Egypt’s Western Desert lies immediately west of the Nile and forms much of the country’s Sahara region.
The Western Desert covers the area between the Nile Valley and Libya. It includes vast plateaus, depressions, sand seas and oasis basins. Although the desert is often pictured as endless dunes, much of its surface is rocky or gravel-covered, with sand concentrated in specific regions such as the Great Sand Sea.
Egypt’s major western oases include Siwa, Bahariya, Farafra, Dakhla and Kharga. They developed where groundwater reaches the surface or can be tapped below the desert. These oases supported agriculture, trade and settlement for thousands of years.
The Western Desert is sometimes called the Libyan Desert, especially in broader geographic descriptions. The Eastern Desert is a separate Egyptian region between the Nile and the Red Sea.