After the stop for lunch not far beyond the Climate Museum and whale fossils, the tour continued rambling through the desert for another twenty miles to reach Wadi Rayan and its famous waterfall. While the waterfall is reachable from Fayoum on paved roads, the back route through the desert offers much interesting scenery.
Our group stopped to overnight at a desert campsite before reaching the falls the next morning. Camping in the Egyptian desert bears little resemblance to camping in a U.S. national park or KOA facility. Drivers find an appropriate sand dune or rock formation offering shelter from the prevailing winds, and there is no shower building just down the road!
Once a suitable location was found, the drivers began breaking out the camp gear carried atop the 4x4s.
Soon a three-sided enclosure was established for meals.
Nearby, sleeping accommodations were set up, offering two options, a large communal tent or a one person tent.
On previous camping trips, Linda as opted to sleep outside under the stars - the desert air can offer breathtaking views of the Milky Way, star constellations and planets on moonless nights. At this time of the year, the nights are a bit brisk for sleeping under the stars and besides the clouds blocked the view this night. Lori opted for the smaller tent.
Quite a bit farther out into the Sahara at the White Desert National Park, some years back, we watched a fox browse through our campsite as noted on this blog post. The best anyone could do on this trip was to see a desert mouse passing by and no one got a picture.
Highlight of the evening, of course was the dinner, primarily roast chicken and potatoes in tomato sauce - a staple of Egyptian home cooking - served over rice.
Following a pleasant night's sleep, the ladies arose to breakfast with tea or coffee before breaking camp and moving on.
The next stops will be the Magic Lake, the famed Wadi El Rayan waterfall and tourist center.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment