Monday, January 22, 2007

Gilf Kebir designated a nature reserve

"A newly-announced nature reserve in Egypt will be one of the most important tourist attractions, Environment Minister Maged George said on Saturday.
In statements, George said the reserve in the New Valley area of el-Gelf el-Kebir enjoys a distinguished geographic position and teems with a wealth of cultural and environmental heritage.
The area is on the Owainat Mountain linking Egypt, Libya and Sudan; therefore it can help open new scopes for cooperation among the three nations, according to the minister.
There is a project aiming to protect bio-diversity in the area through development, the minister said.
Some 24 existing and potential nature reserves, covering about 10 percent of Egypt's area, according to a presidential decree in 2001. By 2017, nature reserves are expected to spread across around 17 per cent of Egypt."

Gilf Kebir is stuffed full of fascinating prehistoric archaeology, including rock art, and is associated with some fairly hair raising stories from more recent times. To see more about this stunning area (geography, history and exploration, rock art and archaeology), see Andras Zboray's website:

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