Black & White Deserts

The Black and the White Deserts are located at around 550 km in the southwest of Cairo, close to the Bahariya Oasis.
It's becoming a major tourist attraction for people who wish to experience the desert's life.
Their names come from the colors of the rocks which cover the yellow sand : Basalt (black) and Limestone (white).

1/. The Black Desert :

Mountains of yellow sand covered by the basalts (volcanic black lavas for the non geologist :D) of an ancient volcano, giving this dark color to the area.

BASALTS ON THE SAND

2/. The White Desert :

Classified as a natural reserve in 2002 by Egypt and covering 3010 square kilometers, this place is just amazing !! Hundreds of layers of limestone form huge cliffs and mushrooms blocks containing fossils of shells and prehistoric shark teeth. The area is also well known for the ancient tools, tombs, carvings and caves left over by the roman civilization.

THE MUSHROOM

==> Now lets see some pics !!!

Black Desert - Pics !!

OUR TRUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

THE BAHARYA OASIS

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA STYLE

ROAD SIGN IN THE DESERT...

White Desert - Pics !!

CLIFFS OF LIMESTONE

THE MUSHROOM, THE HEN AND... ... EL BENE !!

THE RABBIT

WHITE LIKE THE SNOW

WHERE WE SLEPT...

So You wanna come or not ???

"El Murur : muchkela kebira"

"Big problems with the traffic"


In Cairo (and in Egypt) the traffic is REALLY a problem for different reasons :

• You can ride what ever you want ! That's why you can see a lot of different vehicles on the roads :

You've got a nice car ? That's right, use it !
You only got a motorbike for your all family ? No problem ! If you're 5 on it, it's okay.
You like horse riding ? We LOVE horse riding on the road, that' funky !!
And what about camel ridind ???

The problem is when you're at 120 km/h and you see a man on a donkey crossing the "highway" at 5 km/h with a truck loaded with rocks, arriving on the opposite lane.

• YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT ON THE ROAD. Rules exist but nobody follow them.

Traffic lights and road signs doesn't exist in 90% of the streets and if you find one you'll quickly understand that nobody take care of it or nobody know how what does it mean...
As long as you avoid the accident, you're free to do what you want.

So don't be afraid if your taxi is on the wrong lane or if he's bargainning with the police to cross the street on the red light. This is just the way they drive !



Conclusion : if you think that Italians or women have problems when they drive, just close on the Egyptian roads...

"Welcome in Egypt"

"The Arab Republic of Egypt" is now, with 80 millions of people, one of the most crowded country of the Middle East. Specially if you think that sand and rocks represent 99% of the country !

With more than one million of "new" Egyptian every years, the population increases to quickly for the country and this very high concentration of people in such a small area causes a lot of problems in terms of organisation.

The capital, Cairo - Al Qahirah - is the best example.
Around 20 millions of people and it's just a big MESS, nothing is working as it should or maybe just the mosques ...

• If you think that Paris or London are busy, noisy, crowded and dirty : come in Cairo !

• If you don't like to spend one hour in the traffic jam or in the subway in Europe because you're packed : come in Cairo !

• If you've got problems to breathe with the pollution in our "big" cities : come in Cairo !
  

• If you find our trains slow and their toilets dirty : come to try our...

Typically, living in Cairo is like living in a world without any rules like Mad Max where you can do almost what you want...

BUT !!!
There is something that you will never find in our big cities, it's REALLY welcoming people with you, just because you're a tourist. Egyptians ARE friendly - when there are not from the Muslim Brothers - ...

Why this Blog ?

Hi all !
So why this blog ?



Just to give you an insight on my time in Egypt.
Facebook is usefull if I want to show you some pics but my profile will be saturated quickly
and in the same time this site isn't so good to post articles and reports
(because now, inch'allah I will write...).

So to make it clear, now you'll have information about :

• my city : CAIRO !!

• the good trips in Egypt and in the Middle East you can have (and how to stay alive)

• what can we drink in Egypt (of course),

and...

• the egyptian society - without any critics, I don't want to be in jail ;)

(It's gonna be more like : " I love Mubarak")

I hope you'll enjoy my blog and that you'll come to see me...

Ciao,
BENE