Photo-Hiking Saudi Arabia

When people think of Saudi Arabia’s landscape, they almost invariably imagine a huge expanse filled homogeneously with sand, camels and… oil. While there are good reasons for the stereotyping, my visit to Western Saudi Arabia’s mountain city of Ta’if and its surrounding valleys and deserts completely changed even my views of the country. Bear in mind, that I have lived in Saudi Arabia nearly my entire life, and never have I experienced Saudi Arabia in this way.

If it wasn’t for Turki Shoaib, a friend I met while covering comedy shows in Jeddah, I probably would still be oblivious to the beauty of the Saudi countryside. A beauty that one must deviate off the beaten path to truly experience…. quite literally. While some of these amazing places we visited are hiding in plain sight, some need extensive use of GPS equipment and off-roading.

Turki is an experienced trekker in Saudi Arabia. He’s spent years traveling the deserts around Jeddah and knows the areas we visited well. When he heard of my love of photography and travel, he invited me over to Jeddah last weekend. Naturally, I was not able to resist the temptation, his description of the places he knew of seemed too unreal to be taken lightly!

Our little expedition would last 3 days. The first would be visiting the ruins of Old Muwaih (5 hours from Jeddah) and camping at night at the spectacular Wa’ba crater. The second day would be a hike down to the base of the crater and then heading to Ta’if to see the ancient Samalaqa dam. We would then hike over to Wadi Mahram to spend a night camping over the mountains of Makkah. The last day would be a a final hike in Wadi Mahram and a drive to Hadda near Makkah to see some ancient wells and ruined mosques, followed by some serious R&R back in Jeddah!

So much to see! So many interesting places and pictures! I’ve divided up some of the amazing things I saw.

Click here for the amazing places I visited. I’ll be adding more over the coming days so keep checking. A quick preview:

• The Road to Ta’if: The mountain city of Ta’if is one of Saudi Arabia’s most historical cities. Since the 6th century AD, it has been a major hub of agriculture and trade in Saudi Arabia. While modern Ta’if is linked to the rest of Saudi Arabia via concrete and asphalt, remnants of the city’s history remain.
• The Ruins of Old Muwaih: Built along the trade route linking Eastern and Western Saudi Arabia, the old city of Muwaih was a vibrant town offering food, shelter and trade to the caravans passing through. The Ottoman empire had built a number of watchtowers and fortresses in the region to protect against raiders. With the unification of Saudi Arabia and subsequent building of the interstates, the locals would relocate the town, moving closer to the highway. Leaving the town and its fortresses abandoned.
• The Wa’ba Crater: One of the truly breathtaking sights in Saudi Arabia, the Wa’ba crater is a massive cleft in the lava plains of central Saudi Arabia. Measuring 2km in width and 500m in deep, camping on the edge of the Wa’ba crater will be one of the most memorable experiences in my life.
• Samlaqa Dam: Water is a precious commodity in Saudi Arabia. Farmers have always needed to collect rainwater in Saudi’s wet season to last them over the drier months.
• The Mountains of Makkah: The birthplace of Islam. While the revelations that would start one of the world’s major religions occurred in Jabal Al-Noor, our trip would take is to a little known peak between Wadi Mahram and Wadi Noman, which offers one of the most spectacular views of the Makkan plains.
• Wadi Mahram: Wadi is Arabic for Valley. The landscape around Makkah and Ta’if is littered with Wadis, many of which are inhabited by bedouin farmers. Wadi Mahram is particularly interesting, with its ancient camel trail connecting the many farms of the region to the larger cities. While the trail has all but disappeared in other valleys, it is still very visible in Wadi Mahram.
• The Wells of Hadda: Every Muslim must make a pilgrimage to Makkah at least once in their lives. And for most pilgrims, the first stop in this trip is Jeddah. With the ever growing number of pilgrims coming to Saudi Arabia, King Abdulaziz realized the need for providing an infra-structure for the visitors of the dry country.

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