I went there with my son in July 2011, and if I read the elder reviews a lot has changed. I came with my own car and the road was, although not paved, reasonably good. It was a very hot day, we left very early in the morning from Tunis, but of course you are never early enough when the summer-sun is burning in Egypt. You do not need any police-permission anymore (anyway there is hardly police in Egypt after the revolution), you just buy a ticket before wadi el Rayyan. The first part of the road is passing sand-dunes and the lakes, beautiful!! The second part white sand, mostly flat, the white is burning in your eyes. There was only one person at Wadi Hitan, showing us where to start the 3 km long walk. We were very happy to walk on what was 40 million years ago the bottom of the ocean. Everywhere you see little or bigger sand-hills (over 6000), covering the fossile rests of all kinds of ocean-habitants. Fantastic. We were there all alone, if we were bad people we could have taken fossile vertebra's or ribs... (of course we are not). We loved the landscape so much! We were wondering who is taking the sand away after a sand-storm... We finished our walk at 10.00 h and that was just in time! I am advising you to go as early as possible in summer.