Known in Arabic as Wadi Al-Hitan (وادي الحيتان), the Valley of the Whales is a national parks in Egypt that contains riches simply lying in the sand. But the riches themselves have nothing to do with ancient Egyptian civilization. These riches are much older than the first humans. The Valley of the Whales is a window into country’s paleontological and geological past, 37 million years to be precise. Huge boulders adorned with intricate wormholes sit peacefully on the sand. As I walked around them, I was told that they’re thought to be ancient mangrove roots. They lie along the footprint of an estuary that existed there somewhere between 37-40 million years ago. A pebble-lined walking path took us to the spots where the ancient whale skeletons were found. And to our surprise, the remains of the whales were still there. The skeletons have been exhumed, but left in place for preservation purposes (the desert is the best environment for that). These aren't just ordinary whales. They have legs, feet and toes. I'm not joking. They come from the species known as basilosaurids and they represent a "...transition from living only in shallow coastal waters to being ocean-going animals, able to spread worldwide." (World Heritage Nomination - Egypt - ID N° 1186, May 2005 - https://whc.unesco.org/document/151981)
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