Gilf Kebir National Park (GKNP) ( ar, ‏محمية الجلف الكبير) is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

located in the remote and hyper-arid

New Valley Governorate New Valley Governorate or El Wadi El Gedid Governorate ( ar, محافظة الوادي الجديد , ) is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is in the southwestern part of the country, in the south of Egypt Western Desert (Egypt), Western D ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. Established in 2007, it has a surface area of 48533 km², equal to about 5% of Egypt's territory. GKNP is delimited to the west by

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

and to the south by

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. At present there are no human settlements or facilities inside the GKNP.

Ecosystems and cultural values

The park consists of three different ecosystems: the southern ranges of the

Great Sand Sea The Great Sand Sea is an approximately sand desert (erg) in the Sahara between western Egypt and eastern Libya in North Africa. Some 74% of the area is covered by sand dunes. Geography The Great Sand Sea stretches about from north to south an ...

including the Silica glass area, the proper

Gilf Kebir Gilf Kebir () (var. Gilf al-Kebir, Jilf al Kabir, Gilf Kebir Plateau) is a plateau in the New Valley Governorate of the remote southwest corner of Egypt, and southeast Libya. Its name translates as "the Great Barrier". This sandstone plateau, ro ...

plateau and the Egyptian portion of the Gabal El Uweinat massif. The Great Sand Sea is a large complex of sand dunes extending from the

Siwa oasis The Siwa Oasis ( ar, واحة سيوة, ''Wāḥat Sīwah,'' ) is an urban oasis in Egypt; between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert (Egypt), Western Desert, 50 km (30 mi) east of the Libyan Egypt–Li ...

in the north to the Gilf Kebir in the south. Its south western part is covered by the Silica Glass area, which is scattered with fragments of pure glass, formed about 30 million years ago due to the explosion of a meteorite or comet. The Gilf Kebir is a plateau, furrowed by immense north trending wadis. The area was settled by a population already at the beginning of the Neolithic area some 9000 years ago during the

African humid period The African humid period (AHP) (also known by other names) is a climate period in Africa during the late Pleistocene and Holocene geologic epochs, when northern Africa was wetter than today. The covering of much of the Sahara desert by grasses, ...

, leaving splendid rock paintings and engravings of uncertain age in the wadi Hamra and in the caves of

Beasts Beast most often refers to: * Non-human animal * Monster Beast or Beasts may also refer to: Bible * the Beast (Revelation), Beast (Revelation), two beasts described in the Book of Revelation Computing and gaming * Beast (card game), English n ...

Swimmers Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

Archers Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...

and

Magharet el Kantara Magharet el Kantara or Shaw's Cave ( ar, مغارة القنطرة, ''arched cave'') is a rock art shelter of the Gilf Kebir National Park in the New Valley Governorate, Egypt. Located on the south-western slopes of Gilf Kebir, it was discovered ...

on its southern foothills. The Gebel Uweinat, situated about 150 km south of the Gilf Kebir and most of which lies in Sudanese and Libyan territories, is another massif important for its abundant rock art. The presence of humans in the 20th century CE is evidenced by the remains of the

Long Range Desert Group )Gross, O'Carroll and Chiarvetto 2009, p.20 , patron = , motto = ''Non Vi Sed Arte'' (Latin: ''Not by Strength, but by Guile'') (unofficial) , colours = , colours_label ...

WWII-camps such as trucks and an airfield at the ''Eight Bells'' spot.

Flora and fauna

The GKNP contains important desert-adapted flora (trees:

Acacia raddiana ''Vachellia tortilis'', widely known as ''Acacia tortilis'' but now attributed to the genus ''Vachellia'', is the umbrella thorn acacia, also known as ''umbrella thorn'' and Israeli babool, a medium to large canopied tree native to most of Afri ...

, shrubs:

Zilla spinosa ''Zilla'' is a genus of plants in the family Brassicaceae, that grows in the Sahara-Arabian extreme deserts, in Northern Africa and the Middle East. Species Species include the following, and possibly others: * ''Zilla macroptera Zilla may r ...

, Fagonia thebaica) and fauna (

Barbary Sheep The Barbary sheep (''Ammotragus lervia''), also known as aoudad (pronounced �ɑʊdæd is a species of caprine native to rocky mountains in North Africa. While this is the only species in genus ''Ammotragus'', six subspecies have been describ ...

).A report on the expedition to the Gilf Kebir national Park
Retrieved 2020/04/20.

Gallery

File:GilfKebir1.jpg, View from the Gilf Kebir ridge to the south into wadi Sura File:Yardangs in Gilf Kebir National Park.jpg,

Yardangs A yardang is a streamlined protuberance carved from bedrock or any consolidated or semiconsolidated material by the dual action of wind abrasion by dust and sand and deflation (the removal of loose material by wind turbulence.) Yardangs become ...

near the Eight Bells WWII air field File:WadiHamra1.jpg, Wadi Hamra

Ecosystems and cultural values

Flora and fauna

Gallery

References

Further reading