Wadi Rayan in El Fayoum Oasis

 

 

The distance to reach Wadi Rayan is roughly 2 and a half hours from Central Cairo and I hour 45 minutes to Fayoum Oasis 

 

 

Wadi Rayan is a separate depression 15 km outside the Oasis, which has become a man made wildlife haven and beauty spot. The idea of piping excess water from the Fayoum into the wadi was first mooted by the British but only put into practice in 1966, when three lakes and a waterfall were created, vegetation flourished and the area become a major nesting ground for birds. It is now a nature reserve harboring the world’s sole known population of slender horned gazelles, eight other species of mammals, thirteen species of resident birds and 26 migrant and vagrant ones – not to mention the unique fossils in the Valley of the Whales, further into the desert, a zone under special protection.