Photo : Crashsystems — CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
The oases and the Western Desert · Dakhla, New Valley
Dakhla Oasis
Palm groves under a pink escarpment, and a mud-brick quarter called al-Qasr.
The depression runs for tens of kilometres below a long escarpment tinged pink, its villages set at the edge of the fields, the sand reaching right into the gardens. At al-Qasr an Islamic-era quarter of mud brick is still standing: covered lanes that cut out the sun, carved wooden lintels, a minaret, a Quran school, a mill. Mut, the district town, is modern and serves as a base; the hot springs are scattered around it, some built up, some left as they are. Camels and flocks pass each other at the field margins, where cultivation stops dead.
The extra bit
See al-Qasr early in the morning: the mud brick catches a low light, the lanes are still cool, and someone will offer to open doors you would never guess at from the street.
Know before you go
The drive from Cairo takes a full day and there is no filling station every fifty kilometres: leave with a full tank. The old quarter is fragile — houses are propped up, others shut, and nobody walks on the roofs. A local guide will offer his services at the entrance to al-Qasr; agree the fee before you go in, in cash. In summer the heat on the floor of the depression makes walking impossible in the afternoon.
