A parade in honour of one fruit: the mango

This festival in Ismailia Governorate, northeastern Egypt, is the first of its kind in the region.

The area is the hotspot of mango production in the country, and is known for producing the finest varieties, thanks to soil and climate conditions.

The festivities include a parade of Harley Davidson motorcycles, music bands, and roller skating.

"I am a mango fan, I love mango very much, when I first heard that there was a mango festival I went out all the way, this is the first time a mango festival is held in Ismailia, I heard that there are various processions also among the festival, so I decided to go down to participate," says Amal Abbass, an Ismailia resident.

The organisers are using the event to promote mangos, attract investment to develop this crop, and to increase exports and tourism in the Ismailia Governorate.

The region is responsible a third of Egypt's mango production with a cultivated area of more than 88,000 acres, according to the organisers.

"In the past few years, the Ismailia Governorate was going through difficult climatic conditions, which negatively affected the productivity of the mango crop. The crop was very small with high prices, but we thank God, this year, the cold weather in the winter was a key factor for the return of the crop again with large production quantities," says Tarek Ibrahim, another Ismailia resident.

There's a huge variety of mangos for sale at the open market next the festival.

According to the organisers, the agricultural exports of the governorate over the last three years was worth $1.4 billion.

The festival started on 19 August and lasted two days.

***AP***