Sahara el Beyda - the White Desert - 45 km from Farafra is a place visited by foreign tourists and some schools in Egypt as a location for camping trips. Farafra has about 5,000 inhabitants and is mostly inhabited by Bedouins. The town has complete quarters of traditional architecture, simple, smooth, unadorned, all in mud colour — local culture and traditional methods of building and carrying out repairs have been supported by tourism. Often grouped within Farafra are the hot springs at Bir Sitta - the Sixth Well - and El-Mufid lake.