Destination
Fayoum
Desert dunes, a lakeside sunset, and a UNESCO fossil valley two hours from Cairo.
Why Fayoum
Fayoum is the closest thing to another planet within a day's drive of Cairo. Students dig into Wadi Al-Hitan — the Valley of the Whales, a UNESCO World Heritage site where 40-million-year-old whale skeletons sit exposed in the sand — then spend an afternoon sandboarding and dune-bashing across the desert around Lake Qarun. Service work runs through Tunis Village, Fayoum's pottery-making community, working alongside local artisans and painting ceramics with kids. Evenings are lakeside dinners at sunset and a night by the fire under some of the clearest skies in Egypt.
