Egypt geography
Egypt is located in a tropical climate characteristic for desert areas. Only in the north is there a Mediterranean climate, characterized by dry, hot summer (May-October) and warm, mild winter (November-April). January is the coldest, when the temperature ranges from 9 to 19 ° C and it rains rare in Egypt.
The farther south, this makes the climate drier. Many years happen here, rainless summers and there are large fluctuations in temperature between day and night, even up to 25 ° C. It's hot in the summer, in spring it blows dry, hot wind (cliamsin), carrying a lot of fine dust.
Nile Valley and Delta
The Nile is the longest river in the world: has almost 6,7 thousand. km long. The ancients thought, that it is born in the depths of the underground caverns of the first cataract, and from there it flows north in a single stream, and the other to the south. The Romans searched for the sources of the Nile, and then many European and American travelers. Eventually it was established, that the Nile is born in Uganda and Ethiopia. Today, the sources of the river that formed from the Blue and White Nile are well known: flows through Egypt, and it flows into the sea in the north of the country, creating a huge delta. Settlements postponed for centuries did, that the delta and the valley have fertile soil. The ancient Egyptians actually knew only the Nile, therefore other rivers, flowing in a different direction, they were then considered a freak of nature. Soldiers of Thotmes III, who saw the Euphrates and the Tigris flowing south, they told their compatriots with astonishment. The Nile was the most convenient route for travel and goods transport, for there were virtually no roads in Egypt, understood in the Roman way; there was nothing to build them for, because everything was flooded with water for many weeks.
From the bird's eye view, the Nile Delta is flat, green checkerboard of fields cut with channels, groves and estates, where mud-brick villages barely rise above the canals. Migratory birds gather at the northern lakes. It is a very complex ecosystem, dependent not only on nature, but also from human interference. The High Dam has caused, that the area is no longer growing: fertile silt remains in front of the dam. To, which was torn from the sea ages ago, the sea is slowly picking up, and shore erosion is becoming more and more visible every year. There are more and more salt marshes, and sea water penetrates into the delta through the channels. Freshwater lagoons, full of fish and plants, they turn into shallow sea bays and probably soon the Egyptians will have to fight the sea like the Dutch.
The nature of the Nile Valley
Od XIX w. there are no more lions in the Egyptian desert, elephants and some species of gazelles. There are no hippos in the Nile, and after the construction of the High Dam, the crocodiles also came out (they can only be found in Lake Nassera).
Sometimes it is possible to spot a hoopoe by the river and in the riverside thickets, pied kingfisher or barn swallow. On the shores, golden herons stroll for fish. Gray herons and cranes sometimes feed in the rushes. In quiet bends, a darkly feathered water moose strides over the leaves of the water hyacinth. It sneaks over the shores, taking advantage of the shelter in the reeds, bronzed cane beetle, revealing his presence by singing. Hawks and kestrels circle over the villages on the border of fields and desert, nesting in buildings. The gray kite is a predator with a daily lifestyle, feeds mainly on carrion. Darkly feathered white bird nests in rock crevices. In the north, a white-feathered canoe often circulates over crops and groves, rock swallows and sand larks fly over the archaeological sites, and desert ravens fly over the pyramids and ancient temples. It is rare to track down the falcon that equates to Horus, a ibis, worshiped as Thoth, no longer occurs on the Nile.
Date palms grow by the river, and in the south the dum palms, sykomory, fruit trees and banana trees. Od XIX w. Australian eucalyptus trees are planted in desert areas, that feel good in Egypt. Plantations of orange trees and Indian mangoes dominate along the shores, as well as date and banana groves. The fig trees are bending with the fruit, and on the bushes there are pomegranates. In the fields, except for the grain (barley, wheat, sorghum, rice, maize) sugar cane is grown, i am one (Egyptian clover), potatoes and sunflower seeds. Egyptian cotton fields stretch for miles. Vegetables grow in the gardens: lettuce, broad bean, bean, garlic and onion, and carrots, bataty, eggplants, squashes, arbuzy, pepper, cabbage and small tomatoes.
Unfortunately, there is no longer any papyrus plant in the river thickets – papirusu – and only in Wadi Natrun, its endemic salt-loving variety has been preserved.