Widan El Faras Area – Twin Stone Pyramids Telling the Story of the Earth – (Natural Heritage)

The Widan El Faras Area stands proudly atop Gebel Qatrani as one of the most remarkable geomorphological landmarks of the Western Desert, offering a truly unparalleled natural scene. To the eye, the site appears as two natural twin pyramids, sculpted by nature from layers of fluvial sandstone interbedded with vividly colored shale. This breathtaking composition is crowned by a blanket of black basalt rock, the result of violent volcanic eruptions that swept the area during the Late Oligocene epoch, coinciding with the initial opening of the Red Sea millions of years ago.

These volcanic flows today cover the entirety of Gebel Qatrani, giving Widan El Faras a majestic character that blends the beauty of colors with the diversity of geological layers. The formations resemble a masterpiece painted by nature itself—using sand, stone, and volcanic ash—and tell the story of the region’s dramatic geological transformations, from the flow of ancient rivers to the fury of volcanic eruptions, in a scene rarely found anywhere else on Earth.