Ras Mohammed National Park

Ras Mohammed National Park occupies the dramatic southern tip of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, where the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba converge to create waters of extraordinary marine richness. Established as Egypt’s first national park in 1983, Ras Mohammed protects mangrove channels, desert wadis, and some of the Red Sea’s most celebrated coral reef systems — including the legendary Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef, where a 1980 cargo vessel still spills its peculiar cargo of bathroom fittings across the sandy seafloor.

• The park covers 480 square kilometres of both terrestrial desert and fully protected marine territory.
• Hammerhead sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks, eagle rays, and seasonal whale sharks are encountered here.
• Mangrove channels fringing the peninsula provide critical nursery habitat for juvenile reef fish species.

The convergence of two distinct water bodies generates powerful currents that flood the reefs with nutrients, sustaining exceptional coral diversity and fish biomass in consistently clear conditions. Above the waterline, the park’s stark desert landscape hosts migratory birds on the African-Eurasian flyway, desert foxes, and the inland Magic Lake — a hypersaline lagoon coloured vivid pink by halophyte microorganisms. Day trips from Sharm el-Sheikh take approximately 30 minutes by road. Entry requires both a national park fee and, for divers, a separate dive permit. Conservation regulations firmly prohibit touching coral, collecting shells, standing on reef structures, or feeding marine life under any circumstances.