Things To Do in Farafra

In all honesty, there's very little to see in Farafra that would draw anyone here from Cairo. If you're here, though, it's likely on your way through the White Desert or on your way north to either the Black Desert or south toward the Gilf. That said, a moment taken to look around and indulge yourself in random encounters with the accommodating and courteous residents of the town is a rare treat.

Bir Sitta -- A cement irrigation tank never looked so good -- particularly in the dark. The name literally means "Well 6." One end of this utilitarian construction is an oblong tank big enough to accommodate 8 to 10 people in the steaming hot water, while the other end, where the water comes roaring in from the well head, is about the size of a Jacuzzi. A long, hot soak here under the stars at the end of a long day in a 4WD is heaven.

Crystal Mountain -- This is an enormous hunk of crystal (though nowhere near mountain sized) by the side of the road in the White Desert. It has a hole through the middle. It's not worth going out of your way to see, but it makes a good photo if you happen to be passing by.

White Desert -- This is a surreal part of the Western Desert that begins around 50km (30 miles) north of Farafra in the Farafra Depression. At first, looking out the window, you think it's some kind of mirage. The ridges of the rocks seem to have a frost on them. Then you'll see a snowdrift, and pretty soon you're in a winter wonderland. In fact, what you're seeing is a combination of chalk and limestone. The effect is extraordinary, not only because of its unnervingly accurate impression of snow, but because the uneven hardness of the rocks has caused them to form massive, dramatically carved outcroppings known as inselbergs. Kids will delight in coming up with shape associations, and photographers will fill up their memory cards trying to capture the brilliant hues of the setting sun reflecting off the inselbergs' shiny surfaces. Waking up amongst them is one of the highlights of any camping trip into the desert.

The Big One: Gilf Kebir

This massive plateau -- in places it's more than 300m (980-ft.) high and has an area equivalent to that of Switzerland -- rises out of the desert in the extreme southwestern corner of the Egyptian desert. One of the most remote places on Earth, it was also a strategic backdoor into Egypt during World War II and the centerpiece of a whole skein of narratives, including the story of the mysterious Austrian Count Almasy. Until the award-winning Canadian novel The English Patient wove a completely different story about the man, he was best known as a daring, even reckless, explorer of the Western Desert in the early years of the 20th century. He played a crucial part in mapping out the Gilf and used his knowledge with considerable bravery during the war, delivering a pair of German spies via his own route through the Gilf to Dakhla and down to the Nile Valley.

Nowadays, a number of companies regularly mount expeditions to the Gilf. For pure desert adventure, not to mention the dramatic scenery, the famous cave paintings, and the abandoned trucks and equipment that mark out the area's unique and colorful history, this trip's pretty hard to beat.