Egypt Guide
The Western Desert Oases
The White Desert
Agabat is the name given to scores of rock sugarloaves surrounded by soft sand and powdered chalk. The sand can easily entrap vehicles that try to reach it from the direction of the highway, so it's easier to approach it off-road from the Crystal Mountain, whence a steep, dramatic descent into Agabat is possible.
This spectacularly rugged terrain merges into the famous White Desert (Sahara el-Beida) on either side of the highway. Here, the wind has eroded chalk monoliths into surreal forms resembling skulls, ostriches, hawks, camels, mushrooms and leopards, looming above a dusty pan strewn with shells, crystals and iron pyrites shaped like sea urchins or twigs. The chalk yardangs glint pale gold in the midday sun, turn violet and pink around sunset, and resemble icebergs or snowdrifts by moonlight – while gazelles may be glimpsed at daybreak as they forage for a few hours. Safari outfits distinguish between the "Old" and "New" White Deserts to the east of the highway and the larger inselbergs near the western escarpment – but you're sure to be entranced whatever the locality.