Friday, August 29, 2014

Phenomenal Djara Cave





The Djara cave is located in the midst of the Eastern Sahara Desert towards the Dakhla Oasis of Siwa, in the middle of the Western Desert, on a limestone plateau, next to an old camel track connecting Farafra and Assiut.

The cave is the natural result of immense amounts of water that have accumulated over an extended period of time, dripping through the desert sands creating an underground cave of geological Paradise.
As Rohlf said, The cave was formed by dripping fresh water in a desert that is now completely devoid of water!


The Djara region, an area with a size of almost 5 by 10km, was inhabited during this time. It was wetter, so life was possible, but there was not enough rain for the growth of flowstone.

The cave is easy to visit; many parts have a level floor, covered by the sand of the desert. Light is required and a helmet is a good idea too. The cave itself is about 30m wide and 8m high, and contains animal engravings dating back from the Neolithic Period.




This cave was rediscovered twice. After the climate changed, and the people had left the area, the cave was forgotten for millennia. It was rediscovered by the German explorer Gerhard Rohlfs during his famous expedition.


To the common visitor and resident of Egypt, the Djara cave is almost unheard of. The cave contains a ceiling of what appears to be fluted limestone formations that mimic the effect of frozen dripping water, almost like asymmetrical folds of drapery in stone and crystal that were made during the Holocene wet phase, when this area was occupied by early hunters.





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