Trip Report - White Desert and Egypt Fun Tours

Bethesda, Maryland
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Trip Report - White Desert and Egypt Fun Tours
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My wife and I returned a week ago from a 20 day (Jan 10-30) trip to Egypt.

One of the first things we did (Jan 12-14) was a trip to Bahariya oasis and to the White Desert. After e-mail back-and-forths with about 5 agencies, we settled on Egypt Fun Tours http://egyptfuntours.com/ -- mostly because they were pretty responsive and adaptable, and because they were recommended to me in a PM from TripAdvisor user Cora_v.

Conclusion first (so you don't have to read any further): We had a good time, and overall things went pretty well. Our guide, Hani Ahmed, was a pleasant guy whose English is fine (although he has the habit of repeating everything to make sure you understand -- something I sometimes do myself). Besides his guiding services on this trip, he gave us a large number of useful tips for the DIY remainder of our Egypt trip -- what to see in Luxor, what the price of silver jewelry should be, etc. I certainly give them a solid recommendation.

In retrospect, there are things I would have done differently. This paragraph doesn't reflect on Hani or Egypt Fun Tours, but should be taken as ideas for anyone planning a similar trip. Some of the stuff in Bahariya isn't worth seeing (IMHO) -- in particular, I'm thinking of the Temple of Alexander and Gebel Dist (Pyramid Mountain). The Golden Mummies are very worth seeing. The oasis itself is also interesting, being so different from anything here (in the USA). On the way to and from the White Desert, the Crystal "mountain" is barely worth looking at, and the Black Desert isn't much better. Instead, I would spend more time at the White Desert itself -- it would have been great to have time to spend several hours hiking around among the weird stone monoliths. It being in the cool part of the year, daytime heat wasn't an issue.

Back to the trip report: The 4x4 that was used, owned and driven by a Bawiti resident named Sameer, was not exactly in the best shape. The starter motor was pretty cranky -- the truck had to be push started at least twice. And we had 2 tire blowouts on the paved road on the way to the White Desert. These flats cost us at least an hour, since we had to wait for the second spare tire to arrive on another 4x4 that was coming along later than we were (cell phones are handy!). As a result, we only arrived at the White Desert right at sunset -- which was a significant disappointment -- as I said, the more time at the stone toadstools, the better.

The next day, to make it up to us (and more importantly, to try to repair his business relation with Hani), Sameer invited us to lunch at his house in Bahariya. This was interesting, as we got to see a little of how people live there -- the date palm grove and other farming stuff, the houses themselves, and so on. The most amusing thing was that we found out why the truck hadn't been fixed up -- Sameer had left it to his cousin to do, since his second wife in Giza wanted something the day before, so he had gone into Cairo, and the cousin hadn't actually done anything -- which also explained why Sameer was yelling at him when we picked up the truck. The situation also goes to show that in Egypt, when you ask if a man is married, the answer "yes" isn't the end of it -- you have to follow up with "how many wives?" -- for me, I'm used to "are you married?" being a True/False question, not a multiple choice question.

In my opinion, the loss of time in the White Desert was partly compensated for by this view of life in Bawiti that we wouldn't have had otherwise. My wife was angrier at the situation, but she eventually calmed down. And the 2 wives story we'll be telling for a while to come.

I liked Hani, and don't hesitate to recommend him and his organization. As I said, I'd do some things differently, but it's not likely we'll ever go back to the White Desert. I think that they should cut a few things out of the standard oasis tour, and instead organize some kind of home visit to see how people live there -- that was far more interesting than the Temple of Alexander -- it's a different way of life. And include more time at the White Desert itself!

London, United...
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1. Re: Trip Report - White Desert and Egypt Fun Tours
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My wife and I just got back from Egypt and we did a Bahariya/White Desert trip with Egypt Fun Tours too. I would highly recommend this company. They are very familiar with organizing this trip and this means they are well connected in the desert area. This was invaluable to us in several ways.

1) There was a petrol (gas) strike in the Cairo area the day we left to the desert. Several tourists were stranded in Cairo (couldn't make it to the desert) or worse in Bawiti (a village close to the white desert) due to the shortage of gas. Our driver and our guide (Hani) were very resourceful in ensuring that our trip went on as planned and we were back in Cairo in time to make our flight!

2) They are flexible and patient, and will plan even small details with you. They are also honest about what to expect from various places in the desert. We opted out of seeing some places to spend more time on doing things we liked to (roaming around the White Desert formations).

3) If you want a cultural experience, where you can meet people and understand the Egyptian way of life, these guys can organize it for you. We had a great experience spending time in a farm in Bawiti, meeting the locals and eating local food under a palm tree on the farm

Finally, Hani and Hamada (of Egypt Fun Tours) are fun loving and extremely friendly. They communicate well, and are enthusiastic about their country, culture and history. We learnt a lot and had a great time.

PS: Robert - Sorry for hijacking your thread. Just wanted to share our experience as well. Hope you don't mind :)

Kyiv
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2. Re: Trip Report - White Desert and Egypt Fun Tours
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Hi Pooja :)

Thanks for your report – loved it. I don’t think you’re hijacking – after all, it’s about the same trip and company and it might be more convenient to search for info when it’s concentrated in one thread rather than scattered all over the forum.

What was the petrol strike like? All the gas stations were closed?

Hello Robert :)

I longed to comment on your terrific trip report ever since I read it a while ago, but real life kept me off TA, so I’m sorry for this belated note.

I would agree on some of your remarks regarding the “standard tour”. After doing my advance trip research I picked up a few things I wanted to see myself (Golden Mummies, English mountain with a fantastic panorama over the oasis etc) and negotiated the itinerary with Egypt Fun Tours. As I mentioned in my brief report, they were very flexible.

And how interesting it is to read the others’ impressions from what you’ve seen! While I totally agree with you on the Alexander’s Temple, I absolutely fell in love with the Black Desert (BD) and found some of its parts even more magnificent than of the White Desert (WD). This could probably be attributed to me being more or less prepared to what to expect in the WD, while the BD with its amazing contrast in colour and surface was a pure discovery to me.

I nearly skipped the Crystal Mountain because it was crowded with tourists picking up stones (a passion I could never understand), but the New Crystal Mountain Samir kindly took me to was unbelievable – fancy greyish white crystal rock in the middle of the bright yellow sand dune.. One of the very many breathtaking surprises the Western Desert has to offer.

Totally subscribe to your willingness to spend more time in the WD! I got up at about 4-5am after the night camping and wandered around the area for about 4 hours or so before getting back to the camp to continue the desert safari in 4x4. And it still weren’t enough altogether.

Gosh, I was so sorry to read about all those car problems you have experienced! Can clearly imagine your disappointment with the time waste it caused. No wonder your wife should have been angry.

Loved the “wives and truck” story! Made me chuckle. Fantastic read.

Thanks a lot to both of you for bringing back so many great memories!

P.S. By the way, if I were to repeat this 2-day trip, I would have headed straight to the White Desert first, leaving Cairo as early as possible. And on the way back the next day I would have done all the Bahariya sights and meetings as long as there’s enough time.

Bethesda, Maryland
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143 helpful votes
3. Re: Trip Report - White Desert and Egypt Fun Tours
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Cora -- I agree that the better approach would be to see the WD as soon as possible, since it is the truly unique thing that (IMH) is worth traveling out so far from the Nile Valley. Some of the other things are definitely worth seeing once you go so far, but if it weren't for the White Desert, I personally don't think it would be worth the time or money.

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