It is 627 km away from Cairo via the Cairo Oasis desert road. It became famous worldwide and was put under the tourist and scientific spotlight because of its location, history, the quality of its rocks and shapes, warm sunny faces, and the Crystal Mountains in the Farafra region.
Farafra Oasis is considered one village the most isolated villages from the oases of the New Valley, and Farafra Oasis is famous for its strong traditions and Customs.
It has the world-famous white desert, which is visited by tourists from all over the world, and which became a nature reserve in 2002 with an area of 3010 km.
History
The history of the Farafra Oasis dates back to the Pharaonic era, it was mentioned in a number of ancient Egyptian documents, especially since the tenth dynasty in the Twenty-First Century BC, and it was called "Ta-aht", meaning the land of the cow, and the ancient Egyptians gave it this nickname because of the abundance of pastures and cows in it.
In the first Christian era, Farafra was a haven for Christian Egyptians who the Romans persecuted, and many Christians fled to Farafra and left their mark in the areas of Pastor Abu said, Ain Abshway and Wadi Hanes, all of which are Egyptian Christian names. During many periods of ancient history, after the Islamic conquest of Egypt, the date and olive trade flourished between Farafra and the Nile Valley. Camel caravans carried the products of the OASIS to deirot on the Nile and returned with fabrics, tea, and everything produced by the land of the Nile Valley and Farafra. Farafra took some time to show its scientific importance, which prompted the Khedive Ismail Wali of Egypt to divert the journey of the famous German scientist Gerhard Rolf in 1874 to find out whether there was a river without water in the region or not, and Rolf tried to penetrate the Great Sand Sea, which is located to the west of Farafra and 300 km wide to Libya, he could not, and then headed north with a convoy of 100 camels and 90 men, including 12 Germans in various branches of science, whether geology-flora-fauna-archeology-astronomy-space and published his famous book three months in the Western Desert.
Tourism
the tourist is fascinated by, the wind has formed many rock patterns in the form of crow's nest and others in the form of white stone columns or chalk walls or conical in shape, and the area has become a pleasure for tourists to stand in it for long days enjoying its atmosphere It looks like a residential city from afar, and when you approach it, you think it's Snowy Mountains because of their whiteness, and if you stand in front of its rocks, you think it's statues made by a skilled artist. To the north of Farafra, on the way to the Bahariya oases, and 80 km away, there are beautiful white calcite crystals in a unique location that will make Farafra the throne of scientific and tourist tourism.