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Kharga Oasis
The
Kharga Oasis must be one of the most
beautiful places in the world, especially at
sunset; everything you see at this “green
island in the middle of a yellow ocean of
sand”, is natural! Whether you are sleeping
under the stars, or just relaxing between
the high palm-trees, you will find a feeling
of integration with the environment. The
first time I saw the El-Kharga Oasis, a
bright light came to my eyes and I could not
overcome the emotion, even I wondered “what
better place to go than El-Kharga Oasis?”
During my short stay in this splendid place
I realized that I did not look at my watch
as often as I usually do in Cairo, since it
seemed that time did not matter here; I even
walked around more than I do in the city,
the fantastic, pure, atmosphere encouraging
me to explore, as I found that I was feeling
less tired than normal. No doubt the stay in
that wonderful place was a kind of
recuperation from the gloomy crowded life of
the Egyptian capital. Everything around me
was clean, quiet, and simple, and for a
moment a thought came into my head about
buying a house there.
El-Kharga Oasis is about
550Km from Cairo, but it is nearer to Luxor
than any other Egyptian town, and was called
the Oasis of Thebes by the Ancient
Egyptians. There are several monumental
sites here, the most important being the
Temple of Hebes. It is situated 3Km north of
the Oasis, and was dedicated for the worship
of the Triad of Thebes, Amon, Mut and Khonso,
dating back to the 26th Dynasty.
Another one of the
interesting monuments in the area is El-Zayan
Temple, which is situated near the small
village of and dates back to the Ptolemaic
Period. It was dedicated for the cult of
Amon-Ra, the God of El-Kharga at the time.
The cemetery of El-Bagawat
also deserves a visit; situated behind the
Temple of Hebes, these tombs date back to
the Early Christian Period, and on the some
of the walls there are very interesting
coloured scenes, depicting religious events
such as: the Exodus, Adam and Eve, various
Prophets, Angels, the Virgin Mary,
and Jesus.
The Oasis of El-Kharga was a
prosperous place during ancient times and
was linked with the Nile Valley by many
routes. The Greek historian Herodotus
mentioned that the great Persian King,
Campuses, sent a huge army (about 50,000
men) from Thebes in order to destroy the
Oracle Temple of Amon-Zeus at Siwah. The
huge army reached the El-Kharga Oasis, was
provided with food and water, and then they
continued their march towards Siwah, but the
campaign vanished and no one can tell what
really happened, even today! Some historians
suggest that the Persian army was lost in
the desert and were sunk in the Great Sea Of
Sand, which extends along the borders
between Egypt and Libya.
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Nowadays El-Kharga is famed
for the large number of palm-trees,
pigeon-houses, farms, fields, monuments,
wells, artisans, traditional handcrafts, and
honey-coloured hills, which can be found
here. There is also another attraction -
riding camels, which is considered by many
tourists and
visitors, an adventure in itself. On the
rocks of some sites some graffiti, left by
tourists to commemorate their visit to that
beautiful Oasis. Pure springs and natural
wells completely unpolluted by chlorine or
other chemicals are scattered in several
locations in the Oasis. The local people
seem to be “at your service“; they are very
kind and give visitors the feeling that they
are very welcomed. The life there is simple,
but extremely satisfying!
There
are no sophisticated communications at the
Oasis, but who needs technologies there
anyway? On the other hand it suffers from
the lack of many fundamental services and
needs.
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