Whales in the desert

Once upon a time (or to be more exact, 40 million years before the first pyramid was built), when the climate was warmer, and there were no huge glaciers on both Poles of our Earth. The high level of seas and oceans made our planet a “blue planet”.

At that time, in Egyptian waters, huge whales, sea turtles, sharks and all kinds of other sea monsters used to live there. Later on, the climate changed several times and eventually, more than 10 thousand years ago it got warmer and this is how the Sahara Desert was formed.

Places near Fayoum, in Middle Egypt, have been discovered, to show that it was once the shore of a prehistoric sea and fossilised skeletons of the above marine life were found.

The sand moved by the wind force every now and then, has revealed new fossilised skeletons that could be the source of legends about dragons. However, these days dragons are confined to fairly tales for children.

Book Your Luxury Egypt Tour

To reach this unique place you have to head several kilometres to the west of Fayoum. Newcomers are welcomed by an incredible gate made from large rocks which, resemble a huge whale. The sign on the gate tells us that this is the size of the creatures that used to live here in prehistoric times.

You will reach a beautiful camp, in which you have Egyptian tea and then  you will take a long walk around the place where you will find, fossilised bones of whales and sea turtles, huge roots of trees which used to grow on the sea shore and endless numbers of fossilised shells. Paths for tourists have been laid and places to visit are identified and exposed.

Finally, you will reach the vantage point with an incredible view of the whole of The Valley of Whales. Additionally, nature decorates this place with beautiful rocks of various shapes that have been sculpted by the wind. Outliers, are scattered on the sand, where the wind has carved traces on their surface that can be compared to the remains of huge “woodworms”.

Scientists and explorers will be digging here for many years as it is a real palaeontological basin and new areas that have been fenced, indicate that more fossil extraction is only a matter of time.