Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The White Desert, Egypt

The White Desert, a vast expanse that starts at the western bank of the Nile and continues well into Libya, is the desert of deserts. Covering a total of 2.8 million sq km and bordered by Libya in the west, Sudan in the south and the Mediterranean in the north, it is a world of desolation and beauty -- and one of the few places in Egypt where you can go for days at a time without seeing a soul.

Rich in calcium, the White Desert was once a sea-bed. Nowadays it is famous for its monolith chalk deposits
, carved into striking irregular shapes by the wind. To top it off (no pun intended,) sand dunes there frequently measure at 110 Meters or more. Is it real? It doesn't look real. My only question is why nobody's ever filmed a movie in it.












3 comments:

Bill said...

Holy cow, that's awesome! I've never even HEARD of this desert.

Rachel EM said...

I know! My favorite part is that picture that looks like there's snow on the sand-- when no-- it's chalk. SCHWEET.

shelly said...

Wow -- this is incredible!