Al-Wahat al-Bahriyah, 'the northern oasis', lies in a great depression about 360 km southwest of Cairo. In the past, when people from Bahariya wanted to go to the Nile Valley, they often waited for a caravan to pass, They traveled in three days between the Nile and the oasis. It is completely surrounded by high steep slopes. In the Cretaceous Period (145 to 65 million years ago), volcanic episodes formed the basalt columns that dominate the oasis. At 128 meters above sea level, the oasis has the highest point of all western desert oases. It covers an area of ​​nearly 1,800 km²; at the longest point, it is 94 kilometers and at the widest 42 kilometers. Once the oasis was the bottom of an immense ocean. Although Bahariya has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years, strangely enough, no human traces have been found that predated the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt (2055-1770 BC). The oldest grave found dates from the 18th Dynasty (1550-1292 BC) and its owner is Amenhotep Huy. Especially from the 26th Dynasty until the Roman era, Bahariya flourished culturally and economically. This can be learned from the chapels in Ain el-Muftilla, the tombs in Qãrat Qasr Selim and Qãrat al-Subi. Today, the oasis (36,000 inhabitants) is made up of several small villages (Managim, el-Hara, Manisha, Zabw, Agouz, Bawiti, and al-Haiz), each surrounded by palms and fruit trees. Bawiti is the main village of the oasis. The road was not paved until 1978 and before that few tourists visited the oasis. Still, although the closest to Cairo in kilometers, the oasis remains the farthest from time. It is slow to go to the modern world, a facet that is changing, but so far Bahariya offers the visitor a step back in time. It has numerous ancient sites to illustrate its importance in ancient times and is the gateway to the various deserts such as the Black Desert, Aqabat, Crystal Mountains, Western Desert, the Djara stalactite cave and the white chalk rock sculptures of the White Desert.