With its lush green date groves and gardens before the background of ochre and pinkish-red desert rocks, the oasis of Dakhla is a lovely sight.
Small villages, largely of traditional mud-brick houses, lie scattered throughout the fertile landscape, surrounded by fields and lush gardens. Even though tourism has already gained a foothold here, visitors are still immersed in a world which seems far away from the Egypt of Cairo, the Nile or the Red Sea. The oasis lies about 750km/450mi south-west of Cairo in the Western Desert and is the largest Egyptian oasis after El-Fayoum. With more than 700 natural springs, lakes and ponds, the oasis has significant water reserves. Since the water of all the springs is brackish, it is captured in a network of cisterns and stored so that the salt can be deposited. Like the other major oases of the Western Desert, Dakhla is being developed and expanded through the New Valleyland-reclamation project. Extensive deep drilling makes fossil ground-water available for irrigation and thereby gains new farmland. Dates, citrus fruits, mangoes, apricots and vegetables are grown and exported. The residents also raise some animals, primarily poultry. HistoryExcavation finds show that Dakhla has been settled since ancient times. Since the number of lakes and springs was far greater in ancient times than now, there were excellent conditions for wine growing and animal husbandry at that time. Even though the population of the oasis traded with the people of the Nile valley, it has maintained its cultural identity and Berber heritage.
