To the west of the Nile lies the Western Desert, occupying about two thirds of the area of the country. It consists largely of high stony and sandy plains with rocky plateaux in places. In the extreme southwest of the country on the border with Libya and Sudan, is Jebel Uweinat, a mountainous region and in the northwest lies the Qattara Depression, a large area of land some below sea level. Another depression, the Faiyum Oasis lies south west of Cairo and is connected to the Nile by a channel. To the east of the Nile lies the much smaller Eastern Desert, a high mountain ridge running parallel with the Red Sea, seamed with wadis on either flank. At the border with Sudan this rises to the rocky massif of Gebel Elba. The Sinai Peninsula is a mountainous area, deeply cleft by canyon-like wadis that flow towards the Gulf of Aqaba, the Gulf of Suez and the Mediterranean Sea.