Natural_Reserves_text

 

 Natural Reserves

The Petrified Forest Area in Maadi:

Date of Announcement: 1989

Area: 7 Km2

Type: Geological protected area and a national heritage

Distance from Cairo: 30 Km

The Rocky wood Area is abundant of dense rocky stems of trees in the formation of the wood mountain that belongs to the Oligocene epoch. It consists of layers of sand, gravel, mud and rocky wood with a thickness of 70-100 meters. It is significantly rich with remains and stems of large rocky trees, taking the shape of rocks with cylindrical sections varying in dimension from a few centimeters up to several meters. They are grouped together in a rocky wood.

Thus, the formation of the rocky wood in Maadi is most probably attributed to one of the ancient branches of the River Nile from ancient geological era. It carried those trees along and threw them in that place where they were buried and changed into rocks.

Wadi Degla Protected Area:

Date of Announcement: 1999

Area: 60 Km2

Type: Desert lands protected area

Distance from Cairo: 10 Km

Wadi Degla is one of the important valleys, which extend from east to west with a length of 30 km. It passes through the limestone rocks that had remained in the marine environment during the Eocene Epoch in the eastern desert (60 million years). Therefore, it is rich with fossils. The height of these rocks alongside the valley is around 50 m. A group of valleys flew into this valley. The valley has a group of animals including mammals like dear, taital, mountain rabits, red fox, feather tailed rat, oviparous, barbed rat, little tailed bat and others. Among the insects there are and many others. 18 species of reptiles have been recorded. The rainwater dropping from the waterfalls affected the limestone rocks along the years and formed the so called canyon Degla, which resembles the Grand Canyon in the U.S.

To Contact the Central Administration for the Protection of Nature:

Telephone: 0220532502 / 0220532504 / 0220532503

Fax: 0220532505

Update: 2024