Crystal Mountain

Crystal Mountain is a low ridge of barite and calcite crystal - often wrongly called quartz - beside the road between Bahariya and Farafra, exposed when the road was cut through it, and the whole outcrop is made of interlocking crystals that catch the light so that the ground and the rock glitter. A natural arch through the ridge is the standard photograph. It is small, a few minutes' walk end to end, and it is a stop rather than a destination, but the geology is genuinely unusual: the crystals formed within eroded chalk limestone in much the way desert roses do, later exposed by erosion and by the roadworks. Visitors have picked at it for decades, which has done visible damage to the more accessible faces.

The landscape

• The natural arch - a hole through the crystal ridge.
• Interlocking calcite crystal - the whole outcrop rather than scattered pieces.
• Glittering ground - crystal fragments across the surface around it.
• The road cut - the section that exposed the formation.

When to go

October to April. Thirty minutes; every desert trip between Bahariya and Farafra stops here. Middle of the day actually suits it, since strong sun is what makes the crystal glitter.

Before you go

It is small and takes minutes, and visitors expecting a mountain are surprised. Decades of souvenir collecting have stripped the accessible faces; do not add to it. There is no shade and no facilities. Groups can arrive together and fill the arch.

Nearby

The Black Desert is north; the White Desert lies a short drive south.

Key facts