It sits in a depression surrounded by pink cliffs. There are about 30,000 acres of cultivated land. Most of its 40,000 o residents are farmers who constantly fight the battle of the dunes that threaten their fields and orchards. The fields and gardens are filled mostly with mulberry trees, date palms, figs, apricots and citrus fruits. Dakhla has retained most of its culture and charm even through it has increased in size by about double and government funding and technical training has revitalized the economy.

Research has found that the Oasis has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and that there was once a huge lake here. There are Neolithic rock paintings that indicate that the lake was frequented by elephants, buffaloes and ostriches. As the lake dried up, the inhabitants migrated to the Nile valley and were probably some of its first settlers.

Dakhla Oasis is dominated on its northern horizon by a wall of rose-Colored limestone rock. Fertile cultivated areas growing rice, peanuts and fruit are dotted between sand dunes along the roads from Farafra and Kharga in this area of outstanding natural beauty. The capital, Mut, named after the ancient goddess of the Theban Triad, houses the Museum of the Inheritance, a traditional house, with an intricate wooden combination lock

Al Qasr, about 35 km from Mut, was originally a Roman settlement which later became the medieval capital of Dakhla. The old town is a labyrinth of mud-walled alleys narrowly separating houses with elaborately carved wooden lintels.