Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
expanse of nothing, but that is not the case. Red markers along a road, improbable as they may seem on a cloud-
less summer day, indicate the height of water possible during a flash flood. A month or so later, a flush of taper-
ing grasses marks the spot, temporary home to wasp oil beetles, elevated stalkers and myriad other life forms.
Car tracks scar a rock desert forever, crushing plants and insects not immediately apparent from the driver's
seat. Rubbish doesn't biodegrade as it would in a tropical or temperate climate. The flower unwittingly picked in
its moment of glory may miss its first and only opportunity for propagation in seven years of drought.
With a bit of common sense, however, and by taking care to stick to existing tracks, it's possible to enjoy the
desert without damaging the unseen communities it harbours. It also pays to turn off the engine and just sit. At
dusk, dramas unfold: a fennec fox chases a hedgehog, a wild dog trots out of the wadi without seeing the snake
slithering in the other direction, tightly closed leaves relax in the brief respite of evening and a dung beetle rolls
its reward homewards.
Mountains
They may not be the mightiest mountains in the world but the ranges of the Peninsula are
nonetheless spectacular. This is partly because they rise without preamble from flat
coastal plains.
The Peninsula has two main mountain ranges. The Hejaz range runs the length of Saudi
Arabia's west coast, generally increasing in height as it tends southwards. The term
'mountain' may seem a misnomer for much of the range. Saudi's landmass looks like a
series of half-toppled books, with flat plains ending in dramatic escarpments that give way
to the next plain. The last escarpment drops spectacularly to the sea. If you follow the ba-
boons over the escarpment rim, from the cool, misty, green reaches of Abha to Jizan on
the humid, baking plains of the Tihama, the effect of this range is immediately felt. The
settlers of the fertile mountains in their stone dwellings live such a different life to the
goat herders in their mud houses on the plains, they may as well belong to different coun-
tries - and indeed the Tihama shares much in common with Eritrea and Ethiopia's Tigré
region on the opposite side of the Red Sea.
The stoic early 20th-century traveller, Charles Doughty, described the Harra as 'iron desolation…uncouth
blackness…lifeless cumber of volcanic matter!' Even camels have trouble crossing the Harra as the small
rocks heat in the sun and catch in their feet.
The Haraz Mountains of Yemen give rise to Jabal an-Nabi Shu'ayb (3660m), the
highest peak on the Peninsula. Forming part of the Great Rift Valley, the landmass of Ye-
men is predominantly mountainous, commonly rising 2000m or more and making farming
a challenge. To compensate, Yemeni farmers cut elaborate terraces up the hillside to keep
soil from washing away. These are shored up by stones and the maintenance of the terrace
