“There are places in the world which bring you back to your core, revealing the barest elements of a person. And there are places which provide wide spaces and allow people to layer new thoughts upon themselves. The deserts of Saudi Arabia, for myself, are the latter.” – Old Sean
So the Slug Arrives
While my last trip allowed me to enjoy the strange and lovely Citrus Festival of Al Hariq to the south of Riyadh in the KSA, my next journey was a bit further. I would be taking a plane to Abha, one of the corner regions of the country.
Living in Riyadh is wonderful for income and technological comforts. But the city was originally conceived as a central position in the country, bordered by defensive desert expanses. This makes tourism to the more notorious parts of the county tricky. For those based in Riyadh, only Al Hofuf, Al Kharj, Dammam and a smattering of prominent historical villages are close enough for easy day trips by car.
So when I want to see other areas, it generally requires a quick flight and a long drive. That’s exactly what I planned when I flew to Abha, a famed mountain city in the southwest of the country.
On Thursday evening, I found a car to drive me to the airport where I hopped aboard a plane after a sluggish work day.
Car rental
The real risk for this trip was my car rental capabilities. Yes, I had an international driving permit, but technically it’s only valid in Latin language countries. And yes, I had a US driving license, but that was also a sketchy proposition. I wasn’t even able to pay with my normal cards. My friend Ahmed, saint that he is, had to fill one up with money that was capable of booking a car.
When I finally arrived, my concern mounted. Renting took the better part of an hour as the staff struggled to get my credentials verified to satisfy their system. But finally, I was granted a white vehicle to rotate through the city. I took my time making a video of any pre-existing damages. But everything seemed like it was in excellent condition.
Mildly elated, I zoomed through the busy night streets until I reached my hotel.
Reek Ramen
Now, I knew not to expect much from my temporary domicile. I had used some tepid travel-credit points to get a free hotel, knowing they were due to expire in a month or so. But I didn’t have many left and the company, Trip.com, is only partnered with a few locations in the area.
But wow. What a letdown.
The bare-bones hotel room was clean, at least. But everything was stark, the bed basically just a plank with covers.
But I’ve slept rough before, so I shrugged it off. I was happy to see everything clean, so I could forgive other shortages.
Then I tried to wash my face.
The water wasn’t… right. It was clear and cold, but had an odd, enduring scent. It smelled exactly like the broth found in instant ramen. I struggled to get the smell off my hands and was forced to grab some water bottles from a nearby shop to do my bedtime routine.
Ah, well, such is traveling. Ramen-scented tap water can now be added to the experience pool.
Restless Rise
I originally planned on waking up at 6 AM on Friday. Saudi Arabians, as a whole, generally sleep in a lot on weekends (Friday and Saturday). This sometimes means things are closed. But it can also be a boon for traveling and avoiding any traffic whatsoever.
I awoke an hour early and quickly headed out the door. I only stopped at a 24-hour shop for coffee, apples, water and a thin container of pineapples.
Then I drove.
The drive started out smoothly enough. I was groggy, but not terribly so. The roads were deserted and I had to take special care to avoid speeding. Saudi Arabia is absolutely saturated with speed traps and speed cameras.
The ending-night scenery was impressive, curling with low clouds that accented yellow lights on the side of the road.
East Sear
As the sun began to rise, I was forced to don my glasses against the dawn. My journey would be shooting straight east, so I knew most of my morning would be glaring at our nearest star.
Initially, the patterns between the sunrise and cloud bursts were lovely. Abha has more rain and clouds than most of Saudi Arabia, making the heavens far more diverse to look at. But eventually, the searing light started to get to me.
Basically every Saudi Arabian I spoke to warned me of the intense cold the Anha region is known for. I took this with a grain of salt, since Saudi folks are notoriously and understandably uncomfortable with mild chills.
I was proven right. Even my light jacket in the middle of the night was often too much, causing me to sweat during evening walks. But my extra clothes were welcome as hoods and scarves, helping a layer of sunscreen protect my skin from solar beams.
The Desert Troops
My stops along the desert route were interesting enough. First, I spent some time in small villages to seek out a new architecture style native to the region.
Similar to Nadj Style architecture, the region to the south of Abha is home to mud brick buildings with smooth outer features and bracing wood beams. However, the buildings here are almost always sizable towers, built in distinct segments to ensure a multi storied structure. Traditional sources indicate that the lower levels could house and protect livestock while the upper portions were better for living arrangements.
This part of my day was slow and leisurely. I browsed the interiors of old ruins and gazed at the fun little roundabout artworks so prevalent in Saudi Arabia.
But soon I had left the large urban sprawl behind and entered the truly deep desert, where paved roads are a coin toss.
I was startled to find a thriving biosphere out here. The terrain was far more fertile than the lands around Riyadh. Stubby trees and hardy grasses cropped up over stones. The rocks here were also different, a dull red with jagged cracks down the sides.
Most of all, it was the animals that caught my eye. In the distance, I spotted my first wild oryx. Far closer, clouds of little brown birds sheltered in a spiny bush. Hawks circled overhead and lizards made loud skittering noises as they darted away from me.
But most prevailing of all were the dogs and baboons.
Wild dogs aren’t new to me, especially in Saudi Arabia. Rangy, pointy-eared and light furred, they dot huge portions of the desert. However, what was new to me were the large troops of scavenging baboons. They seemed to get along with the canines surprisingly well, often poking them and dancing nearby. The dogs, in return, seemed cheerful enough with their desert companions.
Baboons, to me, are odd creatures. They strike me as much more aggressive than monkeys and devilishly clever. I thought it was cute watching the tiny critters cling to their mothers or tumble across the ground. And the long fur around the faces of males was impressive too, even if they were too bold for my taste, often scampering close to see if I could be robbed of food.
There are signs all across the country warning locals to avoid feeding baboons. This is wise, as it tends to concentrate their numbers and make them far more competitive and aggressive. However, the ones I saw scavenging trash are still fearless of humans.
A final note. While baboons are interesting and something far removed from my childhood experience, I find their red butts a little unsettling. The color doesn’t bother me, but the shape does. They’re always too prominent and lopsided and the anatomy makes me think of an infection or fever. It’s not a logical line of thought, just something that prevents me from calling the species “cute.”
Slamwheel
As I continued to drive through the desert outlands, I was treated to a new reality.
Speed bumps.
This region of Saudi Arabia has the worst speed bumps I’ve seen in my life. In general, Saudi Arabia boasts excellent roads, largely thanks to their infrastructure and a lack of snow and rain damaging concrete.
But Saudi Arabians are known for driving fast in the outlands. So speed bumps are a natural response.
But the ones in this area are often unpainted, painfully sharp and appear randomly whatever there are two or three distant buildings clustered together. They’re almost never visible and I usually only notice them once I’ve slammed a tire into concrete at axil-shattering speeds.
To a certain extent, this isn’t an infrastructure issue, but an environmental one. The deserts of Saudi Arabia are strafed by non-stop sunlight, which means that paint is usually seared away within a few months. As such, even painted speed bumps start blending in like a camouflaged predator after a year or so.
So as you read the rest of this article, know that all events are interspaced with lots of sudden, wrenching slam noises and spews of profanity cutting through easy-listening desert jazz radio.
Prickly Ruins
As I continued through desert backroads, it wasn’t long before I arrived at my first major destination location.
Al-Jahamah Historical Village is a splendid example of ingenious Saudi ancient architecture.
As Saudi Arabia makes incredible strides towards developing its tourism industry, many of its ancient heritage sites are being revitalized. Sometimes, this is done amazingly. And other times, the final results are lackluster or indistinct.
But I’m pleased to report that Al-Jahamah is a stupendous restoration work.
Red earthworks and stones are expertly reconstructed turning the sun-facing village into a small maze of towers. There are solid walking paths, interesting nooks, a small museum and commanding views over the nearby landscapes.
Al-Jahamah is built in the unique southern style of the region. The buildings use fitted stone base foundations and twisting wood (usually tamarisk or juniper) for door frames. The upper portions of the buildings are far more interesting. Segments of mud brick walls are interrupted by row after row of narrow flat stones, angled downwards like small awnings.
Architecturally, this puzzled me. The stones added considerable weight and they were embedded too shallow to be supporting features of the walls.
I didn’t understand until I looked at the stone lips. All were cut “in” at the outer edge, ensuring water droplets would be flung outwards.
The stones are actually very clever mini-awnings designed to shed rain away from the mud bakes walls of the building, ensuring longevity of the structure. For all intents and purposes, the building is waterproof as long as rain falls at a relatively straight angle.
There are several competing terms for this style of building and the general term (Asiri Architecture) is used for several other distinct styles in the region. But for a descriptive title, I’m calling it Desert Aseeri (Asiri) Mud-Slatted Architecture. Asiri/Aseeri, of course, refers to the Aseer Province of Saudi Arabia.
I spent a long time exploring the ruins. I spotted old milestones, unique cactus patches, bundles of thorny plants and amazing diversity in foliage. The region gets more rain and fertility than other parts of Saudi Arabia, so yellow bulbs, strange cacti, twisting trees and skittish ground birds were prevalent.
I finally completed one final, lonely loop of the place, spending the most time at the majestically reconstructed tower with its white and green painted walls.
The entire time, I was alone in my wanderings. Apparently, 7:30 AM is still far too early for local tourism.
High Out Drive
Following my visit to Al-Jahamah Historical Village, I spotted back towards the main road, nailing speed bump after speed bump along the way.
I was reluctant to take the main route to my prime destination, Najran, because Google Maps indicated there were tolls.
I have no idea how to pay tolls in Saudi Arabia. I didn’t have a vehicular toll tag, nor did I have small bills for deposits, I didn’t even have a credit card which was necessarily valid in the region, as not everywhere in the country accepts Visa.
But after two locals assured me there were no tolls, I decided to risk it. And luckily, Google Maps is a liar in this regard. I started zooming through the desert at speed, not a toll-booth in sight.
As I drove, I got to see a huge range of arid environments. The region is truly quite diverse.
When people think “desert,” they don’t consider the range within that word. There are highland deserts, sand-based deserts, leached-soil deserts, salt-soil deserts, stone deserts, decayed mountain deserts, baked deadwood deserts and more.
During my drive, I started in low, dried mountains with craggy, glum features. Eventually, these morphed into strange high soils, crumbly red dirt which showed devastating scars from past rainfall. Again, this morphed into black volcanic stones, rounded and unburied from other minerals, the very blackened bones of a distant past. And further, desert scrublands, rusting with baboons and small, ground-bound birds. But then came rolling mountains which dominated entire horizons, only allowing vehicles through jagged canyons.
The diversity of deserts soothed me. It gave me a lot to look at and hours upon hours to think.
In the Elder Scrolls Game Skyrim, there’s an NPC character which describes the cold nation as a place which carves a man down to his truest self. Specifically, in the post-war dialogue character General Tullius states “…The harshness of Skyrim has a way of carving a man down to his true self.”
The fictional character was speaking of a fictional realm, but I’ve been to real places like that. There are demanding places in the world where the starkness of my own being and follies strikes me.
However, I think the deserts of Saudi Arabia are the opposite. There’s so much space to think, it allows us to consider new layers to reality and choose what we might apply to ourselves going forward. It’s a place for fresh philosophies and flyaway thoughts to become profound.
So on I drove.
Check Me Out
My daydreams started facing frequent interruptions as I drew close to Najran. Due to its proximity to the Yemeni border, there are many checkpoints.
Being an American in a clearly empty vehicle helped out here a lot. On occasions when I was stopped, a quick glance at my passport allowed me to carry on. It was a surprisingly painless process, despite the speed bumps that foretold the checkpoints.
I wish to also note that there are a ton of hitchhikers in this region. While perhaps one or two could have been Saudi, the vast majority are clearly Yemeni.
Normally, I’m not adverse to picking up hitchhikers. But with the prevalence of checkpoints, I decided to keep on driving this time.
Sometimes it’s hard to do a good thing while abroad. The rules that dictate the generosity or obligation of an action are potentially damning.
Knowing Najran
Finally, I arrived in Najran.
While this was a big trip for an out-of-the-way pocket of Saudi Arabia, I felt like it was worth the journey. It’s a part of the world few Americans will get a chance to experience. And I truly don’t believe I’ll have another chance to explore it during this lifetime.
On that note, an overview of Najran.
The Arabic name Najrān has at least two modern meanings: It can refer to both the wooden frame on which a door opens and also the adjective “thirsty”. There’s a compelling local folk-tradition that states the name came from the first man to settle in the area, Najran ibn Zaydan.
The settlement of Najran is truly ancient, holding a verifiable recorded history of at least 4,000 years. It was conquered by the Romans as the first stronghold during their invasion of the Yemeni Kingdom of Saba’. In truly ancient records, the city is cited as Al-Ukhdūd. In prehistoric times, the region was still settled by evidence of truly ancient stone tools.
The city was a vital trade point, known as a major stop on the legendary Incense Route, which linked the Mediterranean world with eastern and southern sources of goods, such as incense, spices and other luxury imports. Due to this, Najran has two mentions in the UNESCO Index, on both The Frankincense Trail in Oman (extending through numerous regions) and the aforementioned Incense Route through Desert Cities in the Negev.
While I didn’t personally get to visit it, Najran’s region is also mentioned by UNESCO for the Hama Wells. Located to the north, this is one of the largest rock artworks in the world and a major signpost for ancient caravan routes.
Additionally, the oasis of Najran was an independent kingdom for a time, namely the Mah’amar Kingdom during the 600s BCE. Due to its vitality as a trade point, the capital was attacked and destroyed by the Arabian Sabaean Kingdom in the early 600s BCE.
This is just to demonstrate one aspect of the region’s history. There are countless other treasures and discoveries, including famous references, ancient currencies, rock cut Musnad (Old South Arabian) and Thamudic (aggregate name for some 15,000 inscriptions from all over Arabia) Scripts, bronze slabs, rock artworks and other tools.
The modern culture of Najran is also unique among Saudi Arabia. Jewelry is especially famous in the region, with styles being known as Hadawud, Matal and Mudawwar. Performing arts include the Az-Zamil, Al-Razfah, Al-Marafi folk music and folkloric music. Currently, the city is in a unique state of historic preservation, archeological excavations, modern economic development and adhering to Vision 2030 goals.
Scattershot History
One of the strange things about Najran is the architectural scatter found throughout the region.
Many of the buildings are traditional, somewhat akin to the Nadj Style. However, these structures are clearly quite old and often in states of minor decay. Confusingly, right next to these ruins are fully restored buildings in the same style, surrounded by compound walls.
I learned these are actually modern buildings which use stable cinder blocks for construction, before having the traditional brown and white outer walls added on.
Then, even more bizarre, there are modern buildings everywhere, interspaced between the actual ruins, farms, modern re-creations and streets. These modern structures can be anything, from fast food shops, nice little houses, insurance companies and gas stations. While there are a couple clear, distinct districts, the city of Najran clearly grew very organically around the ruins of its past.
Even the famed Qabil Mud Houses are interspaced with residential areas, neat little farms and family compounds.
Overall, it gives the entire area a bit of a scattershot impression from a design standpoint. Even the roads tumble in impossible directions with tons of blind corners and curse-worthy speed bumps. All of this is encased in a ring of steep, brownish mountains with the occasional water tower rising over empty fields.
From a city-design standpoint, it’s worth mentioning that Najran has unique lamp posts. These are softly curving from either stride of the street. With the white color contrasting with darker mountains, it has the unique effect of “framing” whatever a person is driving towards. This works especially well when a road is facing a landmark or mountain.
Just a fun, visual note I appreciated during my visit.
Softly Blow the Blades
One of the issues of traveling in Saudi Arabia on the weekend is the lack of things that are open. Truly, if access is needed, 1 PM is the earliest someone will nudge open the doors. 3 PM is far more realistic and most markets and other scheduled events are only likely to get active after the 8 PM mark.
Therefore, I was very lucky that the Archeological Tourism Center was open at 1:00PM. Soft blades of fluffy, dry grass waved in front while mountains settled in the distance. The center was the access point for a large, looping archeological trail.
The archeological site has several main features. The fort, the milestones and the information center.
All of the uncovered ruins, which are stacked like haphazard legos, indicate that this region was an intense economic hub with substantial agricultural activity. The state of the fort indicates that it was a desirable location for raids and military action.
I spent a good hour hiking through the Archaeological Site (AlUkhdud Archaeological Site). It was a fascinating walk, accented further by darting lizards and a surprising number of songbirds.
Candidly, walking does so much for my soul.
New Style District
Earlier in this post, I mentioned the unique desert architecture I dubbed Asiri Mud-Slatted Architecture. Najran doesn’t follow the conventions of that style, though the traditional architecture still uses mud-brick designs and horizontally-lined segmented walls. Likewise, the Najran-style is clearly distinct from Riyadh’s Nadj buildings.
The name for this is usually referenced as traditional midmakh buildings (or traditional adobe brick buildings). The style is heavily influenced by Yemini conventions, but Najran has other distinctive traits, including white-crowned window frames and small roof-line arches.
It’s worth driving through the majority of Najran’s historic sites just to glance at the midmakh building style.
After finally getting a real tourism experience in Najran’s Archeological Site, I drove over to the rising cultural neighborhood of the city.
Located on the north bank of the currently-dry wadi, Aba Lasaud Neighborhood is home to several historical buildings and the region’s largest market district.
I started my wanderings at Amarah Palace, which was sadly still closed. But that gave me plenty of time to browse various shops and stores looking for interesting features.
However, a lot of the touristy stuff here was just that; touristy. Most of the stuff I found was common across all of Saudi Arabia. I was grateful to rest in a cafe coveted by the branches of a flowering tree. But I ultimately decided to scoot onwards.
The Clamberlands
The rest of my day was surprisingly wonderful. I made a quick tour of various historical sites, including Aan Palace, the mountaintops historical resort center Sheikh Ali Bin Hussein Al Makrami Palace and a couple of tiny shops for a snack. My favorite feature was a strange ruined fort on top of a massive boulder. When translated, I believe it means Ali Bali Fort, but the Arabic text on the plaque calls it “حصن علي بالس.”
Sadly, other information was scanty. It was impressive ruin to try to reach, though.
However, it was only after I checked off all my tourism boxes that I got truly excited. I headed off to the nearby stones of Mount Raoum on the opposite site of the wadi and started to climb. And scramble. And clamber and scrabble.
Basically the rest of my day was spent bounding over rocks. Desert mountains, especially old, rounded desert mountains, are perfect for amateur rock hopping. The surfaces, generally devoid of whole-surface water erosion, are quite grippy and easy to hold.
However, soon I saw the sun marching westward and knew it was time to go. I was in no mood to try driving in Saudi Arabian deserts during the deep night, and I had an active day planned tomorrow as well.
Reluctantly, I shuffled off my mountain and began driving up the steep road to the upper plateau.
Bump Back
The drive back to my hotel in Abha went swiftly enough. Traffic was scarce and the speed limit through most of the desert is a whopping 120 kilometers per hour. Naturally, I glared into the sun the entire time, now that we were both journeying west.
However, again and again I was frequently jammed and battered by nearly-invisible speed bumps.
I ask, what’s the point of having perfectly paved roads if they’re just going to be turned into damaging speed jump pads?
Add to this the issue of pickup trucks.
I generally like pickup truck drivers. They’re helpful, hardy and pretty great in emergencies.
But pickup truck drivers in Saudi Arabia are notorious deviants. They zoom at high speeds, swerve through traffic, tailgate like they’re getting paid to do it and dip off roads to kick up rubble before tilting back onto concrete. Generally, they make themselves a problem for everyone else.
But even these two hiccups couldn’t take away the sheer pleasure I felt driving back to Abha. I haven’t had a chance to road trip solo in a long while. It’s an experience I treasure.
But now another chapter is done. I’ve seen Najran and half my weekend was dedicated to that adventure. Tonight, I’ll spend my time in Abha before rising early for another vacation plan tomorrow.
So until then,
Best regards and excellent trails,
Old Sean
Written January 19th, 2024
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