Lake Bardawil

About

Lake Bardawil (Buḥayrat al-Bardawīl or Sabḵat al-Bardawīl), is a large, very saline lagoon near the protected of Zaranik (known for its diversity of insects and waterbirds) in Egypt on the north coast of the Sinai Peninsula. Lake Bardawil is about 30 kilometers (19 mi) long, and 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) wide (at its widest). It is considered to be one of the three major lakes of the Sinai Peninsula, along with the Great Bitter Lake and the Little Bitter Lake. It continues to decrease in size as sands move and is becoming more of a playa or sabkha than a lake. Between Port Said and Rafah are three main sabkha which extend from west to east: Sabkhat El Malaha (Lake Fouad), Sabkhat Bardawil (Lake Bardawil) and Sabkhat El Sheikh Zawayed. The lake is shallow, reaching a depth of about 3 meters, and is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a narrow sandbar, with the waters of the sea often finding their way inside, making it saline. It has International Ramsar Convention protected wetlands with a large population of little tern. 30% of the recorded species in the Mediterranean Coast of Sinai are in Lake Bardawil. Six threatened species of flora exist at Lake Bardawil, including Iris mariae. It has six habitats, including open water, wet salt marshes, saline sand flats and hummock (nebkas), stabilized sand dunes, interdune depressions,

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.