“I’ve found that living in countries rapidly investing in their own development and growth is more exciting and countries coasting on the fumes of the previous generation is far more relaxing. Saudi, for the time being, is undoubtedly the former.” – Old Sean
Halfway Settled
As of now, I’ve been living in Riyadh for a little over a month, gathering my resources and sorted out my paltry living situation. Riyadh seems to be having the same problem as the rest of the planet, namely, gouging, high rental prices.
For the entirety of my stay, I’ve been looking for affordable accommodation within walking distance of my company. As the public transportation of Riyadh is basically in its infancy, I didn’t want to rely on vehicles to make it to work on time most days.
However, this proved impossible. Endless searching led to nothing. In the end, I found a place a goodly distance away from work, bumping up my wakeup time of 6:30 AM to 5:30 daily.
Despite this mild bummer, I’m enjoying myself in Riyadh. I’ve met people here willing to meet with me and drive me around for entertainment. With that being said, Saudi Arabians aren’t the most wilderness-adventurous. A good time for most involves lounging at coffee shops, enjoying quiet lounges with hookah and conversing over dinner. All of which are lovely activities. But my preferred pastimes of hikes, mountain treks and novelty sights is a rare treat rather than a normal part of my week.
Deep Desert
Despite the summer heat, my friend Ahmed has been a ray of hope in my attempts to experience Saudi Arabia. My guide during my trip to Jeddah, Ahmed was willing to take me on a road trip deep into the desert south of Riyadh. Over the weekend, we angled towards the small town of Al-Kharj, seeking out several places I’d heard stories about.
Our first stop, after fortifying ourselves with coffee, was a location known as Heet Cave. This wide-mouthed desert-mountain cave is a remarkable sight with a massive rounded entrance and nesting swallows swooping in an out. Chalky, crumbling rocks decorate every wall and heaps of boulders lead downwards into the naturally-occurring hole.
Heet Cave is essentially an angled sinkhole with an underground lake. Online, there are photos of bluish waters and people wading through the shallow subteranean lake formation.
While this is a pleasant thought, and the cave is absolutely cool to stop by, the water isn’t exactly pristine. All up and down the rocky path leading to the trail, there are graffiti marks, discarded plastic bottles and bits of garbage. Rather than being a cool breath of sheltered shade in the desert, Heet Cave belches out humidity when hikers draw close. Often, desert people with rifles walk to the cave to pick off birds for food, provided they don’t splatter into the waters. The underground lake itself is certainly green, but the color is strongly reminiscent of a full bathtub left under a metal awning for a year or so.
I don’t want this description to diminish how impressive the cave is; it’s a legitimately cool bit of geology. I just wouldn’t swim in it without an old-school full-body scuba suit.
Ahmed and I didn’t simply lounge around this one area, however. Also nearby, we visited the (currently dry) Pool of Red Tadpoles and clambered through the somewhat unimpressive Al-Hyt Gulley.
Factory Land
As Ahmed and I drove away from the cave, sweating from the heat and hearts beating powerfully from the climb, we meandered back to the highway.
This portion of the desert, south of Riyadh, is notoriously ugly. The vast flat lands to the east of the mountains have been set aside for massive factories. Many of these factories, with virtually unlimited space in the nearby desert, often leave heaps of junk to grow crusty under the sun.
In some ways, the derelict piles are impressive. There are mazes of giant, empty cable spools and bundles of mud-bricks tilted on sands.
Saudi Arabia is currently in an economic development renaissance. With so many developed and developing nations investing heavily in green energy and alternative fuels, the supremacy of oil is less certain than ever before. Nations in the Middle East who have the economic muscles to transition are making strides in diversifying their national economic portfolio.
Saudi Arabia, for example, has shifted towards a more open tourism industry. Riyadh is being upgraded into a world-class city. And the area south of the city now hosts factories refining and producing new materials and goods.
For all that, the area directly south of Riyadh isn’t especially impressive to look at.
Crop Circles
After some time in the true desert, greenery started appearing more frequently. There were date trees growing in orchards and patches of farmland. Ahmed pointed out the famous “green circle farms” of Saudi Arabia.
If anyone has flown over Saudi Arabia, they’ll notice perfectly circular farms bright against the brown of the desert. These agricultural sites are especially clever growth circles. They’re watered by a overhead pipe on wheels which pivots from a central water cistern or tank. The farmland is actually tilted slightly inwards, like a very shallow funnel. This ensures that surplus runoff water returns to the source, preventing the powerfully limited resource from simply evaporating. Furthermore, watering is done mostly at night to better conserve the life-giving liquid.
Ahmed and I continued to drive south, passing the central Al-Kharj civic center and steering through Ad Dilam. We spent a few moments patrolling the city before reorienting ourselves and zooming even further south.
My desired target was the obscure Ad Dilam Pigeon Tower, a singular, isolated structure standing proud in the desert. Ahmed drove us past herds of black camels and over red cresting sand dunes until we found an blocky, abandoned complex with the Pigeon Tower located behind it.
A History of Pigeon Towers
The area around Ad Dilam has been farmland for generations. It is one of the only places in the district with a viable underground water reservoir. However, water alone doesn’t enable farmland to thrive. The soil of this area was far too thin and lacked nutrients to sustain growth.
But in yet another fit of inspired human ingenuity, locals found a way to fertilize the land. Using the phosphorus and nitrogen found in pigeon guano, farmers were able to turn loose, dead soil into a wellspring for stable food.
The pigeon towers were originally built to provide shelter, breeding grounds and protected habitats for pigeons in an otherwise harsh environment. The structure is utterly unique, with fourteen mud-packed towered extending high into the sky. Inside, wooden crossbeams reinforce the hollow structures and a flat stone base was once used to collect pigeon guano.
Most impressively are the pots. The entire structure was made of tilted pottery, leaning backwards, directly inverse of the tower’s wall-slants, creating a remarkably ancient and stable series of buildings. Some of these pots are tilted nooks, perfect for sheltered nesting. Other pots are smashed out at the base, creating openings to the skies where ancient pigeons could flit in and out. The pots are held together with walls of packed and dried mud-cement-mixture.
Despite the site’s heritage, excellent state of repair and functionality, the space is largely abandoned. While walking within, Ahmed and I only saw a pair of swallows and a gecko.
The reason for the empty towers became apparent upon skirting the outside of the building. Tiny bullet casings glint in the sand. The tower is a popular hunting ground for those seeking out birds for either sport or sustenance. Generations of birds have grown weary, and no longer inhabit the once-thriving ancient structure.
Historic Towns
After driving away from the Pigeon Tower, Ahmed and I were exhausted. Exploring the desert in the summer is a nightmare for energy endurance. The heat simply takes everything from you.
We drove to another couple of locations, but largely stayed in the car. First, we took a detour to visit the rare Mawan Hidden Canyon, which is known for it’s brown stone walls, shallow seasonal creek and wintertime flower-fields. However, in the depths of summer, we only saw dramatically carved stones and a dry canyon.
We also attempted to visit Hagla Lake, but recent road construction has blocked off that rather plain water feature. Deciding to seek out lunch instead, Ahmed and I returned to Ad Dilam to seek out the so-called heritage ruins. These ruins are scattered around, but unpreserved. The actual “heritage site” is a small complex roughly akin to a modern mini-amuseument park.
Not terribly amused, Ahmed and I continued, eating a feast of rice and camel before starting the long drive back to Riyadh. For the remainder of the trip, we exchanged music recommendations, and breilfy drove past the rather impressive water features of Wadi Hanifa near the Al-Yamamah Garden in the south of the city. We settled down for some matcha tea, tired from the day’s adventures, and then wandered home.
Blaring and Bright
For a few days, I got a chance to rest. However, immobility doesn’t suit me. A friend named Bahi offered to show me around the thriving Riyadh Boulevard.
As I mentioned before, Saudi Arabia is making a strong attempt to make itself appealing as a tourism destination. They’ve poured a substantial number of investments in the massive new nightlife district, Riyadh Boulevard.
While drinking and dancing simply aren’t Arabian social pastimes, the new district does everything in its power to appeal to recreation without these features. The district, inspired by Tokyo, Times Square and a bit of LA, hosts artworks, novelty shops, virtual reality experiences, outdoor concerts, carnival games, restaurants and upscale shopping venues. There are also musical fountains, strange, glowing garden art displays, large café hangouts, endlessly rotating fans shooting mist to lower ambient desert temperatures, flower gardens, spotlight shows and blaringly bright advertisement screens.
The venue is developing rapidly with new districts being opened every few months. It’s a little odd to see men wearing thawbs firing water guns to win giant golden banana plushies with smiles. And it’s equally strange to see women in full burkas and hijabs uncovering their hair to take brief selfies in front of fountain light shows.
For the time being, entry is free as Riyadh is attempting to diversify it’s international portfolio to include tourism, since they fear green energy will eventually hinder their singular oil revenues. Perhaps tourism will continue to boom.
I spent an entire night vibrating on coffee while walking around with Bahi. When I finally got home, I could hear echoes of music in my ears and tiny lights still danced behind my closed eyelids.
This concludes another week in Saudi Arabia. I’m hoping, that with my first full paycheck inbound in September, I’ll be able to get out and explore nearby countries on weekends.
But until then, I’m just relaxing in the center of a desert, praising Willis Carrier for the invention of the air conditioner.
So until then,
Best regards and excellent trails,
Old Sean
Written August 8th 2023
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Ten years ago, I abandoned my military surplus store backpack for a Farpoint 40 Osprey Travel Pack. I’ve never replaced my bag since. Two years ago, I bought two more Osprey Backpacks for my younger siblings on their first tour outside the country. I have nothing but praise for Osprey Products.
