To do our tour in the Fayum in July, Mahmoud advised us to start early to dodge the midday heat. Due to work commitments, we could not be in Fayum the day before and set out from Cairo at 2 am the day of our tour. While this was certainly an exhausting experience, we arrived at the appointed time (4.30 am) and had the subsequent pleasure of witnessing the sun rising over the mountainous landscape in Egypt’s western desert. From this unique experience, Mahmoud and Fares drove us to other breathtaking natural landscapes, of which the Fayum as one of Egypt’s nature reserves is rich. We were lucky to have Fares as a driver off-road since the ways in the sand are lined with sharp stones and difficult to manoeuvre passages. Thanks to his careful driving, Mahmoud led us to the ancient city of Dimeh with its mudbrick ruins sticking out of the sand, the undecorated temple of Qasr es-Sagha, and the world’s oldest paved road. This road leads from the temple that is located at one of the ancient shores of lake Fayum inland and connected the ancient basalt quarries of Widan el-Faras to the lake. On this road, the stones with which the famous pyramid temples of the Old Kingdom were paved were hauled. The road is built out of petrified wood of which we saw our fair share not only lying around in the desert at the Red Mountains, but also at the visitor center, which introduces tourists to the fossils of the area. In the distant past, once the sea waters had retreated, the Fayum desert was covered in tall forests (trees grew up to 40 m) which were roamed by mega-fauna. Some of their petrified bones have been discovered by paleontologists and geologists and are now exhibited in the petrified forest visitor center.
Thank you to Mahmoud for guiding us on this great tour and sharing his experience with us!