In February and March 2014, Medhat Saad and I led a group of EES members on a tour of the Egyptian western deserts and oases. Our visit took in numerous rarely visited archaeological sites, some utterly stunning landscapes, and I discovered a new favourite way to travel: up and down sand dunes in a 4x4. Sadly, we found - as we had expected - that Egypt is virtually empty of tourists. It's doubly tragic as the local people are really suffering from the massive blow to the economy, but it also just seems such a shame that there aren't more people going to these wonderful places at the moment. I hope the photos might inspire some of you to consider visiting, you'll find it's a beautiful and welcoming place and it would be a great way of helping the people of Egypt.

1. An adventure in the desert:
why everyone should visit the
Egyptian Oases
Dr Chris Naunton
Egypt Exploration Society
The Egypt Exploration Societywww.ees.ac.uk

4. Saqqara

6. Abusir

8. Lahun

11. Hawara

17. Karanis

18. Day 1: Fayoum to Bawiti

19. Valley of the Whales

20. Day 2: Bawiti to Farafra

21. Black Desert

24. White Desert

26. Day 3: Farafra to Dakhla

27. The Carpet

28. Deir El-Hagar

29. Musawakka

33. Dakhla

35. Day 4: Dakhla to Balat

36. Ayn Asil / Balat

38. Balat

42. El Qasr

47. Day 5: Dakhla to Kharga

48. Kharga Museum

50. Deir

54. Hibis

56. Zayan

58. Ghueita

61. Labekha

64. Day 7: Kharga to Luxor

65. Dush

69. Luxor (Karnak)

99. www.ees.ac.uk