The deserts of Egypt have a lot to offer.  On this particular day, we shared a four wheel drive Land Rover with several Belgium travelers and did some bumpy, but fun, off-roading through the sand and rocks.

Our first stop was the White Canyons.  These deep canyons have been forming over thousands of years from water and wind erosion.  They were massive and breathtaking.

Kelly enjoys walking through the maze that has been naturally created within the canyons.  

The white canyon has earned its name.  As you can see, many of the cliffs are as white as snow.  Rich navigates up this particular white cliff.

So, what is an Oasis, and where did they come from?  Scientifically speaking, oases usually are located in rocky areas of the desert where, over time, erosion has caused underground springs to surface.  The Bedouin tribes people who have inhabited the deserts of Sinai for centuries were nomadic.  One day a man decreed that if one plants a palm tree, they will own the land which is shaded by that tree.  This created the concept of land ownership and settlements.  Tribes created oases and lived and worked close together in these green areas which they created in order to sustain their need for water and food.  

We visited the Ain-Khudra Oasis, a small oasis which now only inhabits four families.  Many of the families have moved to the city to obtain modern conveniences and education.  

The Bedouin families of this oasis still carry on many of their time-honored traditions.  Women marry at the young age of about 16 years.  The man is allowed to marry more than one wife.  His wives live together and have many children.  The women begins to wear a veil either at the age of 14 years, or whenever she begins to reach puberty.  When she marries, she must cover all of her face, with the exception of her eyes, when in front of foreigners.  Another traditional practice of the Bedouin people is the preparation of pita bread.  They use only water, flour and salt and prepare it over an iron stove.  Here, two gracious Bedouin women prepare some bread for us.

After tea and bread at the oasis, we headed over to the Colored Canyon.  On the way there, we stopped to see this phenomena which the Bedouin people call "the mushroom tree".  In reality, it is not a tree, but a part of the granite cliff which was separated by erosion and earthquake and colored by oxidization.  We enjoyed it and, yes, it looks like a big mushroom.

A cliff face--streaked with shades of yellow, red, purple and maroon-- of the colored canyon.  The colored canyon gets its color from the oxidation of metal deposits within the rocks which, over the years, leech to the surface seemingly coloring the rock.  While not entirely a suitable comparison, think of a car bumper which rusts, giving the chrome a reddish appearance.  In part, the same phenomenon that causes metal to rust--oxidation--is at work here.

Kelly and Rich at the end of the Colored Canyon.

The day was not over after the Colored Canyon.  In fact, the most exciting part was still yet to come.  We had an opportunity to swim with Olin, a friendly dolphin who has lived in the Gulf of Aqaba off the small village of Mizena for 9 years.  She has befriended a young mute man by the name of Abdulla and comes and goes freely.  We were fortunate that she came in for a visit while we were slowly making our way into the cold water.

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