Rain water - Wadi Abdel Maleek - Gilf Kebir

[sherifsalem]

Latest rain water in wadi Abdel maleek in the Gilf, green wadi should follow...


GILF EL KEBIR - YouTube

Che

[Chris Scott]

Nice vid. Where is that pass you go down at 2.30 just before the Cave?
Looks fun!

Ch

[CaBRita]

Very good!

Any chance to get the gps tracks/ waypoints...?

BR,
Luís Cabrita

[sherifsalem]

Hi Chris,

The first passage is Karma Pass end of wadi Tahl, used to exit from wadi abdel maleek towards Libyan border (smugglers piste), the second is on the eastern gilf plateau and this passage is to descend to wadi Hamra almost at the end of the wadi.

cheers,

Che

[Chris Scott]

Thanks. Never heard of Karma Pass but looks fantastic.
Location and more of someone's pix here.

[andrasz]

I guess the reason is that there are no formally established names in the region except for the few that appear on the 1:500k 1942 Survey of Egypt Uweinat sheet. There is also a rather bad habit of each Egyptian operator giving their own names to even known and generally accepted places, adding to the confusion. One of the firm principles of geographical names is that (1) we don't name something after a person/discoverer until they are comfortably dead, and (2) that a first given name always has precedence (provided it conforms to (1)).

The first pass seen on the video is correctly identified on GE, it had been in use for quite some time by several people. If I'm correct, the route was pioneered by Giancarlo Negro some 20 years ago. It leads to/from the middle section of Wadi Abd el Melik (NOT into Wadi Talh, that is much farther North). It may be tackled going up too with some skill (or at least used to be possible before the sand was disturbed by descendng vehicles). The correct terminology would be "Camel Pass dune" (see reasoning below).

The second pass into/out of Wadi Hamra was first used by Rudolph Kuper and the HBI team about ten years ago.

Re terminology of these wadis, I have some lingering doubts about the names and locations. Almásy was given these names by an old Tibou in Kufra in 1933, later confirmed by Abd el Melik himself, a Senoussi refugee whom Almásy met in the Fayum in 1936. The names given were 'three green wadis from East to West'. Abd el Melik clearly described the Eastern branch of what is now known as Wadi Abd el Melik as 'his' wadi.

Almásy very much wanted to find the third wadi, and when he found some trees in a small lateral wadi of WAM much further north, he quickly proclaimed it to be Wadi Talh, that merges into WAM at around N24*14'. However if one reads Almásy's original description, the name Wadi Talh could equally apply to the Western branch of what is now called WAM, this latter name possibly reserved in the past for only the eastern branch. As vegetation starts above the confluence of the two branches, this is more plausible than having a relatively insignificant lateral wadi carry this name.

By process of elimination the first dune pass must be the same as the camel pass decribed by Almásy at the foot of which the famous cow was found in 1933. This is the only dune in the area that reaches up to the top of the plateau. The camel pass leads up in the ravine to the E of the dune, not on the dune itself. A. and companions started out from here of their first (failed) attempt to reach Wadi Talh. The second, successful attempt was made by climbing the cliffs of the Gilf further North.

[Richard Washington]

Nice video.
Do you have the GPS points for the standing water please? And also the dates. I'm interested in the storm that made the rain. Mamy thanks.

[sherifsalem]

Thanx Andrasz for the clarification, it is good to know!!! agree with the question of names (i.e Lama Monod Pass) both are long dead and havent heard another name for that passage.

The standing water was detect on the 21-10-2012.

Che

[Richard Washington]

Thaks Che,
Richard