school holidays and teenagers, what can you do with them? well, a desert with a water fall ,fossilized whale bones and petrified trees sounded like the right choice, add to that sandboarding down the dunes and a swim in the lake, teenage paradise!!!
Having used Real Egypt for our family tour of Luxor, Dahabiya cruise and Aswan we knew the Real Egypt team would not let us down! After contacting Samir and Adele, they introduced us to the new member of the Family” Real Fayoum” Tours, swiftly set us an itinerary that would keep 6 kids happy during the 12 hours and arranged everything at quick notice, we only gave 12 hours notice – no time for kids to change their minds!
7am
Hotel Pick up (4×4 car). Ancient Basalt Quarry. The ancient Pharaonic road. The petrified forest. Qasr El Sagha temple. Demi El Seba ancient city ruins. Picnic Lunch. Lake Fayoum. Magic Lake. El Rayan waterfalls. Sandboarding. Swimming in the lake. Lunch. Tunis Village. Drive back to Cairo
The tour surpassed every milestone, we were picked up on time at 7am by our driver and guide for the day – Samir, and off we went, Samir pointed out all the new wonders along the way as we drove through Cairo- The new GEM museum,( it has to be said you will need a full weeks holiday to tour the place) Giza pyramids in all there daylight glory, different parts of Cairo, then we hit Fayoum Governorate, driving through the toll to enter Fayoum is like entering another world, almost unbelievable that it is only 1.5 hours away from the busy streets of Cairo, tranquil is not the word, the feeling of peace just washes over you as you look out at the vast emptiness all around you,
the peace was quickly broken however when we went off roading across the desert with squeals of delight from all 6 kids, sand dunes turned into miles and miles as we zoomed across the plain( always wanted to say that) , we stopped at Bones, yes bones out in the middle of the desert, full skeletons of long ago forgotten animals, the area has so much to offer but after a short rest we were off again, this time to temple ruins in the middle of no where, a full city, where did these people gets water from, supplies, food, it is just like a hollywood film set, all that was missing was Russell crowe in his gladiator uniform ,
lunch was beautiful on the shores of the lake just listening to the wind and watching the water,
then off for sandboarding and swimming, not to mention a couple of massive sand dunes that Samir decided to drive us up, we all loved it and appreciated it when the car stopped, sand boarding, great fun for all, the day just graciously slips away to the shouts and whoops of laughter across the desert from every person involved,
after that a wonderfully refreshing swim in the lake and a trip around the lake to see the most amazing waterfall, will stay in my memory for a long time,
to round off a wonderful day tour we took a drive through to tunis village, a quaint little place designed like Spanish villas home to some of the best pottery schools around, we had a quick pottery lesson by a very skilled artist ,
I have to say Real Fayoum gave us a fantastic tour, not one of the kids moaned they were bored or even picked their phones up, well done Real Fayoum, 5 Star treatment every inch of the way ,
wow! what a day!
Date of experience: June 2019
Sally