Daily Photo - Wadi Abd el Malek

It will come as no great surprise to regular visitors to the blog to find yet more photos of the Gilf Kebir haunting these pages, but the Wadi Abd el Malek is of particular interest for a number of reasons. Wadi Abd el Malek is a long wadi which penetrates the northern edges of the Gilf, its sands blending with those of the Great Sand Sea. It is one of the greenest of the wadis that lace the edges of the Gilf plateau, with ground cover plants and Acacia showing the most remarkable will to survive in this immensely arid area. The wadi is one of three which were, jointly, suggested to form the lost oasis of Zerzura.

Zerzura was a fabled city of riches in the desert. It was first mentioned in print by an anonymous Thirteenth Century Arab author in The Book of Hidden Pearls, and was mentioned again in 1835 by Sir John Gardiner-Wilkinson who claimed to have visited it. It became one of the targets of exploration by the informal 1930s Zerzura Club of which Bagnold, Clayton, Clayton-East-Clayton, Wingate, Penderel, Almasy and others were all members. The exploration of the Western Desert and the search for Zerzura are all tied up in the later work of the Long Range Desert Group and Almasy's attempts to use the Western Desert as a route between Italian held Libya and Egypt, from where the British and her allies were operating. The British members of the Zerzura Club, including Bagnold, Clayton, Wingate, and Penderel, all found themselves on the opposite side to the Hungarian Almasy who now advised Rommel in north Africa. It is a fascinating period of modern history, all taking place in the unforgiving desert environment west of the Nile.

Because of the vegetation, Wadi Abd el Malek is one of the few that supports animal life - lizards, snakes, scorpions, desert gerbils and fenec foxes, amongst others. If you like deserts, this a fabulous place.

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