THE PARK

The WADI EL GIMAL park covers both land and marine habitats, including over 4,770 sq km of desert and around 2,000 sq km of sea. Its northern edge reaches to within about 350 km south of Hurghada, whilst it extends on the opposite side to over 50 km south of Marsa Alam.

It was established in 2003 with the aim of “working with the local communities to preserve and develop the geological and landscape heritage of the area, its indigenous flora and wild fauna, and the Roman-Islamic-Ababda cultural mix”.

In terms of its geology and landscape, the park includes vast tracts of desert as well as mountains, such as Mount Hamata, which reaches 1,975 metres in altitude with considerable geological variety, as illustrated by the range of minerals present, such as quartz, granites and emeralds.

There is a very large number of plant species, 135 of which form part of the diets of the various animals, thus for grazing; a further 38 have medicinal properties and are used in curative remedies; 30 more are gathered to eat or used to extract liquids (and thus as drinks); 12 are used simply as kindling by the local people (and therefore to protect themselves from the cold), and finally 8 are used as building materials for huts and to provide shelter from bad weather.

The desert fauna is very varied too, with a great many species living in extremely difficult conditions. These include 29 different species of reptile, 28 types of mammal and 90 species of bird. The sea is home to various different kinds of mammal, plus turtles, marine plants and 240 separate types of coral. To that can be added 104 species of fish, 9 areas of luxuriant mangrove (an endangered plant at world level) and 5 islands offering superb diving and snorkelling opportunities.

Since 2003, various organisations have worked not only to protect the area but also to provide important aid to the peoples living in the Park. These concern educational projects (school-building), the craft industry (organising exhibitions and markets to sell the products), transport within the Park (40 km of easily practicable tracks), assistance for visitors (of which there were over 80,000 in 2008), information points, and a museum.

This was a whistle-stop tour of the Wadi El Gimal Park!