Siwa Oasis and Siwan Crafts:

Siwa is an entrancing sight of countless green palm groves and gardens, bubbling springs, mud brick dwellings and crumbling temples and tombs. The people of Siwa are descendants of Berber tribes and their language is just a variant of the Berber tongues. The Siwa Oasis has developed independently from the rest of Egypt. This independence is reflected in their crafts which are highly prized by collectors from around the world. Their baskets are finely woven with coil from palm fronds, decorated with red and green geometric designs and adorned with red, yellow and green silk tassels which have been hand dyed with natural dyes. The Siwan pots are unique: they are not thrown on a wheel nor are they fired in a kiln but hand built and then fired in the bread ovens. The elaborately embroidered wedding dresses, embellished with antique coins, shells or beads, are the most exciting and stunning in the Western Desert. Unlike the gold –loving Egyptians, Siwans traditionally preferred silver jewellery, big and heavy. The designs are

uniquely Siwan, influenced by Berber rather than Egyptian jewellery. Siwan women did not select a different piece to wear each day; they wore all of it at the same time!

The Temple of the Oracle was built on flat rock during 6-7th C.BC. The reputation of its Oracle spread throughout the Mediterranean world. Alexander the Great came here in 331BC, trekking 8 days across the desert from the coast. He sought confirmation from the Oracle that he was the son of Zeus, the Greek god of gods. This spiritual site, stripped bare over the years by local inhabitants searching for treasures, had a village built over it from which just the walls and a minaret survive.

Tucked into the valley below the rock where the Temple of the oracle stands, the Temple of Umm Ubayd is almost totally ruined, having been, unbelievably, dynamited for building materials in 1896. It was dedicated to Amun, the ram-headed Egyptian god of life.

Gebel al-Mawta, Mountain of the Dead, is a wind-eroded bluff, honeycombed with tombs dating back to Ptolemaic and Roman times. Most of the tombs are barren but a few have rather beautiful decorations. Despite the fact that the people of Siwa believe the mountain to be haunted and will not venture there at night, it is here in times of great rains and invasions by modern armies, that the Siwans have gone for protection, living in the caves amid the dead.

The Great Sand Sea

It is world's largest dune field, separating Siwa from the south-western part of the country. It stretches west into Libya and Algeria and for some 500 miles to the south. These dune fields are awesomely lifeless and they shift and reproduce. Its sandstorms have buried armies and scoured paint from cars. Getting lost and dying of heat and thirst are real possibilities here. While prevailing winds are the dominant factor, local geology and existing vegetation also determine the shape of the dunes. Some dunes are over 320 feet high and 63 miles long.

Between Siwa and Baharriya lie a number of oases abandoned because of the extreme salinity of the water. These oases (Nuwamisa, sitra, Bahrein and Areg) once played a critical role in the protection of Siwa and its economy. They served as outposts to guard Siwa from attack from the east and supplied Siwa with produce. They were also valuable bases for caravans. Most of these oases are in depressions below sea level, surrounded by quicksand and thus dangerous to approach.

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