Lying some 35km east of Mut in Dakhla oasis lies Balat, the Palace, an ancient settlement dating back to Pharaonic times, and one which had strong trading links with the Kushite peoples of the souther...
Bir Sitta or ‘Well 6’ is a hot spring lying some 5 km northwest of Farafra. It’s a great place for an evening soak and often used by travellers visiting the area on organised tours.
As with much of what there is to see in the Western Desert the Black Desert’s attraction is its landscape. Starting some 7 km south of Bahariya a series of black-topped mountains rise out of the deser...
Still home to several hundred people the crumbling mudbrick houses of Al Qasr some 20km north of Mut in Dakhla oasis are the last remains of what was a typical desert town during Ottoman times. Built ...
The tombs that honeycomb the Mountain of the Dead date from the 26th Dynasty through to the Roman period, some 700 years from the 6th century BCE. The tombs vary from small to large chambers many with...
Qila al Dibba is thought to be the necropolis of the ancient settlement of Balat. It has 5 mastaba tombs, stepped like Djoser’s pyramid at Saqqara, one of which stands 10 metres high. They are believe...
Siwa is guarded by Shali, the mudbrick fortress that stands over the town and which until relatively recently was still occupied. Dating from the 13th century the town is built of a mixture of rock, c...
The power of oracles in antiquity cannot be underestimated, able to foretell the rise and fall of kings and dynasties and the Oracle of Amun at Siwa was one of the most important. It dates from around...
As is the case elsewhere in Egypt the stumbling of a donkey revealed a cache of previously undiscovered tombs, Bahariya’s so-called Valley of the Golden Mummies. This was stunning find and its importa...
