The Wadi El-Rayan depression has been well known to travellers between the Nile Valley and the northern oases of Egypt’s Western Desert for centuries. The lower part of the depression has been gradually covered by two lakes. In the seventies two lakes were created in the lower portion of Wadi El Rayan sub-depression to channel out excess agricultural drainage water in order to slow-down the increase of the water-table in the Fayoum main depression and in the Qaroun lake. The creation of such large body of water in this hyper-arid area had a striking ecological impact: new species of plants, mammals, birds and invertebrates moved to Wadi El Rayan area. Extensive reed beds have formed along the shoreline of WR lakes creating breeding habitat for fish and water birds.
The Wadi has been used for man-made lakes from agricultural drainage which has made a reserve of the two separate Wadi El Rayan Lakes; an upper lake and lower lake, with waterfalls between the two. The upper lake covers approximately 50.90 km2 in the Wadi El-Masakheet sub-depression. From here the water flows through a shallow swampy area and over a waterfall into the lower lake covering approximately a 62.00 km2 . Extensive reed beds have formed along the shoreline creating a breeding habitat for fish and water birds. The waterfall is one of the park’s best-known attractions, the only permanent falls in Egypt.
