Bawiti in Bahariya Oasis

Nowadays the oasis (36,000 inhabitants) consist of several small villages (Managim, el-Hara, Mandisha, Zabw, Agouz, Bawiti , and al-Haiz), each surrounded by palms and fruit trees. Bawiti is the main village of the oasis. The road was not paved until 1978, and before that time few tourists visited the oasis. Yet the oasis, though the closest to Cairo in kilometers, remains the most distant in time. It has been slow to move into the modern world, a facet that is changing, but until now Bahariya offers the visitor a step back in time. It has plenty of ancient sites to illustrate its importance in antiquity and is the entrance gate to the various deserts, as: the Black Desert, Aqabat, Crystal Mountain s, Western Desert, the stalactite cave Djara and the white chalk rock sculptures of the White Desert.