Motivated by Wojciechs review and combined with a visit to Abu Mena to complete Egypt, I went back to the Fayoum and Lake Qaroun. I only then realized that I during my first visit I was never in the proposed core zone. The Qaroun Reserve covers only the northern part of the lake. I entered the reserve from the western entrance, after my revisit to Wadi Hitan. The police was highly concerned about me driving around Fayoum the whole day and called me several times. They finally met me before Qaroun and escorted me to and inside the reserve. It was already afternoon and nobody was there at the checkpoint. Thus I never paid any entrance fee. The road is mostly fine and only from time to time covered by sand. I stopped several times, trying to get to rock formations marked on google maps as attractions. Unfortunately there are no side roads to these places, so I only saw formations close to the main road. The only place with an unpaved, but somehow drivable access was Nesos, part of another THWS.

A few kilometers before entering the regional ring road to Cairo, I found the entrance to the Gebel Qatrani Area. This is probably the heart of the site. The road is unpaved and therefore not marked on google maps.

I read about Wojciech gotten stuck in the sand while trying to reach the petrified forest. So naturally I took exactly the same route, but without anyone knowing I was there. Luckily I made it without getting stuck (trick is to pass the deep sand parts full speed), but I would recommend everyone with less need for adrenaline to go with a 4x4 or a guide. The forest feels like an openair museum, as there are many smaller fossils in closed displays. But there are also parts of crocodiles other animals who used to live in this rain forest. It’s rather unlucky, that this place is so close to the whale valley as it is same same, but different and totally deserves a place on the list. I did not see a single human being from the moment I entered the area until I was back on the main street. This was both awesome and scary. Decide for yourself how you want to visit.