Western Deserts of Egypt Tour Map

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Western Desert & Nile Cruise Tour Map

More tour information can be found here: Tour Details

Testimonials from American Tourists in Cairo

Video of Karnak in Egypt

Western Desert & Nile Cruise March 2012

March 1: Welcome to Egypt, Land of Pharaohs! Upon arrival at Cairo International Airport we will be met and transferred to our hotel for overnight in Cairo.
March 2: After breakfast at the hotel we will begin our tour with a visit to Tahrir Square, which became known worldwide. After a visit with time for photos we will head into the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities where you will see the fabulous treasures of the tomb of Tutankhamon. Lunch will be served at a typical restaurant, and afterwards we will go to visit one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - the Pyramids and the Sphinx at the Giza Plateau. Return to hotel. Overnight in Cairo. (B/L)
March 3: This morning we leave Cairo at 8:00am for the Bahariya Oasis. This first part of our excursion to the Western Desert will be on an asphalt road, and we will stop to see the local market and have lunch in a local restaurant. We will then head southwest to reach the White Desert where we will camp overnight at our campsite located at the heart of the White Desert, and enjoy a BBQ dinner. (B/L/D)

March 4: Today we will explore the White Desert, a unique open air sculpture museum created by nature, where rocks and sand have been eroded by the wind. We will watch the spectacular sunset in the open desert then we will return to our camp for dinner and overnight. (B/L/D)

March 5: This morning after breakfast in the camp we will go to the Farafra Oasis. We will visit explore the oasis, including its authentic museum known for its unique art. Then we will have a bath in a natural hot water spring before going back to the White Desert to our camp for dinner and overnight. (B/L/D)

March 6: Today, we head north to reach the mountain of crystals, where we will do some exploring. We will then continue to Bahariya and visit the museum of the Golden Mummies as well as the temple of Alexander the Great and a Pharaonic tomb. We will have lunch then head back to Cairo arriving around sunset with lots of wonderful memories and superb photos of this memorable unique experience. Overnight in Cairo. (B/L)

March 7: We will have an early breakfast and then check out and transfer to the Cairo Domestic Airport for our flight to Aswan. Arrive in Aswan and transfer to the Nile Cruise ship to check in. Lunch on board, relax and get settled in. After lunch we will meet our local guide go to see the Aswan High Dam, which took over for the Old Dam and resulted in the creation of Lake Nasr. Next we visit the Temple of Philae located on an island just above the High Dam. This temple is dedicated to the goddess Isis and was saved from the flood waters of the lake by removing it from its original location to its present location. Our last visit in Aswan is the at the ancient pink granite quarry where we will see the Unfinished Obelisk. The stone cracked as the stone cutters were trying to cut the massive stone from the surrounding rock, making it useless, so they left it, and left us with clues about how the ancient Egyptians constructed their giant monuments. Return to the ship and dinner and overnight on board in Aswan. (B/L/D)

March 8: The ship will sail to Kom Ombo while we are having breakfast, and once we dock there we will go visit the Temple of Kom Ombo. The Temple of Kom Ombo is shared by the two Gods Sobek and Haroeris. Sobek is depicted as a crocodile and you will find his image everywhere, as well as other signs of worship to this god. After visiting the temple return to the ship and sail on to Edfu. Enjoy afternoon tea as the banks of the Nile glide by. Once in Edfu we will visit the Temple of Horus at Edfu. The large well preserved temple complex was built between 237 BCE to 57 BCE, into the reign of Cleopatra VII. Built from sandstone blocks, the huge Ptolemaic temple was constructed over the site of a smaller New Kingdom temple, oriented east to west, facing towards the river. Enjoy afternoon tea and dinner on board as we sail to Esna and pass through the locks, and on to Luxor for overnight. (B/L/D)

March 9: After breakfast we begin our sightseeing in Luxor with a visit to the West Bank. In the Valley of the Kings we will visit several tombs that have been preserved. The tombs of Tut Ankh-Amon, Ramses III, Seti I, Ramses VI, Amenhotep II, and more are located here. See the differing types of construction of the burial chambers located in this cut in the mountains. Afterwards visit Queen Hatshepsut's Temple. At Queen Hatshepsut's Temple, we will see the reconstructed temple of this fascinating ruler of Egypt. Her story is full of political intrigue and rivalry, a power struggle, murder, and more! Head back to the ship, stopping to see the Colossi of Memnon at the ruins of the tomb of Amenhotep III. Lunch will be on board the ship, and dinner and overnight in Luxor. (B/L/D)

March 10: After breakfast on board we will disembark (check out), then visit the Temples of Karnak and Luxor. The Temple of Karnak is dedicated to the Theban Triad of Amon, Mut, and Khonso, and is the largest religious complex in the world. The complex was constructed over several hundred years. We will see the many efforts of successive rulers to put their individual mark on the temple, and efforts to remove the presence of others. After exploring this magnificent site, go to the smaller but just is beautiful Temple of Luxor with its elegant colonnaded hall and sculpture of King Tut and his wife. Afterwards we transfer to Luxor Airport for our flight to Cairo. On arrival at the Cairo Airport we will transfer to our hotel and check in. The rest of the day is free. Overnight in Cairo. (B)
March 11: After breakfast we will have a sightseeing tour in Old Cairo. We will visit the Hanging Church built in the ancient city walls of the Gate of Babylon, and then the oldest Jewish Synagogue in Cairo, followed by a visit to the Citadel of Salah El Din and the Alabaster Mosque of Prince Mohamed Ali. Return to the hotel, and the rest of the say is free on your own. Overnight in Cairo. (B)

March 12: Breakfast, check out and transfer to Cairo International Airport for departure flights. (B)
End of services.

Pricing & more info: http://www.caravan-serai.com/NewSite/Countries/Egypt/Egypt-WesternDesertMar2012.htm

What we have been working on at Caravan-Serai

By now you have seen several of the tours we have planned for next year. Well, we aren't done yet! In the coming days there will be another tour for Iran called the Persian Gardens & History Tour for May, and an exciting new Egypt tour for March that will include a Nile Cruise, city tours in Cairo, and a 3 night excursion into the Western Desert.


When these itineraries are complete we will have them on our newly redesigned website and we will post them here and to our email list. To whet your appetite for the Egypt tour, here are a few photos of the Egypt tour taken by the desert camp leader Raed Baddar.

April Egypt tour quick report

Rita:


Got home about 1:00 this morning.

The trip was really good. With only three of us and no tourist we got to spend valued time at
 the sites.

Always felt safe. The Egyptian people are very warm, friendly and welcoming. They love Americans
and of course especially Obama.

Thank you for making this opportunity possible.

Dottie

American Group Welcomed in Cairo

Today I spoke to Maha from our office who is with our group in Cairo. She told me a bit about their impressions of their first few days in Egypt and the meetings they have had so far with our Egypt experts. In every place they have visited so far, the Egyptians have been welcoming and happy to see Americans visiting. They feel safe, and if you didn't know (ie: if you had been living under a rock for the past couple months!) about the revolution, you wouldn't be able to tell just by being out on the streets of Cairo. Businesses, shops, cafes, restaurants are all open as usual, and any signs of the thousands upon thousands of people that had taken to the streets and Tahrir Square are almost gone.

Maha told me that in spite of the usual heavy traffic in Cairo, the tourist sites are almost empty. They saw a few groups of tourists from Germany, the Netherlands, and France in Old Cairo, but at the Pyramids at Giza, our group was the only foreign group there. Usually there are rows and rows of tour busses parked in the parking lot, but when our group went, theirs was the only one. They said there were a few locals there, but other than that, they had the place almost completely to themselves. At Memphis and Saqqara, it was also very quiet.

The hotels are equally quiet, so this means that those hotels with several restaurants probably don't have them all open, but the bars and cafeterias are open. The vendors are really eager to make a sale, and can be a bit overwhelming, but we have to keep in mind that while tourists enjoy less crowds, the crowds were what had been providing incomes to so many Egyptians. Now they have no one to sell their goods or services to, so they are really hurting.

Recently, a referendum was passed to allow elections to be held in about 6 months. I asked if campaigning was evident, and Maha said no. You would hardly know that elections were coming if you are a visitor.

The group has a guide with them, a representative from our office in Seattle and one from the office in Cairo, as well as security. There is a curfew from midnight to 6am in place, but it does not affect the group's schedule at all.

In the morning they will fly to Luxor, and visit the West Bank sites and the temples of Luxor and Karnak - both places usually swarming with visitors, but I expect they will find these sites also quieter than usual. This is really a great opportunity to see these sites without the throngs of people that can descend upon them. It will not stay this way forever as more and more people decide to visit Egypt, as word gets out that it is safe and things are getting back to normal.

We have another group departing for Egypt on April 10th, arriving on the 11th, that will also see the same sites and have meetings with Egypt experts in Cairo. Join us! Space is booking up quickly!

http://www.caravan-serai.com/tours/NewEygptApr2011.htm