The area includes the relatively uninteresting Fayoum city, a large natural salt lake, a few pyramids, other ruins, some farmland and recreational facilities. Fayoum is where many Egyptians go to get away from Cairo and just kick back to enjoy the lakes.
 The area includes the relatively uninteresting Fayoum city, a large natural salt lake, a few pyramids, other ruins, some farmland and recreational facilities. Fayoum is where many Egyptians go to get away from Cairo and just kick back to enjoy the lakes.
Some guide books call the Fayoum a semi-oasis. It has natural springs, but it also has many canals running from the Nile to irrigate the area. Therefore, much of the extensive vegetation in some areas of the Fayoum is due to the man-made canals rather than to the lakes. The Fayoum Depression is 70 kilometers wide and 60 kilometers long. The area includes the relatively uninteresting Fayoum city, a large natural salt lake, a few pyramids, other ruins, some farmland and recreational facilities. Fayoum is where many Egyptians go to get away from Cairo and just kick back to enjoy the lakes.
During our visit we stayed at Zad Al Mosafer, an ecolodge in the village of Tunis in the far northwest corner of the depression. The area is popular on weekends and holidays for swimming, boating, horseback riding, and just relaxing. Tunis is an artist colony, with several potters actively working in the area. The lodge is quite rustic but comfortable and our room was outfitted with both mosquito netting and air conditioning. There is a canopied outside sitting area with dappled sunlight sifting through, highlighting a large number of plastic bags filled with water hanging from the rafters. Evidently, insects see a magnified reflection of themselves in the bagged water and are scared off. I don’t know whether it works, as we did still have a lot of mosquitoes to contend with.
