Français
Journée complète et calme
Dauphins le matin, corail à midi, une heure sur une île déserte l'après-midi. Très peu de bateaux, équipage adorable.
C
Camille D. · France
March 2026
Dolphin house
Wadi El Gemal National Park
Egypt's second-largest national park: dolphin lagoons, seagrass bays, mangroves and white-sand islands.
Distance45 km south of Marsa AlamTravel time1 h by road, 35 min by boat to the first lagoonTrips to Wadi El Gemal
Wadi El Gemal National Park covers more than 7,000 km² of desert and Red Sea coast south of Marsa Alam. Its marine section holds sheltered lagoons used by spinner, bottlenose and humpback dolphins, seagrass bays with turtles and dugong, and the Qulaan islands with their mangroves and white sand. Boat trips reach the first lagoon in about 35 minutes.
Wadi El Gemal means "valley of the camels". The park runs from the Red Sea Hills to the coast and out to sea, and it is the least visited stretch of water south of Marsa Alam. The lagoons are sheltered and shallow, which is why dolphins rest in them and why families like them.
Our day here is built on variety: dolphins in the first lagoon, coral and seagrass in the second, lunch on board, then an hour on one of the Qulaan islands. The islands are rimmed with mangroves, which is unusual for the Red Sea, and the beach is the kind of white you see in photos.
The park also protects dugong, the sea cow that grazes the seagrass meadows. Sightings from the boat are rare but real, and turtles on the seagrass are common.
Marine life
Spinner and bottlenose dolphins · Green turtles on seagrass · Dugong (rare) · Blue-spotted rays · Mangrove herons and ospreys · Reef fish in the coral lagoon
Rules at the reef
- No landing on islands with nesting birds
- Take all litter back to the boat
- No touching dolphins, turtles or coral
- Stay with the guide in the lagoons
- Park fee funds the rangers
Best time to visit
March to November. Summer is hot on the island, so the beach hour is kept to early afternoon with shade on board.
Questions about Wadi El Gemal
The park boundary is about 45 km south of the town. Pickup at 07:00 gets you to the boat at 08:00.
Yes. Spinner and bottlenose dolphins use the sheltered lagoons to rest; the first snorkel stop of the trip is with them.
Yes, with a licensed boat. Our trip lands for one hour on a Qulaan island chosen for the day's wind.
On the map
Where it is
- Area
- Over 7,000 km² of desert and sea, declared 2003
- Reef life
- About 450 coral species and over 1,200 fish species
- Dolphins
- Spinner, bottlenose and Indo-Pacific humpback
- Islands
- Qulaan islands: white sand, mangroves, no facilities
- GPS
- 24.3720° N, 35.3050° E
Guest reviews
Reviews for our Wadi El Gemal trips
4.8 · 210+ reviewsRatings from guests who did the trips that go to this reef.
Dolphin house
Trips to Wadi El Gemal
Marsa Alam · Samadai · Sataya
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