Farafra, Egypt

27.05833333333327.97Koordinaten: 27 ° 3 ' N, 27 ° 58 ' E

The sink al - Farafra (Arabic الفرافرة, DMG al - Farafra ) with its largest city Qasr el- Farafra lies about 300 km west of Asyut in Egypt, and was also known as Ta -iht to Pharaonic times (Ta - IHU ) or the Land of the cow. It is sparsely populated with about 2500 inhabitants.

History

The valley was already in the humid times of the early and middle Holocene 10000-6000 years ago ( 8000-4000 BC), also in Pharaonic times, colonized.

But for this purpose are only epigraphic testimonies. The oldest example is the story of the eloquent farmer: a farmer from the Natrontal to trade for food different products in the Nile Valley, including rods are made ​​of an unknown material from the oasis Ta - Ihu. More testimonials can be found in various Egyptian temples (temple inscription from the time of Ramses II in Luxor temple, inscription of Merenptah at Karnak Temple, Oasis list in the temple of Edfu ).

The remaining architectural examples date back to Roman or Coptic time. The few inscriptions are from the Coptic period. Ahmed Fakhry suspected that the Roman settlement around the first pre-Christian lasted until the second century AD. Christians populated the valley from about the first to the seventh century, whose share in the total population is unknown.

Badr Museum Farafra

Local artist Badr situated in a small museum of his works. It uses all natural materials of different colored sand to sand stones and roots. Badr also has a small guest lodge, can work in the interested artists.

National Park White Desert ( as- Sahra al - baida )

Particularly impressive is the north of the Farafra Oasis White Desert location. Limestone formations of huge monoliths stimulate the imagination of the desert visitor and remember a stone camel, a fungus, a rabbit or a trophy. The finds on the ground suggest that there was once seabed. The desert is passable only with all-terrain vehicles. One of the most important neighboring oases is Bahariyya, about 180 kilometers north of Farafra.