Siva: Isolated Oasis _ Siva Oasis

About two-thirds of Egypt's territory is a vast western desert, just like a beautiful, desolate and absolutely quiet planet, dotted with a series of oases, the most remote, mysterious and legendary of which is the Siva Oasis, which has been regarded as a fairyland and a land far away from the hubbub of gods since ancient times. When you visit Siva, you must feel pilgrimage .......

Ancient legend

The mystery of Siva is largely due to the vast yellow sand that spans 5 kilometers between Siva and Cairo, which makes the Siva oasis civilization and the Nile Valley civilization isolated from each other and developed in parallel, and they don't know much about each other-unlike the oases of Baihariye, Ferrara, Dakhlai and Kharja, which have been Egyptian since ancient times. Siva was not incorporated into the territory of Egypt until the last dynasty of Egypt, and the famous Temple of the Oracle was built in the 6th century BC, which made Siva a sacred place: the ancient Greeks regarded it as the place where gods lived, and they thought it was a place where gods gave orders directly to mankind. Some people even regarded the priests in the Temple of Amon here as immortals, and people came to worship in Siva in an endless stream.

There are two other events in history that made Siva famous. First, it is said that after Cambyses Ⅱ, king of Persia, conquered Egypt in 525 BC, dispatch troops attacked Siva for the purpose of "attacking the Amons, reducing them to slaves and burning the Oracle of Zeus". After crossing the oasis of Kharja, a rare sandstorm broke out at breakfast in the desert, leaving 5, Persian men without a trace, leaving an eternal unsolved case. People are still searching for these 5, remains. The second is Alexander's trip to Siva during his crusade. In 332 BC, after Alexander conquered Egypt, in order to win the hearts of the Egyptians and establish the legitimacy of the Greeks' rule over Egypt, Alexander overcame many difficulties such as sandstorm, getting lost, high temperature and lack of water, and ventured into Siva, so that the chief priest of the Oracle of Amon thought that he was "Zeus-son of Amon", and it was an inviolable destiny to take over Egypt by divine right! These events have had a worldwide impact.

Now, the Oracle of Amon and the Temple of Amon have completely collapsed, leaving only a pile of ruins. Shiva has lost its former hustle and bustle, far from people's sight, and gradually became silent. In the endless desert, such a vibrant and huge oasis has been brewed into its own unique oasis civilization in a long history, interspersed with countless legends, which is already desirable; And all this, because of the arduous journey that the ancients could hardly reach, the fact that even the Egyptians knew little added mystery.

the road to the desert

in the past, some camel caravans from northwest Africa went to the Middle East, and the words recorded after the Muslims accidentally used Siva as a transit point during their pilgrimage to Mecca, as well as the early exotic trips of some foreigners formed my general outline of Siva. Fortunately, after modern means of transportation replaced camels, the Egyptians built a road across the desert, shortening the original journey of camels from 8 days to 1 hours. When I went there, it was extremely hot, and the locals said it hadn't rained for half a year. At noon, we entered the port of Matru. As soon as I got off the bus and took a photo of the station, I was stopped immediately by someone, saying that the traffic facilities in Egypt are the same as military facilities, and it is forbidden to take photos.

After crossing the port of Matru, the bus turned to the south and headed straight for Siva. At this moment, it entered the real desert area. Looking around, the vast sand sea was deserted, and only one asphalt road extended into the wild land. The bus driver began to show us the live video of the pilgrimage to Mecca, and then actually put on an Arabic entertainment funny film. The actor's performance was quite nonsense in Stephen Chow. Entering Siwa in this way of "walking and watching", I vaguely feel that modern civilization is getting closer and closer to Siwa.

A city in the air in the oasis

People usually think of the oasis as a spring in the desert, a few palm trees, a long-distance camel team, etc., but the scale of Xiwa is much larger-large tracts of forests surround it, with traditional houses, minarets and mosques emerging in the dense forests, and a mirror-like lake flashing in the distance. Today, Xiwa has become a town with a population of about 15,. It's just that its neighborhood is very small, a bit like the mining street in the American western film. It's cold and quiet, and most of the time it's empty. Several Shiva people wearing red and white plaid headscarves came in a hurry and soon disappeared without a trace. Occasionally, a donkey cart pattered by, a gust of wind blew, heard a few unknown sounds, and soon recovered calm, like an empty city!

The center of Siva is a small square, and there are some shops and stalls around it. People don't open their doors until 1 am. The owner of the hotel told me, "Most of these shopkeepers are businessmen from Alexandria and Cairo. I am from Alexandria myself. With the encouragement and support of the government, more and more city people go to oases for business activities. When no one is around, everyone watches TV in the house ―― the promise of the Egyptian government to electrify every village in the country has been realized, and TV has spread to Siva with the advancement of electricity. "

The residents of Siva are mainly Berbers, descendants of Bedouins, an ancient nomadic people. They still maintain the traditional tribal structure, and the local government is composed of eleven tribal leaders. The owner of the hotel told me: "The custom of Siva is absolutely unique, which is absolutely different from other oases in Egypt." As the farthest oasis, Siva still maintains its distinctive traditional cultural customs and still uses its own unique language-Berber. Women must wear traditional clothes, stay at home, rarely show their faces and live a secluded life. According to some data, Shiva people are tolerant even to homosexuality, and most of them believe in Islam. However, the hotel's bulletin board solemnly warned female tourists not to wear shorts and strapless.

the landmark of siwa is Shaali beside the square, an abandoned earthen city built on a mound left over from the 13th century, which is the commanding height of siwa. This is the earliest residential area in Siwa Oasis. The whole tribal groups live in communities for the sake of living safety, and each house is built according to the same style and structure. With the growth of population, the dense mud houses develop upwards, forming an incredible city in the air in the center of the oasis with a concise appearance and similar shape. The whole periphery of Shaali is a circle of high walls, like a solid castle in the air, to resist foreign invasion. In 1926, a heavy rain violently ended the continued development of the city in the air. The heavy rain washed away the salt in the mud bricks, and most houses collapsed, and residents had to move out of the city. The abandoned residential areas formed spectacular air ruins and were protected by the local government as cultural relics.

at this time, Shaali was deserted and ruined, and under the early morning sunshine, it was beautiful and desolate. I walked up and down the dilapidated streets like a narrow path in Shaali, as if I had seen the prosperity of Shiva in the past and felt the imprint of oasis civilization and the passage of time. Inferring from the remains, the living environment of the ancient Shiva people was quite simple and narrow, but it was also an important sign that the Shiva people turned to settled farming life after ending their nomadic life. At night, Shaali was illuminated by several strong lights, which was a bit of a medieval horror atmosphere. It looked like whispers's residence in a science fiction film, and it was very strange.

Neverland

When I was looking down at Siwa in Shaali, two little boys climbed up quietly and stood aside quietly. I greeted them with a smile. The older boy asked me timidly, "Do you want to rent a carriage? Going to Fantasy Island is only 1 angstrom pounds. " In the salt lake about 8 kilometers southwest of the center of Siwa, there is a small island formerly known as Geziirit Birkit Siiwa, which is an excellent place to watch the sunset and is called a Neverland by westerners. I thought I'd go to see the lakes in the desert anyway, look at their pure and bright eyes, and agreed without much hesitation. The older boy introduced himself as Ali, only 9 years old, and his younger brother. His mother must be very happy to know that they have a job. So I went down the mountain and got into their "carriage" (actually, it was a donkey cart). Ali took a foot-long wooden stick and issued a "Zha Zha" command in his mouth, expertly driving the donkey cart and heading straight for Neverland.

Although the sun is shining, I don't feel hot and dry at all, because there are clear springs everywhere in the oasis, and the climate is completely different from other desert areas. From time to time, laughter and laughter came from the pond where the springs gathered, and a group of little boys in Siwa were swimming naked. Although Siwa is located in the desert Gobi, the precipitation is scarce (even there is no rain for more than 2 years), but it has very abundant water sources. This is because Siwa is about 24 meters below the Mediterranean plane, and it is a depression in an oasis. The ancient Pharaoh called it wahat, which means "Ding". Thousands of years of wind and sun have caused the depression to sink to the water bed, and atmospheric pressure forced the groundwater to emerge from the surface, forming the Jing Quan to be fully utilized. Siwa was even called Thousand Wells City because it looked like a "big water tank".

Soon we came to the il-Hammaamaat mineral spring near the island, which is a typical mineral spring in Siva, extremely clear and transparent, and has a health care function. As soon as Ali brothers saw it, they got excited, jumped off the donkey cart, took off their coats, and plunged into the unfathomable cool world, playing happily and being extremely happy. The surroundings are still quiet, only a few cicadas are singing, and the strong sunlight shines on the ground through the date palm leaves, and time seems to have stagnated. I feel vaguely that the long historical tradition of Siwa has not changed. Hundreds of years ago, the Siwa people were as happy as modern times because of these countless springs.

When I arrived at Neverland, the most famous coconut tree sticking out of the water in Siva was close to withering, the lake had retreated 1 meters away, and there was a humble coffee shop in the shade. The only waiter there comforted me: the water will come back in winter. In fact, the population of Siwa has soared in recent years, especially after the government implemented the "New Valley Development Plan", many people emigrated from the Nile Valley to various oases to reclaim land, and a large amount of groundwater was taken. If it is not controlled, water will not come back in a few more winters. On the contrary, oases will face the crisis of ecological balance being destroyed and natural resources being gradually exhausted.

I stepped on the rugged saline-alkali land and came to the lake. On the other side is the towering Gobi, which is the edge of the Libyan desert. This big lake in the desert has the illusion of boundless and mirage.

We walked all the way through the dense date palm forest, and clusters of dates hung on the trees. When Ali was hungry, he climbed a date palm tree and picked a bunch of raw dates to eat. He said that this date palm tree belonged to his family. I tasted one, which was very sweet, but a little astringent. After a week or two, the astringency of these raw dates will naturally disappear and become sweet and delicious, which is one of the favorite foods of Arabs. Since ancient times, Siva has produced date palms, and was once known as the capital of date palms. Now there are about 3, date palms, which is the most important date palm producing area in Egypt and an important economic source for Siva people. The wealth of the Shiva people is measured by the number of date palms they own. In addition, Siva also grows crops such as wheat, corn, grapes, lemons, pomegranates and figs. With the development of agriculture, the Shiva people have a stable income, thus completely getting rid of the living habits of nomadic people, and Shiva is therefore prosperous.

Crossing the Big Sand Sea

I decided to go to the Great Sand Sea and touch the natural barrier that prevents people from entering Siva. My friend introduced me to a desert jeep driver. The young man's name is Ahmed, tall and handsome, dressed in an Arabic robe, and it is said that he drives well. As soon as I got out of the hotel door, I saw Ali standing quietly and far across the road looking at me with his donkey cart. I discussed with Ahmed: "Take Ali with you!" " He said, sure. I waved to Ali, and Ali immediately understood what I meant. He told his brother to drive the donkey cart home and jumped into it happily. Looking at his bright eyes sitting in the car, I know that his ideal must be to have the same jeep to replace the old donkey cart at home when he grows up.

The desert jeep rushed into the big sand sea like an arrow, and Ahmed reminded him, "Hold on!" The jeep climbed almost vertically, and then rushed down almost vertically, over one sand dune after another, and rushed to a very large sand dune deep in the desert. Ahmed parked his car in the shadow, took out a blanket, spread it on the sand, and made black tea. I gasped and climbed to the top of the sand dune and looked around-the world's largest sand dune on the edge of the Sahara desert, extending westward to Libya, spanning more than 8 kilometers! It is this big sand sea, as a part of the Sahara desert, which blocked the entry of the Nile civilization and made the Siva civilization well preserved in the long years. Ali happily played on the sand dune. When he was tired of playing, he knelt down on the sand dune and watched the sunset gradually sink. He was speechless, only the fine dust was blown by the strong wind ...

I walked down the sand dune and took a sip of sweet black tea made by Ahmed with fresh mint leaves, which was fragrant in my throat. It was the most delicious black tea I had ever drunk in Egypt. Ahmed told me that he has been working as a desert guide, and now the tourism industry has developed. Many Shiva people have also made an abacus for desert tourism. They used to rely on camels, but now they have all been replaced by special off-road jeeps, which are fast and exciting. Westerners like it very much and make more money quickly. Moreover, this kind of business is very suitable for the Shiva people. On the one hand, they are familiar with the desert terrain, and on the other hand, there are always some nomadic people's desires floating around in the bones of the Shiva people.

With the opening of the desert highway, it is easy to enter Siwa, and minerals and oil in the western desert (the desert west of the Nile) are constantly being discovered and exploited. Oasis including Siwa is no longer just a transit point for caravans, and its economic and visual value has been newly recognized. At present, television media, a large number of immigrants from the Nile Valley and the increasing number of tourists are the main reasons for the changes in Siva. The increasingly frequent communication with the outside world is gradually breaking the barrier between oasis civilization and modern civilization, and I sincerely hope that these changes will not cut off the connection between Siva and historical tradition. After all, Siva is an oasis civilization in this world.

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Fayoum, another oasis in Egypt

This oasis, known as the "bud on the stem of the Nile", is famous for its constant warm climate all year round, countless water wheels (introduced by the Ptolemy family in the 3rd century AD) and rich agricultural land. Directly opposite the local open-air market is a suspended mosque, built on five arches. Nearby is Hunada, which was built by the Sultan of Qaitbey for his wife in the 15th century. Asla mosque (Khunda Asla-bey).

Baharia

is located about 365km southwest of Giza and 2km from Farafra. It is famous for its palm trees, olive trees, apricot trees, rice and corn. The tangled trees form an attractive landscape, which is in sharp contrast with a large number of sand dunes. This oasis is famous for having 398 mineral springs and springs containing sulfide. It also has a large number of migratory birds, deer and other wild animals. The historical remains of Baihariya Oasis can be traced back to the era of Pharaoh. The original name of this area is "zis zis". Most of the historical sites belong to the Saite period of the 26th dynasty.

New Valley Oasis

New