[Fred Nerks]

http://www.ryan-silva.com/world/desert/desert.htm

The Western Desert and the oases at Farafra and Bahariyya

(snip)

As it happened, as we waited for our hotel room to be readied we sat down next to Zahi Hawass, the famously egotistical Director of Antiquities in Egypt. Julie leaned over to ask him, "excuse me, are you..." and was unable to finish before he proudly declared, "yes, I am!"

The White Desert is remarkable for its white rock formations called inselbergs, carved into unlikely shapes by wind and sand...

[RightWhale]

A related formation is called yarddang. Or, maybe it is the same thing. The Sphinx itself was probably one of these before the stone carvers got at it.