One of the most beautiful hidden places in Egypt is the Siwa Oasis. It is famous for being a piece of heaven, a greenish spot in the ocean of Sahara sand. The place is very ancient and extremely enchanting with its own history and culture, there was found a human footprint that is thought to date back three million years, making it one of the oldest human prints in history.
The name Oasis is an ancient Egyptian for palm land, and it was been to the Berber tribe and to the Asian (Falcon), a type of a prey bird that was one of Amun-Ra Symbols which explain how the city gained the name Oasis of Amun Ra. It also gained quiet fame in 331 BC during ancient times as the home of the Oracle of Ammon who alexander the Great sought for her counseling.
The Siwa Oasis can be traced back to the 26th dynasty around 525 BC, it was called by in ancient Egypt as the field of tress and by the famous historian Herodotus as the foundation of the sun, in the 12th century it was known to be the official home of the Berber. It was once the home for the entire population in a 13th-century mud-brick fortress called Shali until it was destroyed by a rainstorm in 1926.
It is an urban Oasis in Egypt between the great sand sea of the western desert and the Qattara Depression, about 50 km (30 mi) east of the Libyan border and 560 km (348 mi) from Cairo. Siwa is one of Egypt's most isolated areas with a population of 33,000 people mostly Berber who have their own language called Siwi. It is a deep depression that reaches to about 19 m (60 ft) below sea level. It is about 8 hours by car and longer by an overnight bus.
Siwa Oasis is filled with olive and palm trees, crystal-clear springs scattered all over the oasis which offer a heavenly break from the harsh heat. There are many lakes and thousands of springs but the saltwater offers little agriculture. There are some birds like turtle dove and Streptopelia and endangered species like Slender-horned Gazelle and Fennec Fox. The Oasis is also a natural habitat for the Cheetah, one of the most threatened cats in the world.
One of the most famous landmarks in Siwa Oasis is the temple of the oracle which dated to the 6th century BC. It was constructed by alexander the great who asked her about his fate and whether he was the son of Zeus and it is believed he was buried in Siwa. Near the town center is the mountain of the death that holds more than 1500 tombs dating back from the late pharaonic and Greco-roman periods, the tombs showcase incredibly beautiful and ornate funerary drawings.
The Siwa oasis is one of the places that can't be missed, you will get to feel the allure and bliss of the ancient Egyptian culture and life when you discover all the historical artifacts in the immortal cities Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, and Aswan through our Egypt bespoke tours.
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