True Face of Siwa

•

True Face of Siwa

The Siwa Oasis is an urban oasis in Egypt between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert.

The Siwi people, also known as the Oasis Berbers, are a Berber ethnic group based in Egypt's Siwa and Qara oases. They speak the Siwa language “Amazeghi” and the primary religion practiced by the Siwa Berber is Islam, a monotheistic religion built around the teachings of the Qur'an and of the prophet Muhammad.

1800 years ago all the original Berber group lived in the city of Shali is the city which contain an old citadel in the heart of the Siwa Oasis in the Libyan Desert in Egypt , it is now one of the most famous historical landmarks and the Shali Castle is one of the most important tourist attractions.

The traditional craftsmanship of the oasis people is making doors and windows from olive and palm trees which is considered a craft that faces extinction, they are also famous for embroidery and hand-made pottery.

Although the people living in the oasis are no longer Berbers and they have faced technology they still carry the simplicity and the pure heart and courage of Berbers you can see it through their eyes they are the true magic in this magical oasis.

Yehia is a native tour guide in siwa He insisted to take us to Fatnis to the spot siwa people go to relax, and when I asked him to take a picture with this natural magnificent sunset, he simply paused like this

Central Siwa is dominated by the spectacular organic shapes of the remains of this 13th-century mud-brick fortress. Built from kershef (chunks of salt from the lake just outside town, mixed with rock and plastered in local clay)

The Shali castle

On my last day I went on a safari to relax and enjoy the night, but Youssef and his fun stories about his adventures through this desert forced me to take a picture of him at the end of the day he was more than just a driver, he turned to be an adventurous king in this desert

During our trip to the oasis I found those cool kids hanging out and playing, their attitude was weird to me, they didn’t even care when I started photographing them and they act very natural!

You can see how Abdelrahman’s eyes are glowing telling us the story behind the old city Shali and how it became an important tourist attraction.

- Shali Ancient Town

Before leaving fatnas island, this man asked me to take a photo with his favorite view telling me that this view would make a really nice photo, but what was really nice was thats natural smile

Visiting a local farm at siwa, I found that really old but healthy man working on a very interesting craft, making furniture out of olive and palm trees, he said that this has been his craft , his father’s craft and his grandfather’s craft, that’s why he will never let it disappear and that he is always happy to see his grandsons watching him working with such joy and he believes that one day he will teach them

When I finally asked the boys to pause near the spring to take a shot, they didn’t know what I really wanted, so they just stood and gave me this perfect natural pause!

After the kids swam at the spring they came out drying themselves caring about nothing but that little guy was only curious about what the hell I was doing!

Fatnis island has became a destination for tourist to watch its relaxing and inspiring sunset view but for the native siwa people it is the perfect place for meditation and thinking about god’s gifts