Into the Desert... (part 2) - Black Desert

After camping in the White desert, the Black desert was a stop during the drive to our next destination... to stay at Bawiti Oasis. We have a ton of pictures from the desert, and they are all just so cool. I loved the scenery and vast landscapes.

Here is a little oasis/gas stop we took a break at.

For some reason I dont have a picture of us climbing this hill. But it was a climb. The rocks were also pretty sharp, and we all of course were wearing sandals (and our bags were strapped to the top of the Jeeps). Oh well, we made it to the top and it was quite the view!

Arrived in Bawiti oasis... so dirty from camping and the sandy desert.

A hotel rooftop celebratory drink with the engaged couple. There is only one shop in the whole town that would sell alcohol, and we gave him a bit of business over the 2 days.

Omar wine! We had to bring a bottle home of course, grapes actually grown in the desert in Egypt. It wasn't amazing wine, but hey it was cool that it was actually from Egypt. =)

The "tourist attraction" our jeep drivers took us to see...an old WWII plane that had crashed in the desert.

At one of the MANY security stops throughout the desert. We had to stop just about every hour. They were posts with young military guys assigned to them, and they had to make sure the tourists got from one check point to the next in time. If you didn't show up at the next one on schedule, I guess they would know something was wrong.

Every single checkpoint had these same pet dogs.

You were not allowed to take pictures at the security checkpoints. Oops. You can see the guy hollering at me behind Matt to stop taking pictures.

Into the Desert... (part 1) - White Desert

After Luxor, we headed into the desert. We stayed first at a little town called Dakla, and then drove into the White desert to camp for a night. All of the Oasis towns were quiet and small. They dont get tourists as often either. I think every single child we passed, as well as most adults... always said "Hello! Hi!", practicing their english I assume. So friendly.

The White Desert was an experience. I was pretty nervous for this part of our trip, not knowing what to expect with camping in the desert. I have to say I was very happily surprised though. The weather was great... maybe 65-70 degrees, we actually had to where jackets while camping because with the wind it got a bit chilly.... much preferred to crazy hot weather though. The other thing was that the landscape was like nothing else I've seen, something about the white desert, it makes you feel almost like you are on the moon. It is hard to even capture in pictures, but we've tried.

Our drivers for the 5-6 days through the desert were awesome also, they had to get going pretty fast to get up some of the dunes (we have a couple videos I might post later), and also just drove fast for fun and to entertain us. It was great, and they also served as our cooks for the night camping... some of the best food.

Dakla Oasis, the view from our hotel room.

Taking a walk around town. An inventive garage we saw made of cardboard.
All the kids were pretty excited to see us. They wanted Pens or candy. Luckily I heard about this ahead of time and brought some pens with me from home.

View from the top of a hill of old mud houses.

Another little town we stopped at on our day driving into the White Desert.

Picked me up a few of these!

Our Jeeps for the desert journey

A little oasis we stopped at for a picnic lunch.

baby camels!

Matt & Matt

The White Desert

Our camping spot for the night

Fox tracks in the morning. Had to keep our shoes in our sleeping bags, and everything else in the Jeeps. Apparently they will come right up to you in the night and steal your stuff, especially shoes.

Matt and Stacey getting engaged in the White Desert. She said yes!

We spied on them to get a bunch of pictures of the proposal.

Celebration dance.

Leaving the white desert after camping, seeing a few sand dunes, before heading to see the black desert.

Our awesome drivers

The group.