Wide Open Spaces

After the gong show that was our first day in Cairo, we realize that there was absolutely no chance we could hang for another 3 days, waiting for Helen and Ryan to arrive.
We had to get away from the sudden crush of people, we needed space, lots and lots of open space...

Bahariya is the first in a series of oasises that stretch across the Great Western Sahara.
After a 6 hour bus ride, we arrive in the tiny Bedouin village of Bawiti, where at the edge of town, a man named Badr runs a small desert camp.

Home for the first night was a mud brick hut, covered in dried palm leaves with a palm leaf thatched roof.

A bluff overlooking Bahariya Oasis, with the desert camp on the bottom right...

We spent the next 3 days and 2 nights camping beneath the stars, hanging with the coolest crew this side of the Triopli. The first day and night were spent in and near the oasis, exploring the nearby desert.

Our trusty Land Rover, believe the hype, these things are amazing...

Table and Pyramid mountains (pretty sure you can figure which is which)...

Sun set stretch on Gebel Al-Angleez (English mountain), named for a WWI British officer, who built an outpost here to observe Libyan troop movements...

The locals were very charming...

The moon over the destroyed English lookout post...

We spent the entire time out in the desert with a lovely Australian couple (Matt and Paoling) and their brother (Adam) and became fast friends. There was also Mikael, a young Belgium who was 4 months into a 2 year, round the world trip.
We all chilled by the campfire with our new Bedouin friends and talked about JackAss the Movie... I guess the comedy of a guy getting punch in the nutsack transcends language and culture.