 The two southernmost rocks of the Eight Bells | ||
| Eight Bells · ثمانية أجراس | ||
| Governorate | New valley | |
|---|---|---|
| height | 754 m | |
no tourist info on Wikidata:  | ||
| location | ||
| ||
Eight Bells (German: Eight bells, Arabic:ثمانية أجراس, Thamānīyat Aǧrās) denotes a chain of eight conical hills on the southeastern foothills of the Gilf Kebir Plateaus. The southeast of this chain was created by the British during World War II Long Range Desert Group an airfield created and operated.
background
Eight conical red sandstone hills rise from northwest to southeast over a distance of approx. 7.5 kilometers. They are almost exactly in line and are continued in the northwest by other crater-shaped formations. The hills are around 400 million years old.
The sandstone hills do not contain any inclusions of basalt or granite, so that they could not have been formed directly as a result of a magma leak. The geologist Norbert Bruges nevertheless sees magmatic processes as the cause that led to the elevation of the hills. This means that these rocks have a history of origin comparable to that of the so-called. Clayton crater on the way to Gebel el-ʿUweināt.
This range of hills is part of the extensive flat wadi of the same name.
This and the protection provided by the Gil Kebir Plateau were probably also the reason that the Long Range Desert Group (German Long distance desert group) had an airfield built here for their reconnaissance planes during the Second World War. This special unit of the British Army was deployed in the Libyan Desert from 1940 to 1943 to investigate hostile activities as part of the German-Italian campaign in Africa. The airport was one of the earliest buildings to be built, as one of the oasis of an Italian invasion of Egypt Kufra on the Gebel el-ʿUweināt calculated and wanted to prevent the supply to Kufra.
getting there
Visiting the range of hills is usually part of a desert excursion to the Gilf Kebir National Park. An all-terrain four-wheel drive vehicle is required to travel through the desert. There are local drivers and vehicles e.g. in the depressions ed-Dāchla and el-Baḥrīya.
The Wādī Eight Bells can be reached via the intermediate stations Samīr Lāmā rock and Abū Ballāṣ.
A permit from the Egyptian military is required to drive into the national park. During the trip you will be accompanied by armed police officers and a military officer. For trips to the Gilf Kebir there is a separate safari department in Mū,, which also provides the necessary police escort and their vehicles. The mandatory service is of course chargeable.
Tourist Attractions
The main attraction is the 1 Airfield(22 ° 46 '59 "N.26 ° 16 '12 "E.) themselves or, more precisely, the associated signposts. A large, narrow arrow, which shows the direction of landing, and the words "8 Bells" were formed from hundreds of disused aviation fuel cans from the Shell Company, which were filled with sand for this purpose. The former tinplate canisters got their black color through oxidation. Unfortunately, there are now tourists who cannot help but stick their names in the canisters.
The two are in the immediate vicinity of these signs southernmost hill the eight bells chain.
kitchen
The Wādī Eight Bells is ideal for a picnic. Food and drinks must be brought along. Rubbish must be taken with you and must not be left lying around.
accommodation
Tents must be brought along for overnight stays at some distance.
trips
On the way to about 40 kilometers away Monument to Prince Kamal ed-Din one arrives at 1 22 ° 39 ′ 1 ″ N.26 ° 13 '40 "E to an archaeological find area in which, among other things, blades and knives made of flint, millstones and a street egg surrounded by a modern stone circle can be found. The finds should of course remain on site. However, they show very clearly that the climate at this point around 10,000 years ago differed significantly from today's: here was a savannah landscape.
This route to the monument of Prince Kamal ed-Din is usually used for the onward journey past the Clayton craters to the Gebel el-ʿUweināt elected.
Eight Bells can also be used as a starting point for visits to various wadis in the east of the Gilf Kebir Plateaus like that Wādī el-Bacht or at the southeast tip of the plateau like the cave Maghārat el-Qanṭara use.
literature
- : The hunt for Zerzura: the lost oasis and the desert war. London: Murray, 2002, ISBN 978-0-7195-6162-7 . Also under the title “The lost oasis: the desert war and the hunt for Zerzura; the true story behind The English patient ".
- : The other desert was: British special forces in North Africa, 1940-1943. new York: Greenwood Pr., 1987, Contributions in military studies; 56, ISBN 978-0-313-25240-2 .
