Wadi al-Hitan and the Faiyum

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Wadi Al Hitan, Whale Valley (2005). Skeletons Of Forty Million Year Old Whales With Legs Lie Where They Were Buried In A Desert That Was Once The Tethys Sea, Inside A Protected Area That Also Holds Lake Qarun, The Wadi Rayan Falls And The Pottery Village Of Tunis · Faiyum, Faiyum

Forty million years ago the Faiyum was the floor of the Tethys sea, and when whales still had legs they died here and sank into the mud. Wadi al-Hitan - Whale Valley - is where those skeletons now lie exposed in the desert, dozens of them, articulated and in situ, with a walking trail between them and an open-air museum at the end; UNESCO inscribed it in 2005 as the best place on earth to see the evolutionary step from land mammal back to sea mammal. It sits inside the Wadi Rayan protected area about three hours from Cairo, and the rest of the Faiyum comes with it: Lake Qarun, which is a salt lake and a migratory bird site, the small waterfalls where agricultural drainage spills between the Rayan lakes, the pottery village of Tunis on the escarpment above, and the ruins of Karanis in the sand. It is the easiest desert day from Cairo and the one most visitors have never heard of. Bring your own water: there is none on the trail.

Whale Valley inside the Wadi Rayan protected area, about 150 km south-west of Cairo past Lake Qarun, Faiyum, Faiyum, Egypt

Wadi al-Hitan is open daily in daylight with a gate fee, and the drive in from the main road is a desert track that an ordinary car can manage in dry weather - ask at the gate, because it varies. The site museum and the trail are self-guided with information boards. The Wadi Rayan waterfalls depend on drainage flow and are sometimes a trickle rather than a fall; confirm before making them the point of the trip. Lake Qarun's shore road is open at all times and the bird watching is best at first light. Tunis village's potteries work a normal day and close for lunch. Nothing here is a timed-entry site. There is no public transport worth using: this is a hired car or a tour from Cairo, three hours each way, or a night in a Tunis guesthouse to split it.

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