Dena Rashed finds a unique Cairene refuge -- in need of urgent attention Thirty minutes from the neighbourhood of Maadi, Wadi Degla offers all the wonders of Egypt's Eastern Desert -- of which it constitutes an actual part. Indeed the prominence it has gained in the last three years is not only due to its unique status as a relatively recent protectorate but, equally, to obstacles in the way of preserving it. The wadi (the word refers to a dry, mountain-flanked gulley or valley) is almost 50 million years old; it was once a sea resulting from the mixing of flood waters with naturally occurring salts. The area, which covers 30km from east to west, is a desert lover's museum. Familiar for decades to Maadi residents, especially foreigners, for most Cairenes it is a relatively recent discovery. "The ideal place to go in flight of pollution and noise," as mobile communication system analyst Ahmed Yehia, a member of the Sahara Safari Group (SSG), describes it, "close enough to make a comfortable one-day excursion and perfect for hiking, biking or a simple Friday morning picnic." Sadly, though, Wadi Degla is largely undervalued: "It is a protectorate, but it does not receive the attention it deserves." A rubbish dump to the west, he adds, places the area in severe environmental peril: "Since the wind in Egypt blows from the northeast, plastic bags have been accumulating, choking plants and turning other parts of the wadi into dumps." And this is the case despite the best efforts of the Ministry of Environment and other local and international organisations. Last April a CARE International cleanup campaign attracted American School in Cairo students who were already on a field trip to Wadi Degla, a group of students from an all-female public school in Fayoum as well as SSG members and foreign residents of Cairo. Using garbage bags and gloves, the team had managed to clear one entire section of the wadi. "This kind of event aims not just at protecting the environment but, more importantly, raising public awareness of it," according to Louis Alexander, assistant country director of CARE Egypt. "We call them challenge events." By involving the community, he elaborated, protectorates like Wadi Degla become the responsibility of people who live in their vicinity, especially the young; it gives them a good cause to contribute to. Besides, it is always important to demonstrate that cleanups are not the work of garbage collectors, they are for people who want to clean up their environment no matter what their position in society. "The ultimate aim is to make a genuine difference." For some, the plants in the wadi may not be as beautiful as roses, Alexander says, but they are so rare and unique, they deserve much credit in their own right, especially when they blossom in the winter. For Yehia who participated in another cleanup last year, the groups just do their best -- a wasted effort, he notes with disappointment. "After each of the few cleanups in which we participated, we would find the place, once again, littered with plastic bags from the dump waste. But it's our conviction that a cleanup will in itself promote the place. But not until the dump waste is closed will the protectorate remain clean for any length of time." Hope hangs on the Protectorates Unit of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), and according to Wahid Salama, a representative, "the dump waste, which had been set up by an association for garbage collectors, was closed down two weeks ago. We are also planning to build a fence," he added. "That way we believe we can protect the area against hazardous waste." The urge to protect the wadi reflects not only its status as an excellent outdoor spot but equally its importance from a natural history point of view. As well as geological formations dating back to the Eocene Age, the time when mammals first roamed the surface of the earth, 38 to 55 million years ago -- angel shark fossils provide ample evidence of that fact -- it boasts plants of rare medicinal value and animals that make it a miniature model of the Eastern Desert. The wadi is believed to host 22 bird, 21 reptile and 30 animal species, including the Dorcas gazelle, the red fox and the endangered Egyptian tortoise. The cliffs boast caves and grottoes, as well. The principal problem remains the promotion of the area, though some believe its geographical location stands in the way of any such promotion. "Being at the very edge [of the Eastern Desert]," as geographical information systems consultant Mohamed Mabrouk, the founder of SSG, points out, "if Wadi Degla receives attention, every other protectorate will too." Unlike Ras Mohamed, for example, it generates little income; its boundaries and small size do not facilitate development. In Ras Mohamed, Mabrouk adds, "nothing was allowed to interfere with nature; it was designed right, so eventually it was managed in the same way." In Wadi Degla, by contrast, "the wild animals in the protectorate are bordered by a highway at the edge of the cliff, by quarries to the south and a road to the east"; it is too small to become a wild animal habitat. Only a good management plan could boost the status of Wadi Degla. Yehia agrees that the area requires advertising: "What we can do is to keep cleaning it up and preserving it, but the EEAA has to do the rest, introducing a good marketing campaign to generate resources." While an information centre is scheduled to open in September, the EEAA plans on giving it an educational angle. "We are hoping to attract people to the wadi," Salama announces, "and, by extension, to the awareness of protectorates in general." But such work, he added, can only be accomplished in collaboration with NGOs like the ones the EEAA is now working with in Maadi.
