Very nice photo Macruran.  I have been to Egypt several times and out on the dessert you basically see exactly what you have portrayed in your photo: sand, clear blue sky.  The only time there is a variation in the scenery is if there is a monument or an odd palm tree or two.
As for the tombs, there are quite a few of them that in the 1990's still had their original colors of the wall scenes intact; of course  in varying degrees of intensity of color, but we can still see them today in close to their original hues.
I have traversed Egypt from the delta all the way down to Aswan.