Dakhla Oasis

Dakhla Oasis

Enjoy the mysterious parts of Egypt’s desert and feel the stunning beauty of its landscapes. Shaspo Tours offers variey of Egypt Day Tours and Egypt Desert Safari. One of the most charm places in Egypt is Dakhla Oasis where you can bask in the Egypian Sun, enjoy the wonderful nature and many attractions there.

 

If Kharga is the administrative center of Egypt's New Valley, than the Dakhla Oasis would be its breadbasket. It is a very fertile region brimming with orchards and produce, and this is nothing new, for 10,000 years ago, when the climate here was similar to that of the African Savanna, it was teaming with buffaloes, elephants, rhinos, zebras, ostriches and hartebeests. There was a large lake here, and on its southern shores were also human communities. However, as with most of the rest of the Western Desert, this wet era passed, and with it many of the people mostly migrated south and to the east, where they helped populate the early Nile Valley, as the sands slowly covered their ancient way of life.


At various times known as al-Wah, the Inner Oasis, Oasis Magna and Zeszes, place of the two swords, today the Dakhla oasis is giving up some of its past secrets as the very sand that hid its ancient settlements is eroding to reveal them once more. 

The Oasis apparently remained at least marginally populated throughout history, for there have been over one hundred ancient cemeteries unearthed by the Dakhla Oasis Project, which has been operating in the area since 1978. These cemeteries cover a span of time from prehistory through the Roman period, though the oasis was populated as early as the upper paleolithic period.

During Egypt's Old Kingdom, the Dakhla may have in fact been its most important oasis, with a direct link by way of Darb al-Tawil to the Nile Valley. The Institute Francais d'Archeologie Orientale believes they may have found the Old Kingdom capital of the Oasis (at Ain Asil). There, the palace of the oasis governors under the 6th Dynasty pharaoh, Pepi II have been unearthed. The oldest inscribed object found at this specific location may be dated to the Old Kingdom reign of Teti, but continuing archaeological work seems to be revealing more and more Old Kingdom activity. We also find evidence of the First Intermediate Period, as well as at least one painting dated to the Middle Kingdom at this oasis. 

Later, during the New Kingdom, the capital moved to the village of Mut, further west. Later, during the 22nd Dynasty, a stele of Shoshenq I explains that he sent a representative to the oasis (the two lands of wahat) in order to regulate disputes over water rights. Apparently there was also a "cadastral register" of the wells and orchards were also made. During the fifth year of this same king's reign, we further hear that he sent a royal relative to "restore order in the Oasis-land, after he had found it in a state of war and turmoil". Of course, all of the oasis were difficult to control, though we have records from the Nile Valley of taxes collected in wine, fruit, minerals and woven products from both Kharga and Dakhla.
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