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Oasis
of temples and castles
Kharga is clearly different from the image
most people of an oasis out in the desert. It has
been the most important town in the development
plans for the Western Oases, and has presently a
population of more than 100,000 people. And when
the architecture is totally dominated by concrete
blocks and wide roads, the result is that few
tourists use more time than necessary in town.
During my oasis circuit of 2004 I met several
Western travel guides telling me that they omitted Kharga all together, because there was nothing to
see. That is totally wrong, Kharga has sights from
3 millenniums. |
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Kharga means in Arabic
"point of departure", in opposition to Dakhla,
"point of entrance", which lies further to the
west.
The population of Kharga are Berbers with roots
back to the time when the oasis was a station on
the famous 40 Days Road between Sudan and Egypt —
famous because of the merchandise; slaves.
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