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To say that Egypt is the desert-country
won't be an exaggeration
since 96% from the country's territory is represented by desert.
Sand mountains and dunes of sand, rock hills, all of these
desert terrains can be met in Egypt. The most important deserts
in Egypt are the Eastern Desert, the Western Desert, the Qattara
Depression and the Sinai Desert. The Eastern Desert in Egypt
still keeps the ancient sites that remind of the old times when
this part of Egypt played an important role in the country's
history, being the place from where the biggest part of the
enemies was coming. One of the attractions in the Eastern desert
is the White House (Dar El Beida); it belonged to the Egypt's
ruler El Khedevy Ismail who used it as a palace where he came at
the end of the week to enjoy parties and women. Also, mountains
and hills of sand are all over the Eastern Desert. In the
Western Desert are situated the Siwa Oasis and the Bahariya
Oasis, the White Desert, the Black Desert, the Crystal Mountain,
Akabat and Fayoum. The Crystal Mountain attracts tourist with
its crystals contained by the rock formations and with craves
that still holds residuals of the antique stalactites. The White
Desert is considered the most interesting Egyptian desert due to
the chalk formations of the desert's floor, the pyrite stones
and the shells` traces that can be seen. The Black Desert used
to be a zone with a powerful volcanic activity, from which
remained the black volcanic rocks. Fayoum has ancient sites and
artifacts like Dar Qarun or Madinet Madi. The Qattara Depression
covers 18,000 km2, is part of the Libyan Desert, in Egypt's
North-West. This desert basin holds the Africa's second lowest
point. The depression bottom is made from salt pans. |
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