El Djarra
Sunday, November 06, 2005
In the middle of nowhere, spent a nice three nights in the desert with endless limits, sleeping under the most beautiful sky lighted with marvelous shining stars.
It was in the Western Desert. The main destination was El Djarra cave. That’s about 150 km South of Bahria oasis. (check map here)
The trip started at Bahria Oasis where we took 4X4 cars for our off road journey to El Djarra. We took the 150 km. in about 6 hours, which included a stop every now and then waiting for cars that got stuck with the sand dunes. We made use of these stops and had some rest on the nice sand beds with amazing brownish wave forms, surrounded by some lovely round hills.
One of the famous sand dunes is Ghoroud elMe7arrek.
Finally, we reached El Djarra after sunset by about an hour and a half. We had iftar(it was last day of Ramadan) and set the tents then we entered the cave.
It’s under the surface of the ground through which we entered from a relatively small opening. We had to bend down because the opening is not high. We descended down walking on soft sand till we reached the big hall of the cave.
What is El Djarra?
It seems that elDjarra is a word that means Cave in Arabic. elKahf is the most common word indicating a cave in Arabic but elDjarra is the word for underground caves while elKahf is for ground level ones. Whatever form or elevation of caves it is, we know that it's a local Beduin word for any cave. (source)
It was German explorers who explored that area in 1875. But their documentation was lacking GPS way points, so the cave had to wait till another German explores came to find it again.
After finishing our exploration of the cave, we came out, lighted fire and had some talk while sitting around it, eating sweet potatoes and popcorn.
Next day we waked up by dawn, it was first day of el 3eed, we had breakfast and collected our stuff to go back to Bahria in a 6 hours journey through the vast beautiful desert.
It was in the Western Desert. The main destination was El Djarra cave. That’s about 150 km South of Bahria oasis. (check map here)
The trip started at Bahria Oasis where we took 4X4 cars for our off road journey to El Djarra. We took the 150 km. in about 6 hours, which included a stop every now and then waiting for cars that got stuck with the sand dunes. We made use of these stops and had some rest on the nice sand beds with amazing brownish wave forms, surrounded by some lovely round hills.
One of the famous sand dunes is Ghoroud elMe7arrek.
Finally, we reached El Djarra after sunset by about an hour and a half. We had iftar(it was last day of Ramadan) and set the tents then we entered the cave.
It’s under the surface of the ground through which we entered from a relatively small opening. We had to bend down because the opening is not high. We descended down walking on soft sand till we reached the big hall of the cave.
Various sizes and shapes of stalactites were scattered everywhere on the ceiling and on the side walls of the cave. In addition, there was rock art near the entrance of the cave, it was almost wiped out, but still there was few traces. The weather inside was warm with dry but stagnant air.
What is El Djarra?
It seems that elDjarra is a word that means Cave in Arabic. elKahf is the most common word indicating a cave in Arabic but elDjarra is the word for underground caves while elKahf is for ground level ones. Whatever form or elevation of caves it is, we know that it's a local Beduin word for any cave. (source)
It was German explorers who explored that area in 1875. But their documentation was lacking GPS way points, so the cave had to wait till another German explores came to find it again.
After finishing our exploration of the cave, we came out, lighted fire and had some talk while sitting around it, eating sweet potatoes and popcorn.
Next day we waked up by dawn, it was first day of el 3eed, we had breakfast and collected our stuff to go back to Bahria in a 6 hours journey through the vast beautiful desert.
After reaching Bahria, we went to the White desert where we camped for the second night, then in the morning we headed to el Farafra Oasis.
To be completed and may be edited..
posted by MoonLightShadow at 11:52 PM, | 
7 Comments:
You haven't seen anything rain. I've been there, and missed meeting Moon on another Safari by accident, but it is always a place to return to. It came up in an old blog post of mine. It certainly deserves more.
Thank you صاحب الأشجار for the link.
And I'm totally in love with nature..would love to join one of these trips.
And I'm totally in love with nature..would love to join one of these trips.
As Sa7eb el Ashgar Says ya Rain, you have seen nothing compared to the beauty there.
Sa7eb El Ashgar, I missed meeting you in that safari as well, was looking forward to meet you. May be next time, in one of the returns back to the place.
Sa7eb El Ashgar, I missed meeting you in that safari as well, was looking forward to meet you. May be next time, in one of the returns back to the place.
Lovely photos !!! I love the sand dunes one begad ...
I don't really know why, but I always get this weird feeling when seeing or hearing about the desert...Maybe it's because the books I've read, or some distant memory from deep inside my mind. But I bet I'd feel at home there.
Well Kayla, personally the desert is the best place I've ever been to, where everything is pure. Simply it's a place with no limits.
Can't wait to read part 2 :)