Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Travel: Western Desert

Des Moines Register
A very brief description of a tour to the Western Desert oases.

We drove through the Kharga Depression, which contains one of the largest fields of small yardangs - rock ridges caused by wind and water erosion.The next day we traveled to the Dakhla Oasis, the largest oasis in the Western Desert. On the way, we visited several sites with primitive paintings of the Old Testament stories still visible in fourth-century dome structures.

In Dakhla, we visited the marketplace, then prepared an overnight pack for primitive camping under the stars. We trekked on camels for nearly two hours to the campsite where Bedouin men prepared the food and played neys (Egyptian flutes), rubabas (three-string violins) and other instruments during the evening campfire.

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