Circumnavigating the Western Desert: Part Six– Great Sand Sea and some reflections
The road to Farafra is scenic, and for this very reason- beg, borrow or steal a window seat on the bus to Farafra. Alternatively, retrace your step to Mut, from where the bus to Farafra starts and occupy the window seat- though I just requested my co-passenger to shift over to my aisle seat- telling him that I am a tourist and am traveling this region for the first time – in chaste Arabic.
Last few days had done wonders to my spoken Arabic- I was not only fluently speaking in Arabic, but also learning or remembering new words at a furious pace. Even my comprehension of the aural Arabic had improved… I was able to pick up a few words here and there and then put them in the context to arrive at the meaning.
Language is an amazing thing; I remember one of my Arabic instructors telling me- how language is partly verbal and majorly expression and context driven. He told me that though at times, we are intimidated by the fact as to how we will communicate in an alien land, but ultimately are able to- and quoted his own experiences in varied lands of Japan, Morocco, Mali and Ethiopia- where he was able to communicate what all he wanted, with relative ease. I am also reminded of Bawabs (Egyptian gatekeepers cum errand boys), they are mostly illiterate or semi-literate people from the Middle Egypt (region of Egypt that hardly sees any foreign tourists) and yet despite their minuscule repertoire of English, they are able to understand everything that is told to them, by their clients. My Bawab, Ahmed, says that it is not the language that he understands but some signs, and his experience as to what a particular sign may mean, that helps him to understand the clients.
Back to the road to Farafra; along this road, you start seeing as to what a real desert means… sand dunes everywhere, not even a trace of vegetation, not a trace of life or water. Till now what I had seen was arid- shrubland, where one could see some shrubs here and there fighting the wrath of the nature. And some camels, sheeps and donkeys grazing casually, challenging the reign of the deserts; but this was different.
Eric had told me that technically the Great Sand Sea starts just after the end of Al Qasr. The road to Farafra goes west till a small village, which has a small spring and therefore some Bedouin settlement and then takes a sharp turn towards north for Farafra. Beyond this small settlement towards the west, which has strategic significance for the Egyptian Army and looks like a cantonment, there is absolutely no life. This settlement heralds the beginning of the Great Sand Sea, which has in its folds Silica Glass valley (where sand has turned into glass due to some meteoric impact), Valley of Acacia (a patch of green in midst of desert, fed by an underground cistern) and the Gilf Kebir (a 1800m high peak in midst of desert). This is the same Great Sand Sea that devoured the marching 50000 strong army of Cambyses, the Persian monarch who wanted to destroy the Temple of Oracle at Siwa, and thereafter the Persian Empire was not same ever again. (Cambyses' brother Bardiya rose against him after his failure in Egyptian deserts and in Sudan against the Meroe rulers, interestingly he was defeated in both the expedition, by the desert...and not the opponents…in Sudan too he lost to the desert, after his garrison lost the way and perished… tragically the man died at his own hand, when he was all but defeated by enemies, and was buried in a desert town of Persia… his tomb was found in 2006).
Western Desert, people say is filled with amazing geographical features, there are fossil graveyards, stunning scenery, caves (one such cave was shot in the movie English Patient; I recommend this movie to anybody who likes good cinema and who would like to see a snapshot of Western Desert).
Farafra is not a pure oasis, at least from what I saw. In other oasis, I saw springs but in Farafra water is pumped out of under ground cisterns, so Farafra can at best qualify as a piece of land where the ground water is abundant and found easily (and may be I am wrong)… this opens a lot of possibilities, actually. There are some hot sulfur springs, where water is pumped out through tube wells and because it doesn’t come in contact with air, the temperature of the pumped water is fairly high, as high as 60 degrees. Imagine taking a bath under it… Jacuzzi is just a passé.
Farafra is closest to White Desert and yet farthest to Cairo, therefore hordes of tourists head towards Bahariya to make an excursion to White Desert. This has meant two things; one that Farafra has not developed much- there are hardly a few hotels and fewer outfits which run jeep safaris to White Desert and two that the people of Farafra are friendly and don’t interact with us as if they are interacting with a potential client. So in a sense I liked the place.
I had a worry at hand; the tougher part was how I would muster enough funds to visit White Desert, as it is done on a Jeep Safari which might cost USD 150- on my own I was not willing to spend so much. I was told by Eric that it is not very difficult to see the White Desert, he advised that I should just hop on to any vehicle going to Bahariya and alight at the White Desert- and then walk eastwards from the road, as the White Desert falls on the Eastern side of the road and then sleep somewhere in the desert… then the morning next I can just start walking towards the West to get back to the road and hop on to any other vehicle going towards Bahariya. The idea sounded fine. But what if something goes wrong? I will be stranded in midst of desert without any help.
Eric was of the opinion that nothing will go wrong, he said the worse that can happen is that you may be bitten by a desert fox, and in any case there are dozens of group from Bahariya coming for an excursion to the White Desert and in case of emergency they will be able to help me. But Homda had a horror story about how two Japanese were lost and then rescued after 4 days. Both had a point. And I was unable to make up my mind, whom to follow....and then the bus driver yelled....Farafra Farafra!!!!!
Last few days had done wonders to my spoken Arabic- I was not only fluently speaking in Arabic, but also learning or remembering new words at a furious pace. Even my comprehension of the aural Arabic had improved… I was able to pick up a few words here and there and then put them in the context to arrive at the meaning.
Language is an amazing thing; I remember one of my Arabic instructors telling me- how language is partly verbal and majorly expression and context driven. He told me that though at times, we are intimidated by the fact as to how we will communicate in an alien land, but ultimately are able to- and quoted his own experiences in varied lands of Japan, Morocco, Mali and Ethiopia- where he was able to communicate what all he wanted, with relative ease. I am also reminded of Bawabs (Egyptian gatekeepers cum errand boys), they are mostly illiterate or semi-literate people from the Middle Egypt (region of Egypt that hardly sees any foreign tourists) and yet despite their minuscule repertoire of English, they are able to understand everything that is told to them, by their clients. My Bawab, Ahmed, says that it is not the language that he understands but some signs, and his experience as to what a particular sign may mean, that helps him to understand the clients.
Back to the road to Farafra; along this road, you start seeing as to what a real desert means… sand dunes everywhere, not even a trace of vegetation, not a trace of life or water. Till now what I had seen was arid- shrubland, where one could see some shrubs here and there fighting the wrath of the nature. And some camels, sheeps and donkeys grazing casually, challenging the reign of the deserts; but this was different.
Eric had told me that technically the Great Sand Sea starts just after the end of Al Qasr. The road to Farafra goes west till a small village, which has a small spring and therefore some Bedouin settlement and then takes a sharp turn towards north for Farafra. Beyond this small settlement towards the west, which has strategic significance for the Egyptian Army and looks like a cantonment, there is absolutely no life. This settlement heralds the beginning of the Great Sand Sea, which has in its folds Silica Glass valley (where sand has turned into glass due to some meteoric impact), Valley of Acacia (a patch of green in midst of desert, fed by an underground cistern) and the Gilf Kebir (a 1800m high peak in midst of desert). This is the same Great Sand Sea that devoured the marching 50000 strong army of Cambyses, the Persian monarch who wanted to destroy the Temple of Oracle at Siwa, and thereafter the Persian Empire was not same ever again. (Cambyses' brother Bardiya rose against him after his failure in Egyptian deserts and in Sudan against the Meroe rulers, interestingly he was defeated in both the expedition, by the desert...and not the opponents…in Sudan too he lost to the desert, after his garrison lost the way and perished… tragically the man died at his own hand, when he was all but defeated by enemies, and was buried in a desert town of Persia… his tomb was found in 2006).
Western Desert, people say is filled with amazing geographical features, there are fossil graveyards, stunning scenery, caves (one such cave was shot in the movie English Patient; I recommend this movie to anybody who likes good cinema and who would like to see a snapshot of Western Desert).
Farafra is not a pure oasis, at least from what I saw. In other oasis, I saw springs but in Farafra water is pumped out of under ground cisterns, so Farafra can at best qualify as a piece of land where the ground water is abundant and found easily (and may be I am wrong)… this opens a lot of possibilities, actually. There are some hot sulfur springs, where water is pumped out through tube wells and because it doesn’t come in contact with air, the temperature of the pumped water is fairly high, as high as 60 degrees. Imagine taking a bath under it… Jacuzzi is just a passé.
Farafra is closest to White Desert and yet farthest to Cairo, therefore hordes of tourists head towards Bahariya to make an excursion to White Desert. This has meant two things; one that Farafra has not developed much- there are hardly a few hotels and fewer outfits which run jeep safaris to White Desert and two that the people of Farafra are friendly and don’t interact with us as if they are interacting with a potential client. So in a sense I liked the place.
I had a worry at hand; the tougher part was how I would muster enough funds to visit White Desert, as it is done on a Jeep Safari which might cost USD 150- on my own I was not willing to spend so much. I was told by Eric that it is not very difficult to see the White Desert, he advised that I should just hop on to any vehicle going to Bahariya and alight at the White Desert- and then walk eastwards from the road, as the White Desert falls on the Eastern side of the road and then sleep somewhere in the desert… then the morning next I can just start walking towards the West to get back to the road and hop on to any other vehicle going towards Bahariya. The idea sounded fine. But what if something goes wrong? I will be stranded in midst of desert without any help.
Eric was of the opinion that nothing will go wrong, he said the worse that can happen is that you may be bitten by a desert fox, and in any case there are dozens of group from Bahariya coming for an excursion to the White Desert and in case of emergency they will be able to help me. But Homda had a horror story about how two Japanese were lost and then rescued after 4 days. Both had a point. And I was unable to make up my mind, whom to follow....and then the bus driver yelled....Farafra Farafra!!!!!
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