White Desert
A protected area in the Farafra depression, set up in 2002, about 45 kilometres north of Qasr al-Farafra. Wind has carved its white chalk into mushrooms and towers that look like snow in daylight and glow under the moon.
- Where
- Farafra, New Valley, Egypt
- Grade
- Well known
- Worth
- 10 points collected on site, plus 1 for its grade
- Coordinates
- 27.2773, 28.2004
Get the White Desert stamp
Open LOQAH when you are at White Desert. It checks where you are once, at that moment, and the stamp is yours: confirmed on site in gold and struck with the date. It goes into your New Valley volume with your photos and a note.
Near White Desert
Farafra Oasis 34 km
A depression of 980 square kilometres in the Western Desert, between the Dakhla and Bahariya oases, the second largest in western Egypt and the least populated. Its hot springs and palm gardens lie close to the White Desert.
Bahariya Oasis 136 km
An oval valley in the Western Desert about 370 kilometres from Cairo, 94 kilometres long, with springs, palm groves and the town of Bawiti. It is known for the Valley of the Golden Mummies and as the gateway to the Black and White Deserts.
Dakhla Oasis 218 km
One of the seven oases of the Western Desert, 350 kilometres from the Nile and about 80 kilometres from east to west. Its villages include Al-Qasr, a medieval town of narrow mud brick lanes, set among fields and palm groves.
Amarna 270 km
The ruins of Akhetaten, the capital built by the pharaoh Akhenaten from 1346 BC for his worship of the sun disc Aten. It was abandoned soon after his death, and its rock-cut tombs and city outlines lie on a wide desert plain by the Nile.
Wadi Al-Hitan 286 km
A desert valley about 150 kilometres south-west of Cairo, listed by UNESCO in 2005 for its hundreds of fossils of the earliest whales. The skeletons, some with small hind legs, show how whales moved from land to sea.
Wadi El Rayan 305 km
A nature protectorate in the Faiyum desert, known for two lakes joined by low waterfalls, a rare sight in Egypt. Around them lie sand dunes, springs and wide desert, under the care of the Ministry of Environment.
Kharga Oasis 325 km
The southernmost of the western oases, about 200 kilometres west of the Nile, with the town of Kharga as its capital. Near the town stand the Temple of Hibis and the domed mud brick chapels of the early Christian cemetery of Bagawat.
Temple of the Oracle of Amun 336 km
The ruined sanctuary of Amun's oracle on the rock of Aghurmi in Siwa, famous across the ancient world. Alexander the Great crossed the desert to consult it, and from its hill the palm groves of the oasis spread below.
More famous places to visit in New Valley
Questions
Where is White Desert?
White Desert is in Farafra, New Valley, Egypt. The nearest other LOQAH stamps are Farafra Oasis (34 km), Bahariya Oasis (136 km), Dakhla Oasis (218 km).
How do I get the White Desert stamp?
Open LOQAH when you are at White Desert and get its stamp. The app checks where you are once, at that moment, and the stamp goes into your New Valley volume, confirmed on site, with the date.
I have been to White Desert before. Can I still have the stamp?
Yes. Add it from Earlier trips in your New Valley volume, with the date if you know it, or import your Google Timeline and LOQAH matches the places you were.
Collect your first stamp.
LOQAH is free on iPhone and Android, in India and 20 more countries, with more countries on the way. Stand at a place, collect its stamp, and keep every trip in a passport that grows.