So we met up with our jeep and drivers that would be taking us to a few spots outside of the main oasis. It was myself, Anwar, Isabelle, Osama and then a very eccentric and interesting French woman. She's a primary school teacher and travels every year for 2 months during her summer break.
We headed out through the town and came upon a gorgeous and massive salt lake. We drove on a very narrow road that cut straight across the great lake. The blue water turned into massive salt deposits. It was like a frozen lake with a fine layer of soft snow along the top. This seemed to go on forever and then turned to great mud flats that were tipped with the white salt. The landscape then turned back into mountainous and rocky desert. We took a quick turn-off and found ourselves at a lovely natural spring called Abu Shuruf, about 27km outside of Siwa town.
The water was so refreshing and a lovely blue color. I was a bit nervous to get in at first, but I was told by the French woman that she trusts the water as there were tons of fish living in there--so if they weren't dead, the water must be okay. So I took the plunge and was happy I did so. It was so amazing to be swimming in a natural spring with palm trees all around. We stayed here for about an hour before heading back onto the road. Our next stop was an abandoned town. The inhabitants left about 25 years ago in order to move into Siwa town. We wandered through the old town and were able to see the massive ovens they had used to bake bread and could get a decent picture of what life must have been like for these people. There was also a large mortar thing where a donkey would have walked around and turned the wheel to crush the olives to get olive oil.
We drove for another 10 minutes or so and then before me was the quite possibly the most beautiful site I have ever seen: pristine and soft sand dunes as far as the eye could see. We drove on to the sand and it was like a massive optical illussion. The sand is softly rippled and it appears that you are both floating and about to sink into the soft sand all at the same time. Dusk was slowly approaching and so the light played onto the sand in a very mysterious way. I could do nothing but just stare with my jaw dropped open. Our driver skillfully maneuvered some very tricky and steep dunes. It was a lot like driving in San Francisco...those hills that are so tall that when you reach the top, it appears that you will simply fall off the face of the earth on the other side.
We raced through the desert for a very long time and also took some time to stop off and climb some of the dunes and roll down the hills of sand. We then went to what is known as the Great Sand Sea. Again, this area was once all coverd completely with water. In the midst of the desert were some ocean shelves and some hard white layers. When we got out of the jeep and I took a closer look, the white layers were petrified shells and other sea life. I know it's bad, but I went around collecting some sand dollars and the like to take as souvenirs. We did some more dune racing and then found a spot to hang out and watch the sunset. As you can imagine, it was a truly beautiful sunset with a bright sun going from orange to blood red. We then headed to a camp where there was another natural spring in the middle of the desert. We hung out here for a few hours while our dinner was cooked on an open fire. I sat back and just star gazed and enjoyed the moment, knowing it was one in a million.
We got back to town around 10:30pm and de-sanded in the shower and settled in for a much-needed sleep. More thumbnails ...
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![[02] Sunset from Shali](/travel-photo/el_condor/asia_2005/1143654000/picture_011.jpg/tpod.html "[02] Sunset from Shali")
