Saturday, September 27, 2008

A Desert Safari trip on the 3rd. of November 2008

My dear friends, members and viewers of my Blog. I would gladly like to inform you that I'm planing a Desert Camping Safari on the 3rd day of November and ends on the 7Th.

This trip will be a very special one, since it will include allot of activities and Events, including:
Deep desert - Hiking (Night Hikes in the Full Moon) - Mountain Trekking - Offroding - Camping - Oases and many other amazing activities in our exciting and inspiring beautiful Sahara.

Please feel free to contact me anytime, if you are interested in such Journey. Also it will be my pleasure to answer any questions concerning this trip and sending you the full detailed Itinerary and price.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon..........................
Yours truly
Amir Milad

P.S: TO LINK TO THIS FACEBOOK EVENT, JUST CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW:

http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=32510966849

Website: http://www.amirssafaris.piczo.com/


Friday, September 26, 2008

Egyptian Wildlife and Sahara

The baby Fenic Fox enjoying the view of the beautiful Spring Valley.
Fenic Fox sense's my movement from a very long distance.

Feeding those hungry Desert Wolves in the Springs Wadi.



Sand Fox found my chocolate bate in the Sand.



Red Fox trying to be smart on me.




Egyptian Horned Gazelle chased by my Nissan over the Sand Dunes.






Egyptian Desert Jackal, hunting Rats in the Wadi.




The Crack Lizard.








Camels in Wadi Halfa on the Sudanese Border with Egypt.









Wild Desert Rabbit.








The famous Nile Crocodile in Naser Lake South of Aswan City. (Khur Rahma) Fiord.










Oases of the Egyptian Desert

The Spring Oasis situated in Wadi el Rayan National Park is a Haven for Hermits since the 4Th Century, when the Romans used to Persecute Christians.
Driving along the Old Camel Caravan Route, heading towards Baharia Oasis.

Shali Village located in Siwa Oasis on the Borders between Egypt and Libia.


El Kasr old City which is located in Dakhla Oasis and considered the 2Nd biggest Oasis in Egypt.




Paradise Oasis situated in Libia near the Great Sand Sea.



The Waterfalls in Wadi el Rayan Park.




Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A group of Tourists Kidnapped on a Desert Safari

At least 18 people, including 11 foreign tourists, have been abducted in Egypt, according to the Italian foreign ministry and Egyptian security sources.
The Italian foreign ministry confirmed on Monday that at least five Italian nationals were among those taken in the south of the country.
"Foreign Minister Franco Frattini... is following the matter of the kidnapping in Egypt of a group of foreigners including five Italians," the ministry said in a statement.
Frattini, who was informed of the kidnapping while en route to the United States, is in "close contact" with a crisis unit set up at the foreign ministry and other foreign ministries involved, the statement said.
Al Jazeera's Amr el-Kahky, reporting from Cairo, Egypt's capital, said that an official from Egypt's southern al-Wadi al-Jadid governorate, said the other people seized were seven Egyptians, five Germans and one Romanian.
"This is a gang act [by] masked men," Zoheir Garrana, the Egyptian tourism minister, said, adding that talks were under way on a ransom to release the abductees.
Mustapha Tawfiq, chief of police in the southern city of Aswan, told state television that four men abducted the group near Gilf el-Kabir, an uninhabited region near the borders with Libya and Sudan.
Egyptian sources said the kidnappers had asked for between four and six million dollars in ransom, although it was not possible to confirm the sum.
Police protection
Timeline
Tourist attacks in Egypt It was believed the victims were taken to northern Sudan across Egypt's border.
"The south of the country has been very safe, we haven't seen such events in the past few years," he said.
"The last time something like this happened was in 1997, but the country's south has been very safe and every tourist convoy is escorted by policemen."
Garrana confirmed that the hostages "had been moved outside the Egyptian borders".
Israel denied that any of its nationals were among those kidnapped.
"According to our sources, there were no Israelis," Ygal Palmor, the foreign ministry spokesman, told the AFP news agency.
Earlier this month, Israel warned its citizens of a "very high" risk of kidnapping or attacks if they travel to Jordan or Egypt, the only two Arab countries which have made peace with the Jewish state.
Jewish holiday
The warning came just weeks before Jewish New Year holiday, which is marked this year on September 30 and October 1, when thousands of Israelis usually flock to Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
In 1997, at least 58 people were killed in Egypt when armed men opened fire on foreign tourists in the ancient temple city of Luxor, just north of Aswan.
More recently there was a spate of attacks in resorts on the Red Sea in the Sinai peninsula.

I realy hope that they are safe and sound since many of them are very close friends of mine.

Monday, September 22, 2008

My Discovery of a 4th.Centuary Church in the Western Desert of Egypt



One of the many Cracks Linking
the rooms inside the Mountain
Collapsed from the Earthquake



















We are on our bellies now, crawling through silky-fine sand, watching the shadows for vipers and scorpions. Inches above our heads is a huge rock, the roof of a collapsed chamber, supported by walls cut from soft, rather crumbly sandstone.
Ahead of me, my companion switches on his head torch and lights up the chamber, revealing the object of our search. Around the walls, just below the ceiling is a layer of plaster, and on it some painted images, the heads of religious figures, saints or apostles perhaps. One bears a striking resemblance to traditional images of Jesus.
We take photographs until the sand causes my camera to seize up, and then return to the fresh air above.
My companion is Amir Milad, a desert guide of many years experience, and he has brought me to Deir Abu Lifa, an abandoned Coptic monastery in the Western Desert north of Fayoum. Dating back to the early days of Coptic Christianity, the monastery is cut into an outcrop of the Qatrani mountain; a remote place in which monks could lead the contemplative life safe from raids and persecution. The name points to the saint assumed to have founded it, Abu Lifa, also known as Abu Banukhm or St. Panoukhius.
The southern section is now collapsed, perhaps due to erosion or earthquakes, leaving only two rooms intact at the northern end. It is in the southern section that the paintings lie hidden.
“I’ve been coming here for about fifteen years,” says Milad, “making desert safaris, taking groups around the north side of the lake, around Fayoum Oasis. There are various archaeological sites here, and we’d visit them, and then come to this place.”
“We’d always visit the northern end, and look inside and take photographs.
But then last November I was curious to look further inside. And so I found this tunnel between the rocks, and after some time, I came across the room with the paintings. When I saw the paintings, I was amazed. I felt sure that nobody else had seen them, certainly none of the other desert guides I know.”
Convinced that he’d made a fresh discovery, Milad began to ponder what else might be hidden beneath the sands of Deir Abu Lifa. A devout Christian, he is fascinated by the religious significance of the paintings, which he suspects mark the site of the monastery’s church. Beneath the gathered sands, he believes, may lie religious relics, texts, even the bodily remains of a saint.
In February of this year Milad paid a visit to the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Zamalek, where he presented news of his find to Dr Mustafa Amin, head of the Department of Islamic and Coptic Monuments.
The initial signs were promising. Dr Amin said that the paintings did indeed seem to be a fresh find, and a search of the Supreme Council’s records showed that Deir Abu Lifa, while recorded as an abandoned Coptic monastery, had never been visited by an official inspector, much less been the subject of any major excavations. Dr Amin made arrangements for a committee to be formed with a view to making an inspection of the site later this year.
While Milad was waiting for the committee to convene, he learned more of Deir Abu Lifa’s history. A study published in 1937 by French archaeologist Henri Munier contains a rough sketch of the northern rooms, as well as a translation of some of the Coptic texts painted on the walls there. One of the texts, apparently written by a monk named Stephen, reads: “Christ remember me... Do penitence for me... Pray that God will give me patience...” Munier dates this text at 686 AD, and another at 858 AD.
A further study in 1993 by the Italian Paolo Gallo provides more detail, including an exploration of the collapsed southern section. Here he identifies fragments of pots used for cooking and vessels for storing wine, as well as a piece of glass found at the foot of the monastery.
Somewhat to Milad’s disappointment, Gallo’s work also contains photographs of the church and its sacred wall paintings. Gallo describes them as “... fragments of a parade of saints or apostles, which are painted frontally. Two of the faces are still almost intact, and their halos have a diameter of 50cm. The head of a third figure has eyebrows and eyes painted in white against a black background.”
Clearly, Milad was not the first to set eyes on these images in modern times.
But his initial assumptions raise interesting questions about its conservation and that of similar sites. The fact that the monastery is unguarded and shows no sign of excavation work initially suggests either that it is unknown to the authorities or that they are acting negligently with regard to a site potentially rich in archaeological finds.
But further investigation points to the significance of Deir Abu Lifa relative to other, more complete, Coptic sites.
Elizabeth Bolman is an expert in Medieval art and Director of the Red and White Monastery Project. As she points out, Deir Abu Lifa is just one of many Christian sites in Egypt containing religious paintings, many of which have survived the centuries more or less intact.
Based solely on photographs, she tentatively places the figures at Deir Abu Lifa in the Late Antique period, but explains that there are several better preserved examples from this period and later.
“There are two sites with significantly better surviving painting that’s Late Antique,” she tells Daily News Egypt. “One is in the Monastery of St.
Simeon in Aswan. But there’s another one called Dier Abu Kinnis, which is near Malawi. And then there’s this later period, like Wadi Natrun, and then a Mediaeval flowering, which is St. Anthony’s.”
“This is part of a larger class of monuments. Some of them have been conserved; some of them are being conserved and partially protected or fully protected. But I can’t imagine much more than an inspector being assigned to Deir Abu Lifa to check on it every once in a while.”
“I mean, I have to tell you, this is not a great find. It’s not negligible, but it’s not spectacular. There’s far too much of great value in this country to be properly conserved. I mean, that’s just a general fact of life,” she concludes.
Considering the limited resources of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the body has the unenviable task of giving priority to those sites that present the greatest opportunities for preservation, leaving the more humble ones somewhat neglected.
Bolman’s view is echoed by Dr Amin at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, who told Milad that a preliminary report may indicate the need for a fuller excavation, but in the meantime the authorities can only offer very limited protection.
“If we come to the site and see it is valuable, we can protect it,” says Dr Amin. “But because the site is so remote and there are no facilities in the area, we can only hope to put a guard on patrol to visit the site from time to time. There is no place for a guide to live, so he can’t stay there all the time, just visit once or twice a week.”
He adds that the site has survived for several centuries, and so it is likely to survive for a while longer. “It is natural that it might fall apart due to natural effects. The factor of time may cause damage. But since it is still there after all this time, it is apparently self-protecting,” he says.
But Milad is keen that work on the site begin sooner rather than later.
Treasure hunters have been visiting Abu Lifa in recent times, motivated by a local legend concerning treasure hidden there, possibly the wealth of the monastic community buried for safe-keeping. Indeed, evidence of their activity can be seen in the northern chambers, where the walls are pocked with freshly-dug holes and piles of rubble covering the floor. In some places, the plaster on the walls has been smashed, with the loss of sections of ancient graffiti. The deserts of Egypt are sprinkled of similar Coptic sites prey to unscrupulous exploitation.
As for the idea of guards being employed to protect Abu Lifa, Milad is more than a little skeptical.
“You can’t trust them at all,” he says. “They take money to allow people into areas that should be closed, and I’m sure they would be more than happy to help the treasure hunters.”
Milad is still waiting for the Supreme Council of Antiquities to get back to him with a date for the official site visit. Meanwhile, he is taking matters into his own hands. In recent weeks he has been back to Abu Lifa and surrounding sites, and says he has taken to tracking the treasure hunters as they go about their work.
“The last few times I went there I saw tracks in the sand and not just tourist jeeps. There were tractor tracks and motorbikes,” says Milad. “They are looking for the treasure and they will take anything they find and try to sell it.




Sunday, September 21, 2008

A Desert Safari Camping Trip


The Beauty of the Desert

The Desert is the most beautiful, amazing, exciting, cleanest, inspiring and most quite place on our Planet. Wady el Rayan National Park in the Western Desert of Egypt, it is known of it's varieties of indangared spiecis and buatifull Wadis, Mountains, Sand Dunes, Lakes and Wild life.
The White Desert of Egypt is located in the Western Desert and it's one of the most beautifull Parks in the World.

Me with Nissan after crossing a very difficult Sand Dune in the Vally of Springs.



The Eastern edge of the Great Sand Sea.




One of the Caves in Quatrany Mountain located in the Western Desert.


Secret Egypt

Egypt is the land of secrets. Everyday Egyptologists and Sientests discover new Temples, Cemetaries and fresh finds. Unfortunatly many of these explorations are found by the wrong people, whom we call Tresure Hunters, using these finds for there own benefits to get richer and richer, exactly like this Picture down here, it is one of thousands of other important Historic sites that was found by Tresure Hunters and most of these finds are not for the Minestery of Anticuties due to it's remotness and difficulty to reach.





Saturday, September 20, 2008

Profile and Knowledge

Greetings to everyone, My name is Amir

I love Nature


I Love the Desert

I am a Desert Guide..........


My knowledge of the Desert began with travel and hunting trips when i was only seven years old.

My dad took me out to the fields and the
Desert lakes on hunting trips.

My love for the Desert grew as I grew older. At an early stage I decided to thoroughly travel and explore the Deserts of Egypt,
especially the Great Sahara and the many Oasis of the Western Desert.

Later I knew that working in the Desert regions would become my profession.

I was able to link to many Egyptian and foreign Travel Agents and Tour Operators.

I now have my own small business which has grown by reputation and word of mouth। have my own 4x4 vehicles, fully for any eventuality, and prepared to give the unforgettable safari holiday of a lifetime for anyone who wants to step off the
normal tourist conveyor belt.


I arrange and lead trips to a huge variety of Parks, Oasis, and protected areas of the Deserts.

Deep desert travel is a speciality!

You can choose to visit historic sites; the oasis; focus on wildlife; on
ancient exploration; or to just have a hair-raising time that you will
never forget.

You will be actively involved in your adventure, and you will share campfires at night and a tapestry of stars in an inky black sky.

For wide specific interests, catering is tailored to each requirement .

I offer the Following tours:

+ Jeep Safaris + Mountain Trekking + Camel Trekking +Hiking trips including night hikes (new)

+ Canyoning

+ Cave Discovery's and almost all kinds of outdoors activities.

Desert Travel is like a dream come to life.

Returning to the dust and dirt of the City is like being forced to wake up from the dream.

By now you will have already become addicted to the cleanest place on earth...


The Western Desert of Egypt.


You will already be planning a next trip! Perhaps the most exhilarating aspect of traveling in the desert is the feeling that the great age of desert exploration is definitely not over.


When you make your way into the interior of the desert, three or four hundred Kilometres off the road or actually just off the beaten Track, you immediately discover evidence of ancient untouched habitation.


When you ride the wind through various Landscapes, Jumping over Sand Dunes and make your way to an ancient Fort, it is so easy to see why this is one of the few great adventures left in the world.

Egypt covers one Million square Kilometres and more than ninety percent of it is Deserts.

I am actually glad Egyptians are afraid of the Desert. This has helped to preserve it for you and for me - as a vast untouched beautiful wilderness, where you can still find the ghosts and untouched remains of very ancient civilisation. And P.S. With me you will not have to pay huge Agents prices.


I am a small private business where the only overheads are the necessary ones. I look forward to your contact.



Love Amir...........................................

The only way to know your self is in Nature................We come from ground Earth and back and within.....................Man learned everything from Nature and Mother Earth................................Man takes all power and life from Mother Nature................................MAN DESTROY M O T H E R OF ALL============== ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------M O T H E R DESTROY ------------------------------------------------ MANKIND +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++