Jebel al-Izaz (‘The Crystal Mountain’), the White Desert, Egypt.
Image by ER’s Eyes – Our planet is so beautiful.
Crystal Mountain is somewhat a misguided name as it is not so much a Mountain as a large Rock Ridge, yet still as impressive as the name suggests.
Situated on the edge of the White desert in the Western Desert region, there is plenty to attract the passing tourists on their Jeep adventures through the various deserts and Oases here.
The crystals are often described as what you might expect to see in a Superman Movie with the quartz crystals being of most interest to visitors. Of course it is not allowed to break off any crystal from the rock, however, there are always small loose crystals lying on the floor of the sandy desert which are picked up by the passing visitors. In the rock itself is a natural shaped arch of Calcite crystal which is a high as an adult male and always considered a focal point for photographs.
Geologists consider this to be an exhumed cave, a cave-complete with stalagmites and stalactites- that has been thrust upwards by earth movement and, with time, has lost its roof to erosion and has almost weathered away.
