Desert Safari
When we arrived in town we noticed that the desert safari options were many, although probably not varied, so we put off making a decision immediately. Luckily for us, as we lazed around the pool, fate was working away in the background... Tom and Nicki were planning to stay at The Desert Rose and met a man on the bus from Alex who did safaris in Siwa. Separately Hayley and Louis bumped into Ahmed and before you can say 'happy sand-realted coincidence' the trip was arranged. There were 2 more spaces in the jeep for us which was handy.
Ahmed of Siwa Safaris picked us up at 11ish and we were soon heading towards the edge of town to a point where the road neatly cuts a lake in two. The left side is fresh water and the right salt, complete with a solid ice-white crust. Pretty amazing to look at really.
From here we visited a ruined village, heard a shaggy dog story about tomb raiders before having a look at a 5 metre deep natural spring. The cool clear water seeps up through the porous rocks here forming a beautiful natural pool. We all looked at it longingly but this one's not for swimming in. Thankfully we only had to wait a few minutes longer before we were putting our cozzies on and diving in an even better natural pool. The water is cool without being cold and is constantly flowing up from underground. Our schedule had us here for 4 or more hours and we all spent as much time as we could swimming, diving in and, somewhat childishly, taking it in turns to fetch a specific rock form the bottom.
This took up most of a brilliantly laid back afternoon, along with lunch and a quick dip in a nearby salt lake, which is a very odd experience. The water is shallow, warm as on bath night and home to a billion salty needles. We hobbled out to a deep enough spot and, being ultra-careful not to get any water in our eyes, laid back and bobbed like corks. It's a great novelty which wears off about the first time you run aground and get a bum full of salt spikes. It's also a bit hard on mozzie bites and grazes!
After the salt we needed one last dip in the pool before visiting a Bedouin mud village which was occupied as recently as 100 years ago. The mud bricks are baked hard in the sun but are not as happy in the rain. Each downpour causes major damage although the last big rain was in 1984. Our safari so far had been around the outskirts of town but with sunset approaching we headed towards The Great Sand Sea. Ahmed certainly knows what he's doing which was highlighted when a rival jeepster went flying past us only to get thoroughly bogged 5 minutes later. Anyone seen the latest Ray Mears?
The desert sunset was very pretty as seen from our spot on the top of a dune and, as most had a contemplative moment, I took the chance to jump off the top and get sand up my shirt. Our camp for the night was a couple of thick balnkets sheltered from the wind by the jeep and a windbreak and it was here that we ate the hearty veggie stew and couscous which was the best grub we'd had since getting to Egypt. And from someone who's dined at KFC Alexandria that's pretty high praise.
With full tums and a ceiling of stars it was an early night for all. The breeze soon died down but the air stayed beautifully cool and Vic and I slept so soundly we didn't even notice the visitors who investigated camp as we slumbered. Tiny mouse footprints came from miles of empty sand to have a sniff at our campsite. One track came within a couple of centimetres of my blanket before my feet scared him off.
In the morning we woke naturally to see the sunrise before tucking into bread, cheese, jam and lashings of tea. No-one was in any sort of hurry so we headed back sometime in the middle of the morning after a good chat and a hair-raising dune descent or two.
All in all it was a fantastic trip with the emphasis on relaxing as much as sightseeing.
