HomeAmazingWadi Al-Hitan (Whale Valley) in the Western Desert of Egypt
Wadi Al-Hitan (Whale Valley) in the Western Desert of Egypt
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Wadi Al-Hitan also called Whale Valley, situated in the Western Desert of Egypt, contains precious fossil remains of the earliest, and now extinct, a suborder of whales and offers dramatic evidence of one of the iconic stories of evolution.
These fossils represent the foremost stories of the evolution and emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a preceding life as a land-based animal. This is considering the most prominent world site for demonstration of the stage of evolution because it portrays brightly the form and life of these whales during their transition.
The quality of fossils is unique to their accessibility and setting in an attractive and protected landscape. The Al-Hitan fossils show the youngest archeologist in the last stages of losing their hind limbs, while the other fossil material in the site makes it feasible to reconstruct the surrounding environmental and ecological conditions of the time.
This beautiful World Heritage property is a firmly protected sector, set within the wider landscape of the attractive Wadi El-Rayan Protected Area. It is an exceptional global reference site because of the number, concentration, quality, and accessibility of the evidence of the earliest whales, often in the form of complete skeletons, and the record of the environment that they lived in.
Fossil shells are not common in the main whale-bearing rocks but are very common in other rocks; many fallen rocks can be seen to be full of a wide variety of fossil shells. No other place in the world yields the number, concentration, and quality of such fossils, as is their accessibility and setting in an attractive and protected landscape.
This is why it was added by UNESCO to the list of protected World Heritage sites. Wadi Al-Hitan (Whale Valley) is State-owned and has strong and unequivocal legal protection under the Egyptian Law (102/1983) for Nature Protectorates reserves, forbidding actions that would lead to destruction or deterioration of the natural environment.
The law mentions geological features as specific elements receiving protection. The Wadi El-Rayan Property Protected Area (WRPA), is managed under national regulatory law on Nature Protectorates. The NCS (Nature Conservation Sector) of the EEAA (Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency) is responsible for the management, protection, and conservation of the entire site, as part of its overall management of the WRPA.
The geology of the valley gives rise to the scenery, with wind and water erosion producing spectacular cliffs and buttes. The rocks present at Wadi Al-Hitan are all Middle to Late Eocene in age and comprise three main rock units. Now an efficient management system is in place for the property, which is integrated as part of the implementation of the Management Plan for the WRPA.
Under the updated Management Plan the property is identified as a “World Heritage Zone”. No vehicle access is allowed, whilst zones provide for well-controlled eco-tourism in part of the property, whilst maintaining areas for research and studies. The buffer zone is well managed as a part of the World Heritage Zone within the WRPA.