After reading the description of this place provided by Egypt on the official UNESCO website, I could not quite understand what is to be the subject of the proposal. The state party refers to the ancient quarries of Widan el-Faras and Umm es-Sawan, where the remains of prehistoric animals were found. However, there is little information on the Internet about these places. So I decided to see for myself.

Google Maps probably shows the wrong route to Widan el-Faras. In fact, it is impossible to get there from the north. You have to drive from the south, preferably entering the road to Soknopaiu Nesos, the ruins of an ancient, well-preserved city from the time of the Ptolemaic. A few kilometers from Soknopaiu Nesos is the entrance to Lake Qarun National Park. You have to pay 5 USD per person for entry (no discounts for children, but the guard allowed my two children for one ticket). The exit to Gebel Qatrani is about halfway between the entrance to the park and Soknopaiu Nesos. After about two kilometers we came across a building where a guard was sitting. The guard checked our tickets, wrote down our phone number and gave his. Thanks to this, he saved us from serious trouble!

A few minutes further we came across a junction. The road to the left led to Widan el-Faras, to the right to the Petrified Forest. We chose the latter and almost arrived when we got stuck in the sand (we traveled in an ordinary sedan). Pushing and digging out did not help, we had to call the guard, who came in an off-road Toyota and pulled us out of the sand. Then we travelled in the guard's car.

We reached the Petrified Forest, a completely unusual place in the desert. There are hundreds of fossilized tree trunks from 37 million years ago! And among the trees you can find the remains of petrified animals, including whales, crocodiles, turtles and Arsinoitherium – a prehistoric rhino with a twin horn. The place is very reminiscent of Wadi Al-Hitan, except that it focuses mainly on terrestrial and water-land animals. It is easy to understand – the place is located on a much higher altitude than Wadi Al-Hitan and while eons ago in Wadi Al-Hitan there was a sea, here a tropical forest grew. The educational path is quite long, although not as long as in Wadi al-Hitan and can be walked in less than an hour.

The guard took us also to Widan el-Faras, but there is nothing interesting except beautiful desert landscapes and basalt rocks.

It seems to me that Egypt is trying to play with the inclusion of Gebel Qatrani as a separate entry. For me it is evident that it deserves an entry on the list, but as an extension of Wadi Al-Hitan, not a separate inscription.

By the way – let's wait for the official maps, but it seems that the road from Cairo to Wadi Al-Hitan through the southern part of Lake Qarun will not be included in the entry. Lake Qarun National Park is located on the north side of the lake and only this place should be treated as the core zone.