We were picked up from Cairo in a van for our private tour. The total drive is about five hours from Cairo, but a smooth one and you'll get plenty of to catch some ZZ’s on the road. So don't hesitate to leave early if you want to. We stopped at two gas stations for coffee/bathroom break. Once you reach closer to the desert, you’ll then switch cars and get into a Jeep that’ll have all the supplies you’ll need to spend the night in the desert. An Egyptian lunch was provided at this time from a local restaurant. Lunch included Egyptian bread, eggplant dish, tuna, and salad, desert and some mint tea. On our way we stopped at the Black desert and Crystal Mountain. We then had a thrilling drive thru the sand dunes and stopped at an elevation to get a view of White Desert. We then visited the many rock formations across the desert and took some amazing sunset photos. We also enjoyed the sandboarding opportunity, especially my 8-year-old daughter who was a pro! We reached out campsite and it was already getting dark. Our driver (another Mohammed) built a campfire and prepped for dinner while we changed into warm clothes and enjoyed gazing at the stars in the beautiful night sky with a spectacular view of the Milky Way. My children were so excited to be able to see the different constellations . The night time weather was very cold in December and we were huddled around the camp fire to keep us warm, so please do yourself a favor and bring nice comfortable warm clothes for the desert. Hot dinner was ready in an hour or two. Our dinner consisted of hot soup, salad, grilled chicken, and rice. After dinner, we sat by the campfire and drank a hot cup of tea as Mohammed shared his stories and bollywood songs shot in the desert. We were super tired after dinner and ready to hit the bed. Driver Mohammed set up our tents and laid the sleeping bags for us. The tent was tiny, but we were warm and comfy. Note is that there are no bathrooms nor showers in the desert, but that shouldn't be a problem since you have the whole desert to yourself and no one in the vicinity. We felt safe in the hands of our tour guide and driver.
The next day we woke to watch the sunrise and after which we had a quick breakfast . On our way back to our hotel we stopped at a small village to see the hot springs and also stopped to climbed ‘English Mountain’.
Overall, it was a great experience with a great tour guide. I'd strongly recommend the White Desert Safari with Mohammed Sabagh. He is an excellent, charismatic and funny tour guide who was well organized with good time management skills.