Prehistoric desert art in danger
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In Egypt’s southwest corner, in one of the most-isolated reaches of the Sahara straddling the borders of Sudan and Libya, rock art preserved for millennia in the mountains of Gilf Kabir and Jebel Ouenat are being threatened by a rising tide of travelers seeking out the new frontier of Egyptian tourism.
Some 500 kilometers (330 miles) from the nearest habitation, the desert offers little sanctuary for these masterpieces and any effective protected designation first requires a deal between the three nations.
The elegant paintings of man and beast dates from the time the desert was a receding prairie 5,000-7,000 years ago.
Irreparable damage is done when tourists with a colonial mentality or expats from Cairo drive their 4×4s to this isolated area, put water or oil on the paintings to make the faded colours look brighter, trace the paintings, leave trash in the caves, scribble graffiti on its walls or plainly take away artifacts as souvenirs.
Paying up to $10,000 for a two-week expedition, travelers drive through the desert to reach Gilf Kabir, site of the Cave of the Swimmers made famous by the 1996 film “The English Patient.”
Just across the border in Libya, artwork at Ain Dua appear to have been shot at by bored soldiers.
Efforts to have the area designated as a trans-boundary cultural landscape UNESCO World Heritage site requires Egypt, Sudan and Lybia to all first declare individual national parks.
So far, only Egypt has designated a park, but officials from all three countries are due to meet in Cairo in December in the hope of hammering out a deal, despite their occasionally fraught diplomatic relations.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iT_ardF438bfvqtv8×2P7b0NuwrQ
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