A rather short, thick snake; largest Egyptian specimen has a total length of 838 mm. Tail relatively short; average tail / total length = 0.08; tail terminating with a blunt rounded scale. Head covered with relatively large scales, 5-9 scales across the interorbital region, 7-14 scales around the eyes, 10-14 supralabials. Dorsals smooth throughout the length of the body; 40-51 scales around mid-body; 165-200 ventrals; anal and subcaudals 15-34, entire. Dorsum sandy with irregularly shaped, brown-gray transverse bands, dark bands between the posterior of the eye to the corner of the mouth; venter plain, whitish.