Gabal Elba ( ar, جَبَل علْبَة ' , ), or Elba Mountain, is a peak and, in general, includes the associated mountainous area in the

Halaib Triangle The Halaib Triangle ( ar, مُثَلَّث حَلَايِب, Muthallath Ḥalāyib; Egyptian and Sudanese ' ), is an area of land measuring located on the Northeast African coast of the Red Sea. The area, which takes its name from the town o ...

Northeast Africa Northeast Africa, or ''Northeastern Africa'' or Northern East Africa as it was known in the past, is a geographic regional term used to refer to the countries of Africa situated in and around the Red Sea. The region is intermediate between North ...

. Despite being claimed by both

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 Medit ...

and Sudan, the area is currently under Egyptian control.

Geography

The higher peaks in the area are Gabal Elba itself (), Gabal Shellal (), Gabal Shendib () and Gabal Shendodai (). Average annual rainfall in the region is less than , but

orographic precipitation Orography is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography (also known as ''oreography'', ''orology'' or ''oreology'') falls within the broader discip ...

in and around Gabal Elba itself amounts to as much as . in the upper areas. This phenomenon owes to the vicinity of the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

coast (some east of the mountains) and also to the fact that the coast, slightly curved to the east at this point, presents an unusually broad front to the sea across a strip of relatively flat land, which facilitates interception of moisture-laden north-east sea winds. This phenomenon is registered at its best in the northeast of the region, where Gabal Elba is located, which explains the fact that Gabal Elba receives higher precipitation than other coastal mountains in the range, including higher ones. Aridity gradually increases to the southwest of the area.

Ecology

Gabal Elba's summit is a "mist oasis" where much of the precipitation is contributed in the form of dew, mist and clouds, creating a unique ecosystem not found anywhere else in the country. Indeed, Gabal Elba is a "biodiversity hotspot", with a biological diversity unparalleled in any terrestrial environment in Egypt proper. The relative abundance of moisture supports a diverse flora of some 458 plant species – almost 25% of plant species recorded for the entire country. Many Afrotropical elements have their northern limits at Gabal Elba, and the dense cover of

acacias ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus nam ...

and other scrubs represents the only natural woodland in Egypt. There is at least one

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

species of plant ('' Biscutella elbensis'').

National park

The Gabal Elba National Park (), declared by Egyptian Prime Minister

Ahmed Nazif Ahmed Nazif ( ar, أحمد نظيف, ; born 8 July 1952) served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 14 July 2004 to 29 January 2011, when his cabinet was dismissed by President Hosni Mubarak in light of a popular uprising that led to the Egyptian ...

in 1986, covers some , including most of the disputed

(except its westernmost corner), and an area of comparable size just north of it. It is also known to potentially hold the last population of the

Nubian wild ass The Nubian wild ass (''Equus africanus africanus'') is the nominate subspecies of African wild ass, and one of the ancestors of the domestic donkey, which was domesticated about 6,000 years ago. It is presumed to be extinct, though two population ...

. However, the purity of these animals is questionable. On December 16, 2014 an adult male leopard was killed by a group of shepherds after it attacked their camel in Wadi Shalal, within in the region of Halaib in the extreme southeast of Egypt. This was the first sighting of a leopard in Egypt since the 1950s.

References

External links

*
Ministry of Environment Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency - Natural Protectorates Description
{{authority control National parks of Egypt

Elba Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano Nationa ...

Territorial disputes of Egypt Territorial disputes of Sudan Red Sea (state) Red Sea coastal desert Red Sea Governorate 1986 establishments in Egypt Protected areas established in 1986 Nature conservation in Egypt