The White Desert, Egypt

   If there's one place that exhibits the erosive power of the wind, it would be Egypt's White Desert, where chalk-rock formations are sandblasted into alien-like shapes by the desert winds. The White Desert is a national park of Egypt and is located 45 km north of the town of Farafra. The desert centerpiece is its rock colored from snow-white to cream color.

   Many visitors choose an overnight camping safari to witness the drama of both sunset and dawn. The new tracks are laid out to guide vehicles past the most famous desert landmarks, first a field of giant ‘mushrooms’, followed by an ancient lone Acacia tree.

   In the remote past, the White Desert was a sea-bed, the sedimentary layers of rock formed by marine fauna when the ocean dried up. Later a habitat for many roaming herds of elephant, giraffe, gazelle and other animals, the desert would have been a savannah with lush green areas and lakes full of fish, an ideal hunting ground for pre-historic man.

  The landscape we see today was formed  by the plateau breaking down, leaving harder rock shapes standing while the softer parts are eroded away by wind and sand. In some parts the chalk surface still has the appearance of delicate wind-ruffled waves on water.