First birdwatching festival to be held in Port Said

Port Said governorate is preparing to launch its first International Festival for Bird Watching and Photography on 22 December 2022. The festival is held under the auspices of the Port Said Governor Adel al-Ghadban and the Egyptian Authority for Promotion of Tourism, in cooperation with the Ashtoum al-Gamil Reserve, the Egyptian Society for Nature Conservation and the Egyptian Society for Wildlife Photographers.

The launch ceremony will take place on 22 December in a Port Said hotel, and is expected to be attended bypublic figures who will include ministers, ambassadors, artists, politicians and members of the media and press. Following a press conference that day, photo shooting activities should begin at Lake Manzala.

Ashtoum al-Gamil Reserve lies 7km west of Port Said on the Port Said-Damietta coastal road, connecting Lake Manzala to the Mediterranean; at the mouth of the Lake is the famed Tanees Island. The entire area is rich with bird life. Lake Manzala is home to more than 200 species of resident, migratory and rare birds. More than 500,000 birds were spotted in the area; these include flamingos, pelicans, wading birds, egrets, starlings, quails and gulls.

The Port Said International Bird Watching and Photography Festival is the first of its kind in Egypt and the Middle East. It extends an open invitation to nature and wildlife lovers, to amateurs and professional photographers to shoot photos in the realm of the beautiful Ashtoum Reserve and the serene lake.