Black and White Deserts

I wake up to feel like I have been wallowed in a sea of mattresses. I literally have to climb out of my bed because during the course of the night I have made a huge indentation into the two mattresses. I have slept through my morning trip to see more tombs which was of no bother for me. I have really seen enough at this stage.

I get up and grab some lunch with the other travellers that are in camp. I then meet up with my Japanese friend who had gone to see the tombs in town. She says that it was nothing special so that makes me feel a bit better about missing the trip. We then get organised for our overnight trip to the desert. We are leaving at 2pm but we have to wait for four other tourists that are joining us.

The trip to the White Desert via the Black Desert passes by quickly. Once again the common bond of the independent travellers stories keeps us all riveted to each other’s conversations. Our new friends (three of whom were Peace Corps volunteers and another fellow Aussie independent female traveller), are great fun. They have only been in Egypt for four days but were decidedly suspicious of their journey so far. The female who had complete a trek of Macho Pichu and a three month bike trip across America was just down right negative of her time spent so far and thought that Egypt was just one hassle too many. This made me laugh because she has three weeks to go.

The Black Desert and Crystal Mountain turns out to be a bit of a dud. But this is all turned around with the sight of the White Desert. What an amazing place. We arrive as the sun passes out its last rays across the lunar like landscape and it's one of the most brilliant sunsets ever. The pictures are just spectacular.

We all climb different talc formations to witness this once in a lifetime scene. Then the full moon casts its brilliant rays across the desert floor and it is so light that you do not need a torch to find your way around.

Our Bedouin guide/driver/cook sets up camp and we all take refuge behind the 4WD and wind barrier whilst he cooks up dinner. We then take a moon walk amongst these amazing talc formations before retiring to certain areas to go to the toilet a la natural. This is a bit spooky but I take it all in my stride. We then retire to bed, which is unfortunately on the sand with a very thin mattress.

Feeling the cold like I do I have my sleeping bag and three blankets and during the evening I wake on numerous occasions. But I must admit that waking up to see a sky full of diamonds (stars) is something very surreal and I don’t mind in the least. It's just the cold that's really killing me.