From time to time, people are in need of escaping from all the negative energy and bad times, to have some downtime on their own with nature and silence. Being connected to the captivations of nature always helps to absorb the negative thoughts inside of one’s head.
But what if someone’s choice was to stay in the middle of nowhere for the rest of his life?
Sayyed Toleib, or Uncle Sayyed as he likes to be called, is a man in his seventies, who leaves his family every week in Toleib farm in the New Valley and walks for 10km.
He spends five consecutive days every week in the heart of the desert, in an area called “Labkha”.
Sayyed spends his time constantly working in water extraction in deep wells. He discovered that there are tens of wells whose depth is anywhere from between 5 metres to 12 metres. So he turned the place into a beautiful garden, right in the middle of the desert.
Sayyed was not the only one who is mesmerised with mountains and sand – some foreigners from across the globe come to spend a few nights to enjoy the quiet and scenery. One of the visitors is an Italian lady and her husband, who visit for 15 days every year. The couple even built a room. Sayyed, on the other hand, built a swimming pool for the visitors and planted some trees.
Although the place is full of Roman cemeteries and scorpions, Sayyed made a hobby of collecting scorpions to make use of them for his own study. He also uses the place for worship.
Text and photos by Amany Kamal
