Turquoise salt pools among the Mars-like desert landscape of Siwa Oasis in Egypt. Photograph by Michał Sitek.
At first glance, this landscape did not look like Egypt—or even Earth.
Among the ochre-coloured rocks and sun-scorched ground of the Siwa Oasis, intensely turquoise pools appeared like fragments of another planet. Their vivid water, surrounded by pale salt deposits and rough desert formations, created a surreal contrast that immediately made me think of images from Mars.
I photographed these salt pools in Egypt’s remote Western Desert, not far from the Libyan border. The Siwa landscape is shaped by salt, underground water, intense evaporation and a climate where almost every colour appears stronger beneath the desert sun. From above, the pools looked like enormous blue gemstones placed inside a barren, rust-coloured world.
The scene was both beautiful and slightly unsettling. Everything around me suggested heat, dust and complete dryness, yet in the middle of it all was water—clear, colourful and seemingly impossible.
For a moment, it felt as though someone had discovered water on Mars.
NASA can relax. This time, it was only Egypt.- Date
- 2026-01-01