THE SIWA OASIS

The oasis in the middle of the desert

The Siwa Oasis is about 80 by 20 kilometres, with around 33,000 inhabitants, and is one of Egypt’s most isolated places. It is home to the Siwi people, an indigenous Berber people with their own language, which even Egyptians don’t understand, and traditions that date back to long before the Common Era. The oasis is one of the driest places on Earth, yet water has been rising beneath the sand for thousands of years—enough to sustain date palms, olive trees and people in a place where nothing else survives.

GEBEL AL-MAWTA

The Mountain of the Dead

At the edge of the oasis lies Gebel al-Mawta, the Mountain of the Dead, a hill with thousands of tombs carved into soft limestone, dating from the Late Period to the Ptolemaic era, roughly between 664 and 30 BC. In the tomb of Si-Amun, a wealthy Greek resident combined Egyptian funerary rituals with Greek mythology. In the tomb of Mesu-Isis, a priest of Amun, you can still see the weighing of the heart, the moment when it was decided whether a soul could pass on. During World War II, British soldiers sheltered here from bombings and accidentally came across a sealed tomb full of these grave goods.

BODY RESET

Sand bath therapy

At Gebel Dakrour, you’re buried in hot sand in the middle of the day, when the sun is at its strongest, and lie there for twenty to thirty minutes. Afterwards, you’re wrapped in warm blankets and given an herbal drink. This can only be done between July and September, when the sun is strong enough, in sessions lasting 3, 5 or 9 days, sometimes even three months. It’s essentially an extreme sauna for your whole body: your temperature rises, you sweat profusely, and this practice has been used for generations to ease rheumatism and osteoarthritis. I’ve experienced it myself, and it’s physically demanding. But it’s also one of the most direct ways to feel that your body can reset itself. The same mountain, Gebel Dakrour, is sacred to Sufism, a branch of Islam centred on love, harmony and a direct experience of God, with silence, fasting, meditation and prayer among its main practices. They believe that both the mountain and the sand have healing properties, which is why the therapy takes place here.

ULTIMATE SILENCE

The desert

Siwa lies in the Great Sand Sea, part of the Sahara, and what few people know is that this was once seabed. Fossils still lie in the sand as proof: you’re literally standing on the floor of an ancient ocean. The silence in the desert isn’t just a feeling; it’s measurable. Without sound or stimuli, your brain naturally shifts into deeper, calmer brainwave states—the same principle as floating or meditation. If you feel ready, you’ll spend a night alone among the dunes on a vision quest. The desert gives you nothing new; it simply reveals what couldn’t be heard above all the noise.

Who am I

My name is

Lisette.

 My path took me from Europe to Latin America and then the Middle East, where I worked with indigenous wisdom traditions, shamans and sacred plants.

Over the past 5 years, I’ve worked intensively in the world of retreats and inner work in several countries. I’ve worked for 4 successful businesses and learned all about personal development, models of consciousness, bodywork and healing plants.

I found true peace and a home in Siwa Oasis.  What the oasis taught me: all wisdom and all answers can be found in silence. I experienced sand bath therapy myself, floated in the salt lakes, and watched the sun set from the walls of Fort Shali.

In the years that followed, I got to know the people who know this oasis inside out, the best food, the right guides and the magical places you can’t just find on Google.

I’d be delighted to welcome you to the Siwa Oasis.