Nearly adjoining the eastern delta is the Suez Canal Zone.

Nearly adjoining the eastern delta is the Suez Canal Zone.
An almost continuous strip of green land borders the 101-mile
(163-kilometer) canal between the cities of Port Said on the
Mediterranean Sea and Suez on the Gulf of Suez. The canal
itself is made up of artificial excavations in sandy plains and of
the natural bodies of Lake Timsah and the Great and Little Bit-
ter Lakes. Another important city in the canal zone is Ismailiya,
known as Egypt’s garden city.
Ever since the canal was completed, there has been an open
exchange of marine life between the Red Sea and the Medi-
terranean. Before the canal was completed in 1869, animals
migrated back and forth across the Isthmus of Suez. By this
means, for example, the flightless ostrich reached Asia from
Africa. Most large mammals found east of the Nile in Egypt are
also found in southwest Asia. The canal today is probably mak-
ing such wildlife exchanges more difficult.