Review Date
May 14, 2002 Overall Rating
 5 of 5
Ridden Trail:
Once a month
Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
3.00 votes
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Reviewed by: Louis Gomez
, from Tucson, Arizona Summary:
A great place to ride for all levels with conveniant access from Maadi. Unfortunately Cairo's pollution problems have been spilling into the wadi for the last three years and unregulated quarrying, off-roading from 4x4's and dirt bikes, and off trail riding by mountain bikers have been marring this once picturesque area. MTB'ers please do your part and ride on established trails, they are the funnest and are heavily ridden for the fact that they are RIDEABLE. Most are based on millenia old game tracks and trading trails. One look at unsightly off-tail cycling damage to the fragile top soil and soft sub-soil created by careless/uneducated cyclist should tell you that those areas are not rideable in addition to being unsightly and erosian prone. Bottom line, please stay on the existing trails and have fun.
Beginers can take the easy to follow jeep track from the now decadent park entrance through the rubble field and up the wadi. Its around 10Ks to the end at a (dry) waterfall. Novices can ride the rolling jeep trails and windy singletracks on the southern plataue. Accesible via a short rocky single track climb about 75M past the decadent entrance on the right. Pick up the jeep road heading east and up two small rises and stay on it coninuing east past two small limestone quarries until, just past a third quarried area, it dumps you into a south-north running wadi which to the left/north ends in a dry waterfall opening to an "Amphitheater". Cross the wadi near the top of the waterfall into lower main Wadi Digla. From here there are two options: 1) go left/north and pick up a jeep track and then turns north where the track turn into a bit of a roller coaster. 2)continue east picking up a jeep road and follow it into a small feeder wadi at the end there will be a short steep climb on the right/south side, from the top of the climb pick up the easy to follow eastward running single track. The good intermediates and advanced riding starts at the amphitheater. There is a vast network of trails that can be linked to tailor any riding style. If possible ride with someone who knows the area or attain a Wadi Digla Trail map. There are some great routes in Wadi Digla, take the time and discover them. Hone your desert riding and navigation skills here before heading off to Wadi Hof in search of higher adventure, this way you will have the nessecary skills and stamina to appreciate the riding in Wadi Hof which is primarily technical endurance riding. There are miles of excellent and challenging trails in Wadi Digla. I have ridden there extensively for eight years while living in Egypt. Take the time to master the routes and you will understand my 5 Chili rating based on the trail networks endless combinations, variety, challenges, and accesability. If you crave the technical trail riding here then head over to Wadi Hof for more adventure, but be competent and prepared. Recommended Route:
(Intermediate/advanced endurance/skills ride of 2-3 hrs) From the "Amphitheater" find the Southern Plataue single track and ride it taking in several short but steep climbs and across two narrow S-N running feeder wadis and ending at Wadi Abu Nassur (SW-NE running wadi lined on both sides by bluffs), go right along the floor of the wadi until you find a trail marked with an arrow on the left/north side, take it up the northern bluffs to a pass, bomb down the rocky wadi directly before you (south)at the bottom take the trail heading east up a smal bluff, cross the next wadi and climb up another small bluff and the down a technical chute section bearing right at the end and into a narrow rocky (S-N running)feeder wadi, go right/south up the feeder wadi until you pick up the the Bir Digla single track running east/right along the bottom of the bluffs, and on to Bir Digla, a dry waterfall dividing upper and lower Wadi Digla, up the Northern Bluffs at Bir Digla, find your way west along the TOP of the bluffs and bomb the roller coaster descent into the lower main wadi, cross it and find, about 200 M down/west/right, a rocky ascent up the southern wall and pick up the single track on the south plataue again, follow it until it drops into a south-north running wadi (the you bombed down earlier from the pass), climb the rocky wadi back up the bluffs to the pass, at the pass climb the bluff to the west/right and along the top of the bluffs where it will drop down into a sweet berm that throws you south/left of the bluffs, cross the dirt road and drop into a technical chute/small feeder wadi and into wadi Abu Nassur, go right until you come to the top of a dry water fall, bear left up a small bluff and take a technical decsent into lower wadi Abu Nassur and follow it until you find single track heading west/left, this will rejoin the main Southern Plataue single track at the first of the narrow feeder wadis you crossed on the way in, turn right here and go down the wadi (technical) until it terminates in a dry waterfall over looking the main wadi, take a technical drop into the wadi (one on either side) and hammer on home down the main wadi. Other recommended trails in the same area:
Wadi Hof for intermediate/advanced experienced desert riders. If you master Wadi Hof then the MTB Gods will lead you to Area 51.
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(5 of 5)
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