Manshiet Nasser

About Manshiet Nasser

District of Greater Cairo, Egypt

Manshiyat Naser is one of the nine districts of Cairo's Western Area, covering 5.54 square kilometres with a population of 258,372 at the 2017 census. It borders Nasr City to the east, Historic Cairo to the west and the Mokattam district to the south. The district is best known for the quarter at its far southern end, at the base of the Mokattam hills, that is Cairo's largest concentration of Zabbaleen, the informal garbage collectors who gather the city's waste, sort it in their homes and sell the recyclables; according to Wikivoyage this gives Cairo a recycling rate higher than North America's despite the absence of an effective state-run system. The area is home to a large Coptic Christian community, and its main point of interest for visitors is the Monastery of St Simon the Tanner, a complex of churches carved into the side of the Mokattam cliff and the largest monastery in the Middle East by seating capacity, with large religious reliefs cut into the rock. A walk through the quarter shows a side of everyday Cairo far from the usual tourist route. The district nonetheless lacks basic infrastructure, the presence and smell of garbage are stronger here than elsewhere in the city because of the sorting work, and residents are not used to strangers, so a visit calls for particular respect.

Where:

Cairo, Egypt