Egypt
- Largest Whale Skeleton Found At Siwa Oasis
Al Masry Al Youm With photos. It looks as though these remains date to the same period (and were therefore probably part of the same coastline) as the Faiyum remains of whale, shark and mangrove in the Wadi el-Hitan (Valley of Whales). The Environment...
- Whale Fossil Stuck In Egypt Customs Wrangle
BBC News With photos Its name in Arabic is Wadi Hitan but it is known as the Valley of the Whales. For years archaeologists have been unearthing a remarkable collection of whale fossils, all the more surprising because the area is now inland desert in...
- Valley Of The Whales - Wadi Al Hitan
Al Ahram Weekly (Mahmoud Bakr) In an event organised by the Ministry of Environment, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak inaugurated the Valley of the Whales Protected Area in Fayoum. The valley is part of the Wadi Al-Rayan Protected Area, 150km southeast of Cairo and...
- Wadi El Hitan
The Encyclopedia of Earth Wadi Al-Hitan (29° 15’ 13'' to 29° 23’ 56''N by 30° 00’ 41'' to 30° 10’ 06 E) is a World Heritage Site in the Western Desert 150 kilometers (km) southwest of Cairo and 80 km west of Faiyum...
- Wadi El-hitan
http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2006/01jan/whale_valley.cfmAn article about the Eocene 406 whale fossils preserved in the Faiyum Depression at Wadi Hitan (Whale Valley), an area recently designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO: "The great expanse was...
Egypt
Damage to whale fossils
Yahoo
European diplomats in four-wheel drive cars have caused millions of dollars worth of damage to a fossilised whale lying for millions of years in the Egyptian desert, a security source said on Sunday. "Whale Valley officials have informed the authorities that people from two diplomatic corps vehicles destroyed the fossil," the source told AFP after the destruction was discovered around 150 kilometres (95 miles) south of Cairo.
Two cars drove into the protected area on Friday and then refused to stop when asked to do so by wardens who nevertheless got the vehicles' registration numbers which the source said were from "a European country."
"The damage is more than 10 million dollars," the source said. The site, known as Wadi Hitan (Whale Valley), was home to whales around 40 million years ago when the area was ocean. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to hundreds of of whale fossils.
There is a photograph of one of the whale skeletons on the above page.
At the symposium about northeast African archaeology in Poland in July, the subject of "adventure tourism" and the damage caused by irresponsible tourists to some of these important and beautiful areas which are not on the usual tourist routes was discussed frequently. Visitors who take souvenirs break up archaeolgical sites, removing the raw data from which entire communities and lifestyles can be resurrected on paper. Everyone welcomes responsible tourism, where visitors with a genuine interest are supervised by qualified personnel, but the question is how to filter out the idiots from the genuine articles. One of the suggestions was that fixed routes could be established through the desert areas, from which cars would not be permitted to deviate, and that only recognized guides should be allowed to accompany vistitors who would be limited fixed numbers. But it is difficult to see how or when this could or would be implemented. Very sad indeed.
- Largest Whale Skeleton Found At Siwa Oasis
Al Masry Al Youm With photos. It looks as though these remains date to the same period (and were therefore probably part of the same coastline) as the Faiyum remains of whale, shark and mangrove in the Wadi el-Hitan (Valley of Whales). The Environment...
- Whale Fossil Stuck In Egypt Customs Wrangle
BBC News With photos Its name in Arabic is Wadi Hitan but it is known as the Valley of the Whales. For years archaeologists have been unearthing a remarkable collection of whale fossils, all the more surprising because the area is now inland desert in...
- Valley Of The Whales - Wadi Al Hitan
Al Ahram Weekly (Mahmoud Bakr) In an event organised by the Ministry of Environment, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak inaugurated the Valley of the Whales Protected Area in Fayoum. The valley is part of the Wadi Al-Rayan Protected Area, 150km southeast of Cairo and...
- Wadi El Hitan
The Encyclopedia of Earth Wadi Al-Hitan (29° 15’ 13'' to 29° 23’ 56''N by 30° 00’ 41'' to 30° 10’ 06 E) is a World Heritage Site in the Western Desert 150 kilometers (km) southwest of Cairo and 80 km west of Faiyum...
- Wadi El-hitan
http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2006/01jan/whale_valley.cfmAn article about the Eocene 406 whale fossils preserved in the Faiyum Depression at Wadi Hitan (Whale Valley), an area recently designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO: "The great expanse was...