Tourists drawn to hot springs, natural beauty of Egypt's remote Siwa Oasis
Located near Egypt's western border with Libya, the Siwa Oasis offers visitors everything from healing hot springs and a nature preserve to archaeological treasures.
The Siwa Oasis is located 820 kilometers (510 miles) from the capital, between Cairo and the Egyptian-Libyan border. The eastern gate to the Amazigh lands, it is also known as the Palm Land, called Sekht-am by the pharaohs. Its hot springs are one of the best regarded tourist destinations in the world.
Yet, what most Egyptians and visiting tourists do not know is that most of isolated Siwa, which sits at 18 meters (59 feet) below sea level, is a virgin oasis unpolluted by urbanism nor exploited by businessmen. In addition to the therapeutic sulfur-rich springs and sand baths, Siwa is also a site for cultural and archaeological tourism.
The Siwa Oasis’ indigenous people are the Berber tribes, which are scattered in several countries, from Siwa to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Sahara to the south. Historically, they are North Africa’s indigenous population. Egypt’s Amazigh are concentrated at the oasis, where they number about 25,000 people.
Al-Monitor traveled to the oasis to tour the less-known attractions of Siwa. The first thing that catches the eye is the 50-meter conical Gebel al-Mawta (Arabic for "The Mountain of the Dead"). It features beehive-shaped stone tombs from the 26 pharaonic and Ptolemaic dynasties and a mixture of pharaonic and Greek designs.
