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: 25271391 - 25248792
Fax:
25280931
