Photo : Ahmedherz — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The oases and the Western Desert · Bahariya, Western Desert
Bahariya Oasis
An oasis that Cairo coaches reach in a day: palm groves, hot springs, black-capped hills to the south.
A basin sunk into the Western Desert, a few hundred kilometres south-west of Cairo, ringed by cliffs and ochre hills. On the floor are palm groves and gardens fed by springs, several of them hot; the main town, Bawiti, amounts to a single trading street. The road is tarred and coaches from Cairo cover it in a day, which is why many desert trips start here. To the south, hills capped with black basalt signal the start of the Black Desert.
The extra bit
Away from the town, a hill known as the English Mountain carries the remains of a lookout post. Walk up late in the day and the whole depression opens out at once.
Know before you go
The hot springs are the locals' before they are anyone else's: the custom is to bathe covered, not in a swimsuit. Offers of desert trips start at the coach stop; try two or three guesthouses before agreeing, and get the vehicle, the number of passengers and what the price covers spelt out. Cash machines are few and sometimes empty, so keep banknotes on you.
