Travel to Farafra

home of the previously nomadic Bedouin tribespeople

Farafra is an oasis town in the Western Desert of Egypt, around 450 km southwest of Giza and 500 km northwest of Luxor.

The oasis sits in a large depression, extending over around 1000 sq km (400 sq mi) and is centred on the town of Farafra. The majority of the inhabitants are local Bedouins and the architecture is dominated by simple unadorned single-storey mud-brick buildings.

The area is thought to have been inhabited since the Late Pleistocene (at least 12,000 years ago), when the landscapes in this region would most likely have been a great deal more verdant.

The main highlight of the area is the White Desert (Sahara el Beyda), a national park to the north east, with dramatic outcrops of wind-eroded chalk formations.

The town itself is centred on a network of around 100 wells, some of which are natural. A few of them provide warm water, which make them popular for swimming, namely Bir Sitta (#6), Bir Sab’a (#7) and Bir Ithnian wa Ishrin (#22).

The Roman spring of Ain Bishay pours forth from a small hill on the northwest edge of town. It has been developed into an irrigated grove of date palms together with citrus, olive, apricot and carob trees, a cool haven where several families tend crops.

Farafra is usually visited as part of a guided overland safari, exploring a number of different oases in the Western Desert, over the course of 5-8 nights.

The usual routing starts at Giza and visits Bahariya, Farafra, Dakhla and El Kharga, ending in Luxor.

Unfortunately there are presently security concerns in some of these areas and trips to the Western Deserts are often limited to day trips out of Giza and Luxor, sometimes with a night of camping out in the wilderness.

the usual second stop on a desert safari