Thirty hectares of garden built on a five-hundred-year-old rubbish dump, and the best view in Cairo.
For five hundred years this was Darassa, a mound of rubble and rubbish accumulated by the city — some 45 metres deep in places, one of the largest such deposits anywhere.
In 1984 the Aga Khan Trust for Culture announced it would build a park on it. The project took nearly twenty years, cost around $30 million, and involved removing 1.5 million cubic metres of debris, building three enormous freshwater reservoirs into the hill, and importing soil.
It opened in 2005, and it is the largest green space in central Cairo — a city with one of the lowest ratios of park to person of any major city in the world.
The wall
Excavation uncovered a 1.5-kilometre stretch of the Ayyubid city wall, built by Saladin from 1176 and buried under the rubbish for centuries. Much of it has been conserved and is visible along the western edge of the park, with towers you can walk through.
The view
From the terraces along the western side, the whole of historic Cairo is laid out: the domes and minarets of the Islamic city immediately below, the Sultan Hassan and Muhammad Ali mosques on the skyline to the left, the City of the Dead to the north, and the modern city beyond.
At sunset, with the call to prayer rising from every direction, it is the single best experience available in Cairo and it costs the price of a park ticket.
The park itself
Formal Islamic garden design — axial water channels, fountains, palm allées, sunken gardens — laid over the contours of the hill. There is a Hilltop Restaurant, a Lakeside Café, a children’s play area and an open-air amphitheatre used for concerts, particularly during Ramadan.
Darb al-Ahmar
The project did not stop at the wall. The Aga Khan Trust extended into Darb al-Ahmar, the historic district immediately below, funding housing restoration, monument conservation, microfinance, apprenticeships and healthcare over two decades. It is one of the more thoughtful urban regeneration programmes anywhere and it is worth knowing about while you are looking down at the roofs.
Practicalities
Modest entry charge. Open daily until late; evenings are the best time and Thursday and Friday evenings are busy with Cairene families.
There is no metro. Taxi or Uber, about fifteen minutes from Downtown.
Alcohol is not served. The restaurants require booking at weekends.
