DESERT & OASIS
Egypt’s Dialogue of Silence and Life

Egypt’s deserts cover nearly ninety percent of the country. Long before they became arid, these landscapes were green with lakes and grasslands. The Western Desert, Egypt’s largest, is shaped by vast dunes, fossil beds, and sweeping open spaces. The rugged Eastern Desert once connected the Nile to the Red Sea through caravan routes that carried gold, incense, and stone to ancient ports, while the Sinai Desert to the northeast stands apart with its granite peaks and sacred history. Within this immense desert world lie Egypt’s oases: Fayoum, home to Wadi El-Hitan; Bahariya, bordering the Black Desert; Farafra, the gateway to the White Desert; and farther west, Siwa, one of Egypt’s most remote settlements, once home to the Oracle of Amun visited by Alexander the Great.