8th Grade Trip to Western Desert (Egypt)

I (Melanie) just returned home after spending three nights in the White desert near Bahiraya oasis east of Cairo with the 8th graders from CAC. This is one of the trips that the CAC middle school students go on every year. I went last year as a chaperone but this year I was the trip nurse (and I took our camera). My role was to take care of 140 students and chaperones in six small groups as they camped and walked pre-arranged routes for three days. Each of the three nights I camped with different groups.

Each day I visited each group to check in on them. Depending on where they were in their hike I either walked with them for a while or shared their meal and siester while taking care of anyone who needed to see me and my first aid kit. Snack with "red group"

Siesta with "black" group

Football with "green" group

Journal writing with "purple" group

Thankfully there were minimal health issues and everyone returned today healthy but smelly and sandy after three days without washing (and in some cases without changing clothing).
I really enjoyed the trip since my role gave me the chance to see a lot more of the desert than I did last year when I was hiking with just one group. This year I was with the expedition leader Mahmoud, and we drove between the groups in his 4WD.

Mahmoud is an interesting guy who is passionate about the desert and spends his time alternating between running a company that leads deep desert expiditions (often for groups of scientists studying geology or neolithic artifacts) and volunteering with the Egyptian government in various environmental projects.

I was lucky in that I got to cover a lot of ground between the six groups and so see many differnt faces of this part of the dessert: Sandy flats with grassy outcrops and multitudes of animal tracks, monumental limestone formations whittled by the wind and sand, valleys of small stone domes, sand dunes, and a 400 year old mimosa tree flowering in the barren landscape.

Another highlight was waking up before sunrise on the second morning and taking a series of photos from the comfort of my sleeping bag: To the east the sun was rising,to the west the moon setting, breakfast was being made,

camels were being cared for, and the sun was painting the limestone formations pink. After that I got dressed (inside my sleepingbag), washed my face and was ready for a another great day!

It was a great trip and I enjoyed getting to know the 8th graders a little better but was also happy to get home to Marc, a shower, and a bed!