Wadi Hitan, Whale History

The Valley of the Whales.

A few years ago a discovery was made that didn’t get a lot of press, but nonetheless has given us a vast amount of information about our own history. In a valley in Egypt, a valley that ages ago was an ocean, the whales of the world transformed here. Called Whale valley it was once entirely underwater. Once a vast ocean, Wadi Hatan is a vast pathway of stone that houses fossils of creatures long gone and shows us how they transformed into sea creatures from creatures that were once both land and sea creatures.

While most people have never heard of whale valley it lies less than a hundred miles from the pyramids at Giza. If you visit, you can find a place where whales protrude from the ground and show you thousands of years of their evolution. Heiroglyphics show ancient sea monsters and scientists believe that the whales which were once part of the landscape–and seascape here, are the basis for the legends and folk tales about sea monsters. The seas receded, the sands moved in and the entire area became a vast desert but not all traces of the whales and their transformation from land creatures to sea creatures was taken away and today, visitors can walk the stone pathway and see the whales of yesteryear.

Interested in learning more about Wadi Hitan? The UNESCO Heritage site can be found here. . .Wadi Al-Hitan-Whale Valley