The Burullus Lagoon and Fuwa

One Of The Largest Lagoons In The Mediterranean Basin And A Ramsar Wintering Ground For Enormous Numbers Of Waterbirds, Worked By Reed Sail Fishing Boats That Have Changed Very Little With Fuwa Upriver, An Ottoman Town Of Brick Minarets Where Kilims Are Still Woven On Floor Looms · Baltim, Kafr El Sheikh

Behind the Mediterranean dunes between the Nile's two mouths lies one of the largest lagoons in the Mediterranean basin, and in winter it fills with birds. Burullus is brackish, shallow and enormous, fringed with reed beds and fish farms, worked by flat wooden boats under triangular sails that have changed very little in a century, and it is a Ramsar wetland that hosts enormous numbers of wintering waterbirds - herons, egrets, flamingos, waders and ducks in quantities that would draw birdwatchers anywhere else in the world. Essentially none come. Fifty kilometres south-west on the Rosetta branch, Fuwa is an Ottoman town of slender brick minarets where kilims are still woven on floor looms in workshops you can walk into. Together they are the whole of Kafr El Sheikh's claim, and the row is honest that getting onto the water is informal, unticketed, arranged by asking a fisherman, and entirely dependent on somebody being willing.

A brackish lagoon behind the Mediterranean dunes between the two Nile mouths, with Fuwa 50 km south-west on the Rosetta branch, Baltim, Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt

No gate, no ticket office and no visitor centre - this is a working lagoon and a working town. Boats are arranged informally at the landings around Baltim and Burg el-Burullus by asking a fisherman, so WHETHER ANYONE WILL TAKE YOU OUT DEPENDS ON THE DAY, the weather and who is about; early morning is both the best time for birds and the most likely time to find somebody. The bird numbers are a WINTER phenomenon, roughly November to March, and the lagoon in July is hot, still and comparatively empty. Whether the Ramsar reserve has any staffed access point is worth asking locally and should not be assumed. In Fuwa the mosques and the kilim workshops are working premises rather than sites; both will often let you in if you ask, and neither owes you entry. Kafr El Sheikh city is the transport hub, about three hours from Cairo.

The Burullus Lagoon and Fuwa on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos