"I open my eyes to endless blue, to an unfathomable breeze indulging my soul and quirking little waves tickling my toes." Mohamed El-Hebeishy closed his eyes and dreamt how it would feel waking up in the morning in an island-house, in the middle of a lake. To your surprise, the two island-houses, located to the south of Lake Burullus, are not really made for resident locations but rather a fish market. Big boats coming from the deep water of the 460 square kilometre lake unload their catch for merchants to pick, bargain and buy. Later, the sold catch is loaded on much smaller boats that can navigate the shallow waters surrounding Shakhlubah Village. Ranked after Manzallah, Lake Burullus is the second biggest natural brackish water lake in Egypt. Located in Kafr El-Sheikh governorate, Lake Burullus is situated midway between Damietta and Rosetta Nile branches. Fresh water coming from the Nile-Rosetta branch as well as drainage water from seven main drains feed the lake with a continuous flow of non-saline water. Moving northward the water starts gaining salinity, mixing with the saline Mediterranean water incoming from Boghaz Al-Burullus, the lake's only outlet to the open sea. In such an environment, the lake's salinity differs remarkably from fresh water in the southern parts to saline in the northern parts. Such biodiversity has resulted in a consequent diversification in the associated flora and fauna. Declared a natural protectorate according to decree 1444/1998, Lake Burullus offers a natural refuge for wetland breeding birds as well as migratory ones; from the fairly common Spur-Winged Plover to Egypt's endemic Senegal Coucal. Lake Burullus is by all means heaven for birds and a gold mine for bird watchers.