The exotic Nile wildlife depicted on ancient tomb reliefs - hippos, crocodiles, elephants and gazelles - is largely a thing of the past, though you might just see a croc near Aswan. However, the Valley has a rich diversity of birds . Amid the groves of palms (dates all along the Valley and dom palms south of Assyut), fruit and flame trees, sycamores and eucalyptus, and fields of besoom (Egyptian clover) and sugar cane, you can spot hoopoes, turtle- and laughing-doves, bulbuls, bluethroats, redstarts, wheatears and dark-backed stonechats; purple gallinules, egrets and all kinds of waders are to be seen in the river; while common birds of prey include a range of kestrels, hawks and falcons.