SIWA, Egypt -- The driver pulled the Land Cruiser to a stop at the top of a 50-foot high dune for a breathtaking view of the endless golden sands that span the Egyptian and Libyan frontiers.

He then backed up slightly, I assumed to turn around. Instead, the vehicle lurched over the edge and plunged down the steep slope at breakneck speed.

This is the only way to begin a desert safari in the Great Sand Sea, 28,000 square miles of rolling dunes along the northern edge of the Sahara, one of the main attractions of a visit to the Egyptian oasis of Siwa.

Siwa, a Berber town of some 27,000 people roughly 450 miles southwest of unsettled Cairo, was largely inaccessible to the outside world until the 1980s, when the road that leads to the closest city of Marsa Matrouh was paved, putting it on the tourist map.

It’s an admittedly daunting trip for all but the most adventurous travelers: A day’s journey along a dreary highway from Cairo by bus or car. But the reward for making the trek is a glimpse of what paradise might look like.

Home to the oracle that is said to have confirmed Alexander the Great descended from the gods, Siwa isn’t much at first sight — a collection of mud-brick huts and concrete apartment blocs in one of the most isolated parts of Egypt.

But the labyrinthine old town and a jagged, conical Roman-era necropolis soon rise in front of you, inspiring a feeling of awe for a place stuck between its ancient past and modern times.

The palm tree-lined area’s isolation — along with natural springs, ancient ruins and of course, a roller coaster ride through the desert — are the main draws for tourists willing to make the trek.

A friend and I stayed at the Ghaliet Ecolodge and Spa, which is built around a date palm grove with buildings made of traditional mud and salt bricks known as kersheef. Owner Magdy Riad swears no trees were displaced, pointing to branches sprouting from the roofs.

The 12-room hotel, just outside the town center, is one of several ecolodges designed to blend into the surroundings. The more expensive Adrere Amellal was the choice of Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla in 2006.

The Ghaliet staff welcomed us with hibiscus juice and cold towels before letting us choose between a room with a skylight and terrace overlooking a garden, or one downstairs near the pool. We chose the upstairs room decorated with charming woodwork and colorful Bedouin rugs.

Arriving weeks before the start of winter high season, we were happy to be the resort’s only guests but worried about the viability of businesses reeling from the steep drop in visitors to Egypt.

Tourism revenues in Egypt fell 30 percent to $9 billion in 2011, although the industry is showing signs of recovery. Siwan businesses also suffered from worries over Libya’s civil war just 30 miles away. The vast desert that separates the two countries was a route for rebels smuggling weapons to fight Moammar Gadhafi.

Riad, a member of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, had bad timing. He opened the villa-style resort in December 2010, about a month before the start of protests that ousted Egypt’s leader Hosni Mubarak and inspired Libyans to launch their own uprising.

Worried about his family back in Cairo, Riad says at first he left Siwa to join protesters in Tahrir Square, saying “they had the right to change the regime.”