Farafra

The Farafra depression ( ) is the second biggest depression by size located in Western Egypt and the smallest by population, near latitude 27.06° North and longitude 27.97° East. It is located in the Western Desert of Egypt, approximately mid-way between Dakhla and Bahariya. Farafra has an estimated 5,000 inhabitants (2002) mainly living in the town of Farafra and is mostly inhabited by the local Bedouins. Parts of the town have complete quarters of traditional architecture, simple, smooth, unadorned, all in mud colour. Local pride has also secured endeavours to secure local culture. Also located near Farafra are the hot springs at Bir Sitta and the El-Mufid lake. A main geographic attraction of Farafra is its White Desert (known as Sahara el Beyda, with the word sahara meaning a desert). The White Desert is a national park of Egypt and is located north of the town of Farafra. The desert centerpiece is its rock colored from snow-white to cream color. It has massive chalk rock formations that are text-book examples of ventifact and which have been created as a result of occasional sandstorm in the area. The Farafra desert is a typical place visited by some schools in Egypt, as a location for camping trips. The Desert was also the featured location in the music video for “Echoes” by the Klaxons. “Jasrmmd road, and the locally developed clays at the top of the white chalk west of Qasr Farafra. As Zittel placed the beds at the former place below the White Chalk, this new position assigned to them may be regarded as provisional until confirmed or disproved by palaeontological evidence derived from the latter locality.”