Fayoum Oasis Tour Hidden Gem Wadi El Rayan & Valley of the Whales

An Ocean in the Desert

Stunning views and generous people at every stop. Our guide Mohammad was fantastic and ready to make it the tour whatever we wanted

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Fayoum Oasis

Truly a once in a lifetime experience. Mohammed was a wonderful tour guide and we were thrilled with every turn. Thank you for such a great experience!

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Amazing whales and fun 4WDing in a different part of Egypt

Faha was a lovely guide. We gotcoffee and snacks after our 7am pick up. Private new car to ourselves. It was a long day but well worth it. Fun 4wding up and down sand dunes a real buzz. We got to the whales np before most cars. Was busy as we left. Finished with a large delicious lunch at 2pm. Great trip for people of all ages. Back at 4.30

Response from the operator: Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We’re really happy you enjoyed your trip to Wadi El Rayan and the Valley of the Whales. It’s great to hear that Faha made your day special and that you had fun with the 4WD adventure across the dunes. We’re glad everything from the early pickup to the lunch met your expectations, and that you got to enjoy the whales before it got busy. It truly is a unique experience! We’d love to welcome you again on another adventure in Egypt 😊

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Good experience by itself but unprofessional guide

overall good experience but we were unlucky to have a guide who was unprofessional, lazy, inexperienced, and absent. My partner and I had the Overnight camping and safari experience since we wanted to experience the sunset, stargazing, and sunrise in the desert. The camping this operator works with is the “White Desert Camp”. Drinks were not included, and honestly I didn’t hear my guide mentioning anything about this until my 3rd tea in the evening, but maybe he mentioned it before and I just didn’t hear it. The food was okay, big portions, and flexible with meal times. The hut that we were given was great, with aircon and fan (though we didn’t need to use them as the temperature inside was perfect). We had a toilet and shower in the habitation as well, which made the experience even better. The sand boarding is at camp on a sand dune just behind the bar, it’s pretty short, maybe 5 metres, you can only sit on the boards because they are mostly broken. Once you do it a couple time and get full of sand, you will have enough of it. The 4x4 experience was a lot of fun and our driver was very experienced. The waterfall is nice, short, but still nice to see. We were taken with the 4x4 on top of the Jabal El Medawara which is a mountain that looks on the lakes, it was a great view. The valley of whales was impressive, it was very interesting to know and see fossils of sea creatures in the desert. Unfortunately, we didn’t spend much time in the open air space because our guide seemed to be in a rush to leave. We stopped in the middle of the street to have a quick look and take some pictures at the Qarun lake. This wasn’t anything special, it was a 5-10mins stop. Once thing to mention that our guide didn’t, and we just found out by ourselves, is that this is one of the oldest natural lakes in the world, originally it had fresh water, and Nile like fish, but in the course of the millennia it became salt water changing entirely the ecosystem that lives in it. We were not taken to the Tunis village, even when I asked about it, I was told no by the guide. Said the above about our experience in Fayoum, our experience with the guide was disappointing. Originally, another person was supposed to be our guide, though the evening before the guide informed me someone else would be replacing them because of some personal problems. Our new guide was 20 minutes late with the driver in the morning of the pickup because of traffic. Whilst being late itself didn’t bother me much, what I didn’t appreciate is that I wasn’t made aware until I messaged them to let them know we were in the lobby. It would have been nice to be let know the ETA as soon as they knew it was not as agreed, since I could have been more relaxed when getting ready. We were greeted with a bag each containing 2 bottles of water, one croissant, and a pack of crisps. This was a nice gesture. The drive to Fayoum was about 3 hours as we stopped to get some breakfast (I don’t think this was included in the tour, so a nice thing to add). Throughout the car trip, our guide either slept or listened to music with his headphones, sometimes we would be asking questions and the driver had to poke him because he wasn’t listening to us. I understand it’s a long drive and it can get boring, though if you are a guide, you should be more present or at least ask the group if they would want to hear about the history or else. Throughout the entire time he was with us, he was either sleeping or on his phone, we spoke more with the driver than the guide. The guide actually told me that technically he wasn’t even a qualified guide since he didn’t pass his exam yet. This was confirmed by his lack of knowledge of the area since he couldn’t answer many of our questions. So I think that we got just unlucky that the original guide couldn’t make it, maybe we would have had a better experience. On top of this, his English was quite poor, many times we were just giving up on asking questions or trying to understand the answers. I think this guy was very young so maybe not very mature and professional. The touring company should make sure that only “professional guides” are assigned, because it would have been the same to have just a driver for this experience. The driver was much more friendly, chatty, and kind even if his English was also poor, but at least he tried and made an effort to ensure we were doing great. A thing that I didn’t like, he was often on his phone, texting, choosing music, or doing other things, whilst driving, sometimes making us feel unsafe, especially knowing how people drive in Egypt, though possibly this is just how everyone drives.

Response from the operator: Thank you for taking the time to share such a detailed and honest review of your Fayoum Oasis tour experience. We’re very glad to hear that you still enjoyed many parts of the trip — especially the White Desert Camp setup, the comfort of your accommodation, the 4x4 desert experience, and the impressive sites like Jabal El Medawara and the Valley of the Whales. It’s also good to know the food portions and overall camping experience met your expectations. At the same time, we’re truly sorry to hear about the issues you faced with the guiding service. What you described — lack of engagement, poor communication, limited knowledge, and not meeting professional expectations — is not the standard we aim to deliver. A guide should be attentive, informative, and fully present throughout the experience, and we understand how disappointing it must have been when this was not the case. We also appreciate your comments regarding communication before pickup, the guide’s level of professionalism, and the concerns you raised about driving attention. Feedback like this is taken very seriously, and we will be reviewing it with our operations team to ensure better guide allocation, proper qualification checks, and improved communication procedures going forward. Despite the challenges, we’re grateful you still recognized the effort of the driver and enjoyed key parts of the itinerary. We sincerely appreciate your balanced feedback, as it helps us improve the quality of our tours and guest experience. We hope to have the opportunity to provide you with a much smoother and more professional experience in the future.

via Viator

Fayoum Oasis, Wadi El Rayan & Whale Valley Tour

A wonderfully organized tour with stunning desert scenery and a fascinating visit to Whale Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Amn, our guide, was excellent — knowledgeable and attentive, making the whole experience smooth and enriching. Highly recommend to anyone looking to explore Egypt beyond the usual paths.

Response from the operator: Dear Anca_R, Thank you for your review! We are delighted to hear that you had a wonderful experience on our Fayoum Oasis and Valley of the Whales tour. We agree that Fayoum is a true 'hidden gem' worth exploring beyond the usual paths. We take pride in perfectly organizing seamless experiences for our guests. We are incredibly proud of our guide, Amn. His knowledge, attentiveness, and professionalism are exactly what we strive for in our team. We will be sure to pass along your kind feedback to him. Your high recommendation means a lot to us, and we look forward to assisting you with your future travels in Egypt! Best regards,

via Viator