Shanda Location Details

Shanda Lodge located at Dakhala Oasis one of the most beautiful oases in Egypt  - Ezab El Kaser - New Valley 

Dakhla Oasis which is apart from the New Valley Governorate which lies in the western south part of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Shanda Lodge is located in Dakhla Oasis which lies west of Kharga Airport (180km) and is also about 310 km to the southeast of Farafra and 500km west of the Nile (6 hours from Luxor Airport). Dakhla Oasis (Oasis Magna of the ancient times and the threshold to Gilf Kebir National Park) consists of 14 settlements and has a population of about 70,000 people. Dakhla is considered by many to be Egypt’s most beautiful oasis. Being away from the village’s dwellings Al Tarfa maintains its privacy, serenity and distinct appeal. The lodge’s location is superb, with various levels and granting a 360°panoramic view over the breathtaking and lively oasis landscape Which intensely contrasts with the surrounding deserts.

Shanda Lodge  is 1 km far from the main road of the city and 20 Km from The capital  (Mut ) 

Why We Chose Dakhla 

Dakhla is the farthest oasis out of Cairo and is considered one of Egypt's most beautiful oasis. 

It sits in a depression surrounded by pink cliffs. There are about 30,000 acres of cultivated land. Most of its 40,000 o residents are farmers who constantly fight the battle of the dunes that threaten their fields and orchards. The fields and gardens are filled mostly with mulberry trees, date palms, figs, apricots and citrus fruits. Dakhla has retained most of its culture and charm even though it has increased in size by about double and government funding and technical training have revitalized the economy.

Research has found that the Oasis has been inhabited since prehistoric times and that there was once a huge lake here. There are Neolithic rock paintings that indicate that the lake was frequented by elephants, buffaloes, and ostriches. As the lake dried up, the inhabitants migrated to the Nile valley and were probably some of its first settlers.

Dakhla Oasis is dominated on its northern horizon by a wall of rose-colored limestone rock. Fertile cultivated areas growing rice, peanuts, and fruit are dotted between sand dunes along the roads from Farafra and Kharga in this area of outstanding natural beauty. The capital, Mut, named after the ancient goddess of the Theban Triad, houses the Museum of the Inheritance, a traditional house, with an intricate wooden combination lock

Al Qasr, about 35 km from Mut, was originally a Roman settlement which later became the medieval capital of Dakhla. The old town is a labyrinth of mud-walled alleys narrowly separating houses with elaborately carved wooden 

"The mighty oasis of Dakhla perfectly symbolizes the serenity of a desert island. The ancient lifestyles one can detect there seem as they had ever been—unchanged, untouched. Indeed, it was there that I had first experienced 'the eternal primitivism of being'.

 On the other hand, and from a historical perspective, Dakhla embraces—in addition to Egypt's common and unearthed treasures— reach memoirs seldom, if ever been, told. There are well-preserved Pharaohnic, Persian, Ptolemaic and Roman temples, remarkable Christian necropolises that date back to the 4^th century A.D., shrines built for Amen-Ra and castles and fortresses representing the architectural techniques of several Islamic eras.

 Geographically, the oasis form part of the seam between two physical spheres: The perforated and oases-spotted limestone plateau that profiles central Egypt and the NASA-reported, Martian sandstone country of southwest Egypt. It also possesses the general characteristics of prolific, semi-arid, arid and hyperarid lands.

 We simply calculated that that past and those geographies out to have a revelation. Needing a base for our exploits and contribution to the preservation of the national assets, we have chosen folkloric Dakhla as a beacon and a jump-off point to the oases of Egypt and the unmatched wildernesses that embrace them." 

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