs here are believed to indicate that worship of the dead was continued in a Christian style. There are 263 mud-brick chapels climbing up a ridge, the oldest dating back two centuries before Nestorius, the last back to the 7th century

 The tombs were originally plastered, but this is has since long disappeared.

Some of the tombs have courtyards, possibly used for ceremonies.

The Chapel of Peace, with defaced images of Adam and Eve, the Ark, Abraham, and Isaac.
Temple of Hibis)

This temple, named after the town that once existed here, is unique for Egypt in one respect. It is by far the largest and finest of temples from Egypt's 200 years under Persian rulers. It was King Darius 1 of the 6th century BCE who ordered it built, and dedicated to Amon. The temple was adorned by rulers over the following centuries, but the original style was always respected.

Qasr el-Ghweita



Qasr el-Ghweita has one of the nicest locations around Kharga Oasis, on top of a circular mountain. Walking up to the temple, it looks impressive and massive. Which probably was the intent back in the days of villains and competing tribes.

Entrance to the temple.

Standing inside the holiest of the holy, looking out, you actually see right through the fortified village and into the valley below. Impossible to catch on the photo, but really a nice view.

 
Around the temple, there was a village that must have housed a couple of hundred persons. Some buildings are in about as fine condition considering the age of more than 1,500 years.

 About 20 km south of Kharga is the temple Qasr al-Ghweita built between 250 and 80 BCE. It was dedicated to the Theban triad of Amon, Mut and Khonsu.

Kharga is clearly different from the image most people have of an oasis out in the desert. It has been the most important town in the development plans for the Western Oases, and has presently a population of more than 100,000 people. And when the architecture is totally dominated by concrete blocks and wide road . Kharga has sights from 3 millenniums.
Kharga means in Arabic "point of departure", in opposition to Dakhla, "point of entrance", which lies further to the west.

The population of Kharga are Berbers with roots back to the time when the oasis was a station on the famous 40 Days Road between Sudan and Egypt — famous because of the merchandise; slaves

Then we will take our way to Luxor  , will visit Oasis of Baris

The Temple of Dush in the Oasis of Paris

This area corresponds to the Ptolemaic and Roman settlement of Kysis and it is located near the oasis of Paris and 120 kilometers South of Al Kharga. There are two Roman fortress and two temples. This site had significant importance in the old world as it granted the control of several Caravan routs in the Roman and Ptolemaic times.
The major monument in this site is a temple that was made out of limestone blocks during the rule of Domitian (81 – 96 AD) and enlarged by many of his successors and it was dedicated to the worship of Isis.

The dug works in the site of Dush has been going on since 1976 by the French institution of oriental archeology. They unearthed a lot of interesting findings that include many golden items. There are also a lot of many interesting monuments in this ancient site.

Drive from Kharga TO Luxor

Arrival in Luxor hotel, overnight.

 Day 9: Luxor:

Breakfast Start your full day tour visiting (Valley of Kings-Deir El Bahari Temple-Colossi of Memnon and the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut). Excursion to the Necropolis of Thebes, on the Eastern bank. Crossing the Nile, drive to the Valley of Kings; visit the tombs of various Dynasties, the Temple of Deir El Bahari. On the return journey stop at the Colossi of Memnon which are two gigantic sitting statues representing Amenopis III facing the Nile. And visit the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Overnight in Luxor

   

Day 10 luxor / Cairo

Breakfast. Start your full day visiting East Bank (Karnak and Luxor Temple) Excursion to the Luxor Temple to see its courtyard and the granite statues of Ramses the Great Proceed by carriage or bus to Karnak, which is a serious of temples built in different reigns. Starting by the Avenue of Sphinxes visit the Unfinished Propylon, the Hypostyle Hall with its 134 gigantic columns,

              

• At the end of day transfer to Luxor airport, Flight from Luxor to Cairo.

Arrival in Cairo.  Transfer to Cairo hotel, overnight.          

Day 11: end of the program

 Breakfast, transfer to Cairo airport for final departure.

 Rate per person in Dbl USD

Above rates are for Foreigner

*Min. 04 pax *

• Rate include :-

1. 01 nights camping at white desert F.B basis.
2. 04 nights at Shanda lodge Dakhla on H.B basis
3. 03 nights Cairo hotel on B.B basis.
4. 02 nights Maritim Luxor hotel on B.B basis
5. Airport transfers in Cairo
6. Minibus for the tour
7. 4x4 car for 02days
8. Camping
9. All sightseeing in program starting from Cairo to Luxor ( tickets excluding )

• Flight ticket Kharga   / Cairo.