The Whale Valley - Wadi Al-Hitan

Suggestion for this blog entry and to musically express the feelings: Kings of Convenience, “the build up”.

There is an unsuspected jewel, 3 hours away from Cairo, through the desert, by 4*4. It is said that only a mere 1000 visitors come annually, and yet, it feels more incredible to walk its 13 km trek than it felt to stand in front of the Riddler.

 

Welcome to the area of Fayyum, an oasis in the middle of the desert, South West of Cairo. The small oasis of Tunis is a colourful town, as people have been making pottery since long ago; yet one Swiss lady has changed the dynamics of the tradition in the 1980’s. As her and her husband retired, they settled in Tunis and she started sharing her passion – Pottery decorating. Thanks to her generosity and teaching, the pottery of Tunis are well known across the country and a colourful representation of the fauna and flora in its patterns.

 

On this adventure, Ahmed and Mikle are behind the wheel. Ahmed is a pious Muslim man who carries the trace of praying on his forehead, he understands more English than you think but keeps his eyes on the road and does not answer his phone whilst driving (which makes him exceptional). Ahmed will exchange a few words with Mikle, your Christian guide, a friendly man with a fantastic knowledge of the area and specialises in desert touring.

As spring has sprung, Eol is blowing some of its power and Ra hasn’t fully deployed his rays – the conditions are perfect. The way to the Whale Valley is punctuated by ruins, such as this Roman town, which used to be a prison. In this sterile horizontal setting, where broken amphorae, sand and stones are all around, the ruins of walls (uncovered after being buried and protected by the sand), so fragile under the touch of your fingers, break the landscape vertically.  

(The last stop will be the climax of the song, a similar feeling to when the singer Feist starts singing at 2.02)

This is how it feels when you reach the Whale Valley, Wadi Al-Hitan. It is one of those places whose existence is unknown to you, yet it will touch you in a way your “dream” destination hasn’t.

It is one of those places unfairly advertised, or even unknown to most people – this is when blogging becomes a mean to an end. As mentioned earlier, the numbers are astounding, as an average of only 1000 people visit the site every year, yet anybody would enjoy this experience, except the creationists, they would definitely not approve!.

 

In 2004, Mubarak officially opened this paleontological museum. The fossils date back from 37 to 42 millions years ago, and gather several fossils, most of them from whales. It validates the theory that whale as an ocean going mammal, once a land based animal. The bones and fossils were collected from all across the desert and finally assembled again in this area, now protected by the UNESCO. The Valley is 13 km long but you will not be walking the whole way today, just the first few kilometres with us. 

Along the path, you will see fossilised mangroves,

as well as fascinating rock formations, sculpted by either the water as it retreated when the floor you are stepping on was an ocean, or by the wind which is now slightly caressing your face. The variety of colours of the rock will also come to play, showing all the different layers of sediments laid by Chronos across the millions of years.

As you walk around, the possibilities of feelings are endless; the most anticipated one should be awe, at how small we are and how insignificant our passage on this Earth is. Some will reflect on how the grains of sand all around embody each and every one of us, who have ever lived and the immensity of our history. 

I saw our lives printed on the sand, through the tyres tracks; each going in a different direction, crossing each other path recklessly and several times until a point where they would never meet again. I walked around touched by the ephemeral nature of our lives, by the immensity of nature and the changes it has undergone.

Yet my main focus all along was how much I have missed this place, its tranquillity, beauty, history without even knowing it and more than anything, how much I would have like to share this experience with my dearest Julien. 

There aren’t many places that can silence for the space of a few seconds the cacophony of the troubles we all carry daily, but Wadi Al-Hitan did it for a precious while.