Hala'ib or Halayeb is a Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

 port and town, located in the Hala'ib Triangle

Hala'ib Triangle

The Hala'ib Triangle is an area of land measuring located on the Red Sea's African coast...

, a 20580 km² (7,946 sq mi) area disputed between Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

. The town lies on the southern tip of the Egyptian Red Sea Riviera

Red Sea Riviera

The Red Sea Riviera, in Egypt, consists of the resort cities lying on the western shore of the Gulf of Aqaba and along the eastern coast of mainland Egypt south of the Gulf of Suez...

 and is near the ruins of medieval Aydhab. De facto control of the area is held by the Egyptian government.

Ecology and geography

In the Hala'ib region, Afrotropical elements have their northern limits at Gebel Elba

Gebel Elba

Gebel Elba or Elba Mountain is a peak and, in general, includes the associated mountainous area in the Hala'ib Triangle area. This area, despite being claimed by Sudan, is currently under Egyptian control.-Geography:...

, making it a unique region among Egypt's dominating Mediterranean and North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

n ecosystems. There is also dense cover of acacia

Acacia

Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...

s, mangrove

Mangrove

Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...

s and other shrubs, in addition to endemic species of plants such as Biscutella elbensis.

The highest peaks in the area are Mount Elba (1,435 m), Mount Shellal (1,409 m), Mount Shendib (1,911 m) and Mount Shendodai (1,526 m).