Egypt to build wildlife park modelled on pioneering Jordanian predator reserve

Egypt’s Environment Ministry will build a new wildlife park inside one of the country's largest nature reserves.

It will be modelled on Jordan’s Al Mawa for Nature and Wildlife, a shelter for at-risk predators, it said.

Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad toured the Jordanian park near the northern city of Jerash on Monday.

The Egyptian park, which will be established in the Wadi Rayan Nature Reserve in the rural province of Fayoum, 100km south of Cairo, is a bid by the government to boost eco-tourism, the ministry said.

During her tour of Al Mawa, Ms Fouad praised its facilities, management, and the high degree to which the local community has been incorporated into the conservation efforts.

“Al Mawa is a pioneering example of the kind of conservation we want to create at Wadi Rayan,” Fouad said.

The Jordanian park predominantly shelters predators that have been rescued from conflict zones or have had their habitats destroyed and can’t return to them. They are kept in large, fenced enclosures.

It currently houses 23 lions, seven bears, two tigers and two hyenas. The reserve is open to visitors, who are taken on ticketed tours by on-site specialists.