I floated effortlessly in one of the turquoise Siwa Salt Lakes, surrounded by crystallised salt and the raw landscape of Egypt’s Western Desert.
The Siwa Salt Lakes gave me one of the strangest swimming experiences of my travels. In the middle of Egypt’s Western Desert, surrounded by sand, rock and white deposits of crystallised salt, I floated effortlessly in water so clear that I could see the sculpted formations beneath me.
I am in the centre of this photograph, apparently relaxing, although my raised hand suggests I may still have been negotiating the rules of gravity. Normally, staying on the surface requires at least a little cooperation. Here, the concentrated brine did almost all the work for me. The desert had created its own flotation system—and it came without an instruction manual.
The contrast was extraordinary. Above the water stretched a dry, ochre landscape shaped by heat and wind. Below me, the pool shifted between emerald green and turquoise, with salt crystals forming pale terraces along its edges and underwater walls.
The Siwa Salt Lakes did not feel like an ordinary swimming destination. They looked more like fragments of another planet scattered around a remote Egyptian oasis. I entered carefully, expecting a swim, and ended up suspended between the desert and the sky.
For once, doing absolutely nothing was enough to stay afloat. The desert simply refused to let me sink.
- Date
- 2026-01-01