The distinctly non-triangular Bir Tawil Triangle is an area on the border between Egypt and Sudan, unclaimed by either nation, and identified by the dotted border lines in Google Maps.

Given that this is pretty much just 2,000 km² of sand and rocks, it’s perhaps not surprising that neither country is particularly attracted to it, but what causes it to be so undesirable? The secret lies in the continuation of the dotted border lines to the east and north-east, which encompass a much larger area (almost 6,500 km²) known as the Hala’ib Triangle², though it is only vaguely more triangular in shape than Bir Tawil.

Note that the border to the west of the Bir Tawil Triangle is shown as a solid line. This is 22° latitude, the political border between Egypt and Sudan as defined in 1899. Egypt claims that this border should run all the way to the Red Sea, giving it control of the Hala’ib Triangle, while Sudan would get the smaller Bir Tawil Triangle.

Sudan, on the other hand, prefers the more complicated administrative border established in 1902 which would reverse the ownership of these two parcels of land. This boundary was originally established because tribes in the Bir Tawil area were of Egyptian origin, while those in the Hala’ib area were of Sudanese descent, including those in the town of Hala’ib, the only settlement of any size in the area.

Essentially, neither country claims the smaller Bir Tawil Triangle as it would mean losing control of the larger Hala’ib Triangle, the access it has to the Red Sea, and potential oil fields. In a no-doubt complicated and tense situation, Egypt has administered the larger area since 1990, but Sudan kept armed forces there until 2000, and continues to claim the area even after their withdrawal.

This has resulted in a border post on the 22° latitude border where it is crossed by a major road, but none where that road crosses the other border further north.

The Bir Tawil Triangle has no roads, but the high-res images show that at least some vehicles pass through, with tire tracks clearly visible in the sand – these appear to be areas where water gathers, with trees growing sporadically, so may be the ‘Water Well’ from which the area is named.

More information at Strange Maps.

Locations: Egypt, Sudan / Categories: Deserts, Weirdness

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Karnak was constructed over a period of 1300 years by approximately 30 different pharaohs, and eventually grew to become a collection of 25 temples. Known in ancient times as Ipet-isut, ‘The most select of places’, it is the largest ancient religious site in the world.

At the south west of the complex is the Precinct of Mut, an enclosed area which is not open to tourists, as it’s currently being restored. It contains the temples of Ramesses III, Khonspekhrod, and of course Mut herself, as well as a large crescent-shaped lake.

Leading north east from the Precinct of Mut is a 400m long avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, which leads directly to the Precinct of Amun-Re.

At 250,000 sq m, the Precinct of Amun-Re is by far the largest area at Karnak, and is the only area that is open to the general public. Amun-Re is dedicated to the Egyptian God Amun, who was the focus of the most complex theology in Ancient Egypt, and the huge scale of the complex here stands as testament to that.

The Ninth Pylon, and The Sacred Lake of the Precinct of Amun-Re

The main attraction here however is actually the entrance to the Temple of Amun, The Great Hypostyle Hall. Fortunately for us, the roof no longer exists, which means we can see the famous 16 rows of 134 columns.

122 of the columns are 10 metres tall, and the remaining 12 are a gargantuan 21 metres tall, each with a diameter of over three meters! (Ground-level photo)

Inscriptions of the names of the Pharaohs, as well as reliefs depicting an expansive history, can also be found recorded on the walls of this ancient fossil of humankind’s past.

For more information, be sure to check out the Karnak page at Wikipedia, which has links to a wealth of information about each of the sights we’ve seen today.

Locations: Egypt / Categories: Monuments, Structures

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What on earth is the purpose of this massive spiral in the Egyptian desert?

It appears to be made from near-perfect circles scooped from the sand, which decrease in size toward the centre of the spiral – where there is a much larger circular trench.

Whatever the spiral’s purpose actually is, it must have taken a serious amount of effort to put here.

Thanks to BZoltan

Locations: Egypt / Categories: Deserts, Weirdness

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We thought this was such a blatant (and totally lame) rip-off of our own Face of Jesus Found in Sand Dune that we’d better up the ante!²

First in Utah, we find a terrifying looking skull face…

Then in Nevada, we’ve got a Blues Brothers style one-eyed alien…

And finally in Kenya we’ve got… the Rock Eater Biter from the NeverEnding Story!

How long before the Metro steals this story I wonder?

See our other related posts for even more Google Earth Pareidolia:

• Irish Rock Face
• Face of Santa Claus
• Native American Listening to an iPod
• The Face of Mother Earth
• The Simian Messiah
• Face of Jesus Found in Sand Dune

Thanks to Jayden Brown, Vaughn Nelson and cruzito.

Locations: Egypt, Kenya, Nevada, Utah / Categories: Natural Landmarks, Weirdness

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Here’s a small private plane-shaped pool in Miami.

This is the Flying W Airport in New Jersey, where they have a cool plane-shaped pool with “W”s on the wings. Flying W is described as a “flying airport resort“, and whilst I’m not sure exactly what that is, there’s definitely real planes parked right next to the pool. Very odd.

Over in Cairo, Egypt, they’ve taken a quite different approach and illustrated a fighter jet on the bottom of this circular pool, which also features a very large bird of prey. Do these insignia hold some sort of significance I wonder?

Finally, in China, they’ve dispensed with swimming pools, a built an entire lake in the shape of a plane! This is right next to a decent sized airport, so maybe this is a hotel.

Whilst swimming here might not be very pleasant, if you look closely you’ll see that instead, you might be able to take a boat trip in this plane!

Thanks to 93f2, Felippo, Majoska and kjfitz.

Locations: China, Egypt, Florida, New Jersey / Categories: Aircraft, Stadiums and Sport

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Maybe this is actually the world’s largest manhole cover!

Thanks to Hide Kuwa

Locations: Egypt / Categories: Shadows, Weirdness

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The problem with finding oil platforms on Google Maps is that most of the open sea isn’t available on the higher zoom levels. Probably because there isn’t really much out there to see, and it saves Google storing multiple images of lots of boring water. Thankfully near the coast or in the smaller in-land seas and channels some oil platforms have been captured.

Our first platform is in the Gulf Of Mexico about a hundred klicks east of New Orleans. A bit closer to the coast is another and just north is what looks to be a tug pushing a line of barges.

Another one in the Gulf of Mexico, but this one is off the coast of Texas and has a very obvious helipad.

Around the other side of the US off the west coast, south of Santa Barbara is another oil field full of activity. There are two platforms that look to be in the process of being supplied by ships. There are actually four platforms all in a line here, you can see the other two off to the east.

South down the coast and out to sea from Los Angeles harbour are these two big beasties with a walkway linking them.

Way over in the Gulf of Suez which divides Africa and Asia is the Gemsa oil field which is absolutely chock full of platforms. These ones seem to be a lot bigger than the ones in the US, this one is made up of multiple platforms and landing pads, all linked together by walkways. If you zoom out a few clicks there are about five other platforms just as big.

In a bay on the west coast of South Africa is a particularly chunky looking platform that just sneaks into the high resolution coverage.

In our ongoing quest for the largest, tallest, biggest stuff in the world I couldn’t have mentioned oil platforms without including the mighty 43,000 ton Petronis Platform, the tallest free-standing structure in the world (when including underwater structures). Unfortunately I couldn’t find it on Google Maps and I suspect it falls outside the high resolution coverages areas. If anyone can track it down though, leave a comment.

Locations: Egypt, South Africa, U.S. States / Categories: Structures, Watercraft

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At 31 kilometers across Kebira utterly dwarfs Arizona’s famous Barringer meteor crater (which is only 1.2 kilometres in diameter), and was only discovered now due to its sheer size – it’s too big to recognise from the ground, and the scientists responsible for identifying it only did so using satellite imagery.

For more information see this BBC news article.

Thanks to jher, Paul Drye, david, Keith T. Peter Grabowsky and lookabootye.

Locations: Egypt / Categories: Deserts, Natural Landmarks

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There are also several other similar structures in the Sahara, such as the Jebel Uwaynat (thumbnail #2) which was used to define the borders of Sudan, Egypt and Libya, and also the Brandberg Intrusion in Namibia.

Even though none of these features are in high-resolution, it’s well worth zooming in a bit, as they’re perhaps even more fascinating to look at closer up.

Thanks to Pat Scaramuzza, Peter Nordstrom, GeMatt and Kai Huebner.

Locations: Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Namibia, Sudan / Categories: Natural Landmarks

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The largest Pyramid was built for Khufu (aka DJ Cheops), Pharaoh of the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty, and was constructed by nearly 20,000 workers who worked year round for decades. It was originally 481 feet high, but has since lost 30 feet due to erosion.

Following to the southwest is the Pyramid of Khafre (aka MC Chephren). Although it is smaller, a steeper angle results in the illusion that the two structures are the same size. In fact, Khafre’s pyramid appears taller since it is on higher ground.

The final, smallest pyramid is that of Menkaure (aka MC Mycerinus). There are also various other smaller pyramids for the pharaohs’ Queens which can be identified using this map.

To the east of the pyramids is the Great Sphinx, the largest single-stone statue in the world. The Sphinx has the face of a man (possibly the aforementioned Khafre, but sans nose) and the body of a lion.

Thanks: Over 80 people, just too many to list! You know who you are, thanks guys

Locations: Egypt / Categories: Structures

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