A watercourse, consisting of a 9-kilometers open channel and an 8-kilometers tunnel, was cut through the desert from the western side of the Fayoum de
A watercourse, consisting of a 9-kilometers open channel and an 8-kilometers tunnel, was cut through the desert from the western side of the Fayoum depression to the large, dry depression of Wadi El Rayan. Drainage water now flows to Wadi El Rayan, where the two large lakes are formed. These two lakes will eventually have a combined surface area of 30, 000 Fidans. Wadi El Rayan is now well known for its waterfalls, some of the very few in Egypt, that occur due to the northern lake being higher than the southern one. Hence, the reed-clad channel linking the two lakes ends in a row of falls that are a couple of meters high. Unfortunately, if one wishes to see the falls, one must hurry, because they are shrinking as the level of the lower lake continues to rise. It will continue to rise until the expanding surface area allows a rate of evaporation equal to the amount of water flowing into it. The northern lake, because it has an outlet into the southern lake, is only slightly brackish, but the water of the southern lake, with no outlet but evaporation, has already reached a level of salinity approaching that of Lake Qarun Taken @Cairo, Egypt
Size: 4026px × 6026px
Photo credit: © Tjetjep Rustandi / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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