White Desert National Park
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Sahara el Beyda, the White Desert Protected Area, is a
national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
in
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, first established as a protected area in 2002. It is located in the Farafra depression, north of the town of Qasr Al Farafra. Part of the park is in the Farafra Oasis (
New Valley Governorate New Valley (or El Wadi El Gedid ( , )) is a governorate of Egypt. It is in the southwestern part of the country, in the south of Egypt Western Desert (part of the Sahara Desert), between the Nile, northern Sudan, and southeastern Libya. Comp ...
). The park is the site of large white
chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...
rock formations, created through erosion by wind and sand. It is also the site of cliffs (at the northern end of the Farafra Depression), sand dunes (part of the
Great Sand Sea The Great Sand Sea is an approximately sand desert (erg) in the Sahara that stretches from western Egypt to eastern Libya, in North Africa. Most of the area is covered by sand dunes. Geography The Great Sand Sea stretches about from north to ...
), as well as Wadi Hennis and oases at Ain El Maqfi and Ain El Wadi. White Desert National Park covers an area of . The highest point in the park is at El Qess Abu Said at above sea level, and the lowest is at Wadi Hennis at . The park serves as the refuge for various animals, including the endangered
rhim gazelle The rhim gazelle or rhim (from Arabic غزال الريم) (''Gazella leptoceros''), also known as the slender-horned gazelle, African sand gazelle or Loder's gazelle, is a pale-coated gazelle with long slender horns and well adapted to desert l ...
and the vulnerable
dorcas gazelle The dorcas gazelle (''Gazella dorcas''), also known as the ariel gazelle, is a small and common gazelle. The dorcas gazelle stands about at the shoulder, with a head and body length of and a weight of . The numerous subspecies survive on veget ...
, as well as
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 and parts of West Africa. While this is the only species in genus ''Ammotragus'', six sub ...
;
jackal Jackals are Canidae, canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe Canina (subtribe), canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-b ...
s; Rüppell's,
red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...
and fennec foxes; and the
sand cat The sand cat (''Felis margarita'') is a small wild cat that inhabits sandy and stony deserts far from water sources. With its sandy to light grey fur, it is well camouflaged in a desert environment. Its head-and-body length ranges from with a ...
.


In popular culture

* In the Gathering Storm expansion pack released in 2019 for the turn-based strategy game
Civilization VI ''Sid Meier's Civilization VI'' is a 2016 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K (company), 2K. The mobile and Nintendo Switch ports were published by Aspyr Media. It is the sequel to ''Civilization V'' ...
, the Sahara el Beyda is featured as one of the Natural Wonders. * Parts of the video for the song “Suraj Hua Madhyam” from the Bollywood film “Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam” were shot here.


Gallery

File:Kalksteinfelsen-limestonerock.jpg File:White Desert, Egypt.jpg File:White Desert, Rock formations in desert landscape 2, Egypt.jpg File:White Desert, Rock formations in desert landscape, Egypt.jpg File:Al Farafrah, New Valley Governorate, Egypt - panoramio (14).jpg


References


External links


Ministry of Environment Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency - Natural Protectorates Description
National parks of Egypt Protected areas established in 2002 IUCN Category II 2002 establishments in Egypt {{Africa-protected-area-stub