Discover The World With Guru

Jats and Rajputs from the Indian state of Rajasthan wear distinctive turbans. Rajputs traditionally wear colored turbans whereas Jats wear white turbans. The Marwaris wear light colored turbans. Many styles of turbans are found in Rajasthan; it is said that the style of the turban changes with every 15 km you travel. In some areas, especially in Rajasthan the turban’s size may indicate the position of the person in society. ‘Royalty’ in different parts of India have distinctly different styles of turbans, as do the ‘peasants’, who often just wear a small piece of cloth wound around the head.

The yellow sand dunes stretch to infinity, whilst the scorching sun of the Sahel beats down on your head. You’re tired and you’re thirsty – you’ve been travelling for miles, searching for water. Yet nonetheless you are cautious: nothing is as it seems in this land of smokescreens and mirrors. “Water! Water!” you begin to scream. No… even imagination is playing tricks on you. But what if in the distance, past the undulating sand dunes, lay the waters of sand-locked lagoons and waterfalls surrounded by palm trees?

It is this vision of utopia, surrounded by barren wasteland that inspired us to catalogue some of the most incredible desert oases before they are devoured by the desert sands and become mirages themselves.

1. Ubari Lakes are part of Erg Awbari Oasis in the Sahara. Located near Fezzan and 30kms north of Germa in Libya, these salt water lakes are a central trading point for many locals, who gather at the edges of the lake selling souvenirs and other goods.


sfivat

Umm Al-Maa, meaning Mother of Water, is one of the largest lakes in the oasis but unfortunately, like all the lakes, the water table in the area is so low that the lakes are drying up.

As well as the waters being extremely dirty, the saline levels are now similar to the Dead Sea (which is great news if you like floating in crud). The abandoned city of Gebraoun is also relatively nearby with its impressive ruins, the settlement is testament to the life-sustaining qualities that the lakes once had.





2. Huacachina is a small oasis town in the Ica region of southwest Peru. This oasis, named ‘Oasis of Americas’, is a popular resort with local families and tourists. A legend says the lagoon was created when an inquisitive young hunter disturbed a beautiful princess bathing. She fled, leaving the pool of water behind which became the lagoon.



3. Turpan, or Tulufan as it’s also known, is an oasis city in the Xinjiang Uygur Region in China. It is just 8km west of the ruined city of Jiaohe, a border garrison town destroyed by Genghis Khan during the Han dynasty.


4. We’re not entirely sure where this desert oasis is but we had to include it because, surely, this is what most people perceive as the typical oasis mirage? If anyone has been there, shoot us the location.



5. This wonderful desert lake is set within Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Maranhao, Brasil. It forms part of a system of fresh water lagoons which fill up with rainwater during the first six months of the year and then gradually evaporate over time to be topped up again the following year. Some of the lakes within the park are dotted with palm trees. This lonely lake, however, has one solitary dry branch decorating its banks.


6. Crescent Lake in China’s Gobi Desert sits on the edge of an ancient city that once saw traders embark on their journey along the Silk Road to the West. Today it is drying up and has dropped more than 25 feet in the last 30 years, in part due to water being redirected for local farmers and a doubling of population, resulting in the slow disappearance of a lake that has existed for thousands of years.


7. The beautiful oasis of Chebika in Tunisia is probably one that most people know about without realizing it. It is where Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was filmed. The story goes that the oasis was actually named after one of the characters, Chewbacca.




8. This stunning image shows three men quenching their thirst at a small waterfall in the Saharan oasis of Timia, in Niger. It’s a picture perfect portrait of everyday oasis life for local desert dwellers.


9. There are always small enclaves or villages dispersed near bodies of water, no matter how small, and this image shows why. Even in desert areas wholes farms can exist with the life giving powers of water.


10. This remote desert lake, fringed by sand dunes is located in Khar Nuur, Mongolia. It’s a refreshing swimming spot for travelers who manage to venture into one of the world’s vast desert plains.


11. Nahal David is a quiet oasis found near Bethlehem, Israel’s Palestinian West Bank. It’s certainly a far cry from the war-torn images often associated with that part of the world.


12. This sprawling oasis is the village of Tinerhir, located at the foothills of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. Todra Gorge and oasis are about 14km away so travellers normally visit both oases on the one trip.


13. Ghardaia is the main town in M’zab oasis in northern Algeria. Founded in the 11th century, the city was built around a cave which was reputedly inhabited by the female saint Daïa, and is still revered by M’zabite women today. The oasis offers some wonderful examples of original Arabic medieval architecture and is now a protected UNESCO World Heritage site.



14. This castle is part of an oasis on the western shore of the Persian Gulf in Saudi Arabia, called Qatif. The city dates back to 3,500 BC and was for many years the main town and port in the western Gulf, which meant it was a popular spot for invasion and take over by ruling powers through the ages. This resulted in an eclectic mix of architecture and the area now boasts some of the best archeological sites in the kingdom.


15. This oasis is hidden in the depths of the Oman desert, where a number of green oases dot the landscape. A few oases in the tiny Sultanate, on the corner of the Arabian Peninsula, are hotspots for botanical studies into agro-biodiversity where many of the ancient oasis are in rapid decline; researchers want to figure out why.



16. Nakhl Fort sits overlooking a lush, green date-palm oasis in Oman. These impressive forts were strategically placed across much of the Oman desert, like many places, to protect villagers from invasion.


17. This beautiful unnamed oasis is situated in Niger. If you have any further info, we’d love to hear about it in the comments section. Considering the recent unrest in the country it’s amazing to find places like this still.


18. The lush green carpet of shrubland and fields sit in stark contrast to the barren hills in the background of this typical oasis village. Any clues to where it is?

Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its estimated 76 million live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers, where the only arable agricultural land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt’s residents live in urban areas, with the majority spread across the densely-populated centers of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.

Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world’s most famous monuments, including the Giza pyramid complex and its Great Sphinx. The southern city of Luxor contains numerous ancient artifacts, such as the Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. Egypt is widely regarded as an important political and cultural nation of the Middle East.









The oasis of Siwa was internationally famous long before Alexander the Great visited it in 331 bc, for it was the site of one of the biggest temples of Amen, the most powerful Egyptian god of the time. Its oracle was so renowned that the illustrious Macedonian conqueror crossed the Egyptian desert to consult it. According to legend, the priests confirmed his divine nature—a verdict that was convenient, as he had just been crowned pharaoh. During the Roman occupation, the temple of Amen fell into disuse, but the oasis remained. Its springs, famous for their medicinal properties, quenched the thirst of many a caravan on the way from the Mediterranean coast to central Africa. Today, many Egyptian, Roman, and medieval ruins survive in this area, which the Egyptian government would like to see added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list. This would earn it a grant toward the preservation of the archaeological site, which would no longer be solely Egypt’s responsibility but the shared responsibility of the organization’ s 175 member countries.



Ruins of the medieval citadel of Shali in the town of Siwa, Egypt

Founded in the thirteenth century, the citadel of Shali protected the inhabitants from pillagers for many years. But its walls built of kershef —salt bricks covered with clay and plaster—were no match for the violent rains of 1926. Three days of deluge left nothing but a mass of ruins, bearing witness to a vanishing style of architecture. Although some of the fortress’ houses are still inhabited, modern Siwa is chiefly built of concrete, clustering around its old town. Since 1998, the United Nations Human Settlements Program has encouraged young Siwa entrepreneurs to rediscover their cultural and architectural heritage. The region’s governor, who also would like to see this heritage preserved, has required all new buildings around the citadel of Shali to be built using traditional methods.



Barely distinguishable from the surrounding landscape of salt lakes at the oasis of Siwa at the foot of the white mountain,» the Ecolodge is a luxury hotel—even though guests have neither electricity nor air conditioning— in the arid Egyptian desert. To cope with the extreme environment, the building—which was completed in 1997—takes advantage of local techniques that have been developed over 2,500 years: walls of salt-bearing rock extracted from the beds of lakes burned by the sun, and roof, insulation, ventilation, plaster, furniture, and accessories designed and made by 150 local craftsmen using the oasis’ own resources. Economizing in the transport of materials and people minimized energy consumption, while the use of local human resources revived the region’s economy. Since the Ecolodge was built, almost 600 people make a living from the revival of interest in the architecture of Siwa.






Wheat being bundled into sheaves by a fellah in the Nile valley, Egypt


Small boats caught in water hyacinths on the Nile, Egypt

Modern graves in a cemetery at Asyut, Nile valley, Egypt



Outline of Birket Maraqi salt lake in the oasis of Siwa, Egypt

Under the burning sun of northwest Egypt, the evaporation of water from the shallower parts of this salt lake has cracked its bed of sand and mud, forming these extremely hard, rounded wrinkles. Here and there salt forms a white crust, tracing the outline of the bluish, stagnant pool. The salt concentration in the water is so high that no living organism can survive. However, the shores of these lakes are shaded by palm trees and olive trees, fed by the oasis’s 230 freshwater springs. Thus, Siwa’s 15,000 inhabitants grow 300,000 date palms and 70,000 olive trees. Fresh water is one of the scarcest resources on the planet, accounting for only 2.5 percent of the total volume of water on the Earth, and of that proportion, 77 percent is trapped as ice at the poles and in glaciers. Liquid fresh water is unequally distributed, being rare in the tropics but plentiful on the equator and in temperate regions. Even where it is abundant, it is still precious. Its quality is constantly deteriorating as a result of contamination from excess organic matter, fertilizers, and other chemicals released by agriculture, industry, and the general population.



The archaeological site of Abu Simbel consists of two monumental temples of pink sandstone, built during the reign of Ramesses II (c. 1301-1235 B.C.). The facade of the larger one, facing toward the rising sun, holds four statues of the pharaoh that are 65 feet (20 m) tall and weigh 1,200 tons.