Balat

Balat is a small Islamic-era village of mud-brick houses and covered lanes at the eastern end of Dakhla, similar in character to Al-Qasr but smaller, less restored and still substantially lived in, which gives it a different feel: laundry in the alleys, doors open, ordinary life going on inside medieval fabric. Beside it lies the reason archaeologists come, Ain Asil and the necropolis of Qila el-Dabba, where the governors who administered Dakhla for the Old Kingdom pharaohs were buried under mud-brick mastabas, some of them large, with a settlement and a ka-chapel excavated alongside. French missions have worked here for decades. The finds show how far the central state reached into the desert in the third millennium BC.

What you actually see

• A lived-in mud-brick village - medieval lanes still occupied.
• Old Kingdom mastabas at Qila el-Dabba - governors' tombs in mud brick.
• The settlement at Ain Asil - the administrative town beside the cemetery.
• Covered alleys - the shade-building tradition of the oases.

When to go

October to April. Two hours for the village and the archaeological site. Mornings are best. Balat sees very few visitors and there is no crowd at any time of year.

Honest expectations

The archaeological site is fenced and access depends on a guard; it is sometimes closed. Mastabas are eroded mud brick and take imagination. The village is residential and should be walked quietly and photographed with care. There are no facilities.

Nearby

Al-Qasr is at the western end of Dakhla; Kharga lies east along the road.