Traveling six hours by bus from Cairo may not seem like a big deal, but once you leave the sprawling, yellow city, the only thing you see is sprawling, yellow desert. Miles and miles of it. At the end of the journey is the Bahriyah Oasis, and when you see it, you feel as Bedouins must have through the ages when coming upon it in camel caravans.

One of the måin reasons to come to the Bahriyah Oasis is to go back out to the desert, but it's not like the desert you just came from. It's the White Desert. The name comes from puffy rock formations that jut out of the yellow sand. Most of the tours include overnight camping with a traditional Bedouin tea service.