The Nile is intersected by a number of normally dry tributaries or wadis which traverse the Eastern Desert. The wadis drain run-off rainfall from the mountains along the Egyptian Red Sea coast, though it only rarely reaches the main trunk of the wadis to flow downstream to the Nile.
The three principal wadis are:
- Wadi Abbad (drainage area 7,000 km2)
- Wadi Shait (length 200 km, drainage area 10,000 km2)
- Wadi El-Kharit (length 260 km, drainage area 23,000 km2)
- Sinai Peninsula has a number of wadis, including the Wadi Mukattab ("The Valley of Writing") and the Wadi Feiran (associated with the biblical Rephidim).
