Sahara el Beyda, is a national park and first established as a protected area in 2002. It is located in the Farafra depression, 45km North of the town of Qsar El Farafra. Part of the park is in the Farafra Oasis. Millions of years ago the White Desert was covered by the ocean, and the white rock are the remains of marine micro-organisms. Over the centuries, wind and sand have turned the former seabed into a semblance of some other planet’s surface. The park is the site of large white chalk rock formations, created through erosion by wind and sand. It is also the site of cliffs (at the Northern end of the Farafra Depression), sand dunes (part of the Great Sand Sea), as well as Wadi Hennis and oases at Ain El Maqfi and Ain El Wadi.
The White Desert also amazes with its mountain formations, the most fascinating of which is the White Rock, balancing on a pole. All of these formations are solely composed of limestone, which created these formations thousands of years ago. Once these huge stone mushrooms were ordinary mountain formations, but the centuries-old painstaking work of sand and wind erased their foundations. So these stone monuments stand in defiance of all the laws of physics. It seems that they will collapse from any minute, but for some reason this does not happen and is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Here you can see formations that resemble castles, domes, minarets of mosques and towers. The highest point in the park is El Qess Abu Said at 353m above sea level, and the lowest is Wadi Hennis at 32m. White Desert National Park covers an area of 3,010km2.
The park serves as the refuge for various animals, including the endangered Rhim gazelle and the vulnerable Dorcas gazelle, as well as Barbary sheep, Jackals, Rüppell’s, Red and Fennec foxes and the adorable Sand Cat. Tourists are surprised by little black pebbles scattered everywhere. Scientists and researchers suggest that these are petrified corals from the ancient sea.
The best time to travel around the White Desert is winter, as in the summer it is exceptionally hot, up to 60° Celsius. By the number of tourists, the White Desert can compete with the beaches of Sharm el-Sheikh. Travelers usually go there on a classic jeep safari or slowly by camel.
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