Gilf Kebir

The Gilf Kebir is a sandstone plateau roughly the size of a small country in the far south-west corner of Egypt, cut by wadis and standing several hundred metres above the surrounding desert, and it is one of the most remote places in the world that anybody deliberately travels to. Its interest is prehistoric: rock art in the wadis and shelters, painted and engraved, from a period several thousand years ago when the Sahara was wet enough for cattle herding, showing herds, hunters and human figures. The best known is the Cave of Swimmers in Wadi Sura, found by Almasy in 1933 and later used in The English Patient, with small figures that appear to be swimming. The nearby Cave of Beasts holds a far larger painted panel found in 2003.

History

The plateau, about 7,770 km² and rising 300 m above the desert floor, had no local name, and Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein called it Gilf Kebir, "the great barrier", in 1925. Its prehistoric rock art includes the Cave of Swimmers in Wadi Sura, discovered by Count László Almásy, a cave at Magharet el Kantara found by Shaw's party in 1936, and a major new site in the western Gilf, the Foggini-Mestekawi cave, found in January 2003; the art dates from a time before about 4000 BC, when the Sahara was wetter. European explorers first saw its hills from a distance in 1910-1911 and 1918, Kamal el Dine sighted its high southern part in 1925 and fixed its eastern escarpment the next year, Ralph Bagnold followed in 1930, and the Clayton-Almásy expedition of 1932 explored the western side by Gypsy Moth plane, car and on foot; in 1933 Patrick Clayton and Almásy found the Aqaba pass, the only way up from the southern plains (Wikipedia, Gilf Kebir).

The landscape

• The Cave of Swimmers - small figures that appear to swim, found in 1933.
• The Cave of Beasts - a much larger painted panel found in 2003.
• Wadi rock engravings - cattle herds from a wetter Sahara.
• The plateau itself - sandstone cliffs and wadis in absolute isolation.

When to go

November to February only. Ten days to two weeks for the round trip from Dakhla. Permits and military clearance are required and take months to arrange; trips are cancelled when the border region is closed.

What to expect

This is among the most demanding trips available in Egypt: a week of driving each way, everything carried, no rescue. Permits are often refused and the area closes for long periods. The rock art has suffered from visitor damage. Costs are very high and departures are few.

Nearby

Dakhla is the staging oasis; the Great Sand Sea lies north.

Key facts