SIWA, Egypt—Once Egypt’s most inaccessible oasis, Siwa lies in the Western Desert, 31 miles from the Libyan border. Surrounded by the dunes of the Great Sand Sea, Siwa is considered not only the loveliest oasis in Egypt but one of the best places in all of North Africa.
Siwa has been famous since antiquity when it was home to the Oracle of Amun whom Alexander the Great visited in 332 B.C. and who proclaimed him to be the son of Zeus. The ruins of the Temple of Amun, once dedicated to the Egyptian sun god Amun and which housed the Oracle, still stand a few miles and a short donkey cart ride outside the town of Siwa.
Palm groves of Siwa as seen from the hilltop of Aghumi with ruins built by local Berber inhabitants. Anna Skibinsky
