A trip to the White Desert is something that no visitor to the New Valley should miss. Travellers coming from Bahariya will cross through the Black Desert, passing the tiny oasis of El-Hayiz on the way.Nearby there are sime Roman ruins, including a church with Coptic graffiti. Bahariya and Farafra are separated by huge golden sand dunes which make a stunning photograph during the journey.

Once through the al-Sillim Pass you enter the White Desert, a unique landscape of surreal wind-eroded rock formations which is particularly magical at sunrise or sunset. At these, as the moom rises over the white crags, it is easier to believe that you are surrounded by icebergs and snowdrifts or on a lunar landscape than in the middle of the desert On moonless nights, sit around a driftwood fire as the galaxy spreads above you and the sky is lit by shooting stars. Camel and jeep trips, including a hot meal and fresh bread, made in the sand Bedouin-style, can be arranged from Farafra.