The Bitter Lakes | Ismailia, Egypt

• 16 / 5 / 2023

The Great Bitter Lake and the Small Bitter Lake are saltwater lakes that exist today as parts of the Suez Canal but were originally dry valleys before the canal flooded them. The lakes have seen their share of the effects of warfare in the region. During World War II, the lakes were put to strategic use when the Allies used them as a place to mothball captured Italian warships. In 1967, during the Six-Day War, the entire canal was closed, which left 15 ships trapped in the lakes until 1975. Because of the desert sand that covered their decks, these ships became known as the Yellow Fleet. The fleet became a community over time, with the crews sharing resources and even setting up their own post office and movie nights.

Suez Canal

The Bitter Lakes branch is considered one of the most prominent branches that were dug years after the construction of the Suez Canal, where the canal was expanded by digging new branches, namely the Al-Balah Branch, the Sulfur Branch, and the Bitter Lake Branch, the most famous of which is the latter because it is an important resource in the production of fish.

“Cairo Top Tours” provides its guests with 8 information about the Bitter Lakes.. so that we can get to know them

-The Bitter Lakes are located in the northeastern part of Egypt, specifically in the Suez Canal region.

-The most prominent Egyptian city near these lakes is the city of Ismailia, where the residents demand to turn the lakes into an international port.

- The southern part contains the Lesser Bitter Lake, both of which are salt lakes, and the area of ​​the lakes together is two hundred and fifty km2.

The Bitter Lakes were built after they were dry valleys in 1955 during the era of the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

- The length of the branch is eleven kilometers, and since the climate of Egypt is one of the hot climates that evaporate water, the water lost by the lakes is compensated by the flowing water coming from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

- The Bitter Lakes and the Mellah Branch were a parallel channels to the original Suez Canal, which would reduce the transit time of ships to eleven hours instead of eighteen hours.

- Because the Bitter Lakes cross for ships and tankers, they are also a producer of fish, which is estimated at about five thousand seven hundred tons.

- There are many tourist beaches near it, and the most prominent of these cities are Abu Sultan, Abu Fayed, and Geneva.

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