Amazing places
Desert Adventures
Around 20 minutes drive from the centre of Riyadh, 10 minutes from Riyadh King Khaled International Airport, you are immediately transported to the majestic desert landscape.
Far from being empty, barren areas, deserts here are packed with stunning scenery and captivating plant and wildlife.
From towering orange sand dunes, seen in the movies, to desert forts of years gone by, palm groves, wadi river beds, lush green oasis dotted around and the most awesome rock formations, some hiding rock etchings from 1000s of years ago, depicting the green paradise the desert once was, full of lush flora and fauna.
Other desert areas, such as "Shark Tooth Bay" provide fossil hunting adventure and camping opportunities, where fossilised coral and sea life can be found among the rocks strewn across the landscape. This area was once deep under the prehistoric ocean, home to many prehistoric creatures and plants, now encapsulated in fossilised rock!
Obviously late autumn and winter is the best time to visit, due to the extreme summer temperatures and always go in groups and take all safety precautions to guard against dehydration and breaking down/over heating.
Always seem to have 3G/4G or 5G in all areas we've been to, which is absolutely fantastic, watching a Netflix movie from your desert camp at night, under the clear jewels of a multitude of stars and remote galaxies, with an arabic coffee in hand is a memory youll take away forever!
All locations are reachable with gentle off roading, no deep sand dunes to get stuck in.
The desert Fort is located just minutes North of the Airport in Al Thumamah desert. Red Sands to the South West of Riyadh, with its stunning deep red sand, a few dried up lake beds with plant life, hard enough to drive on and the highway to Shaqra and Ushager reveals dramatic landscapes and desert villages en-route, well worth a a break and photo spot.
Lake Prodan is a stunning small oasis, not far from Ushager and easily reachable by a small off road vehicle on a gravel track - some sand but not deep - take your tent, mosquito repellent in winter, and plenty of drinking water and sleep by the lake overnight. At sunset, climb the huge sand dunes for an awesome view for miles across the dunes. Pictures will be uploaded shortly, when I find them! We were lucky enough to find a few locals sat by th elake playing music and roasting coffee, as always everywhere in Saudi, their hospitality was just amazing - you will find this everywhere here, everyone is so very friendly and ultra-hospitable, offering you dates and coffee is standard, not expecting anything in return.
Some locals will even give you a local tour around desert villages and tell you what life was like growing up in their deserted villages. They are just the loveliest warm, friendliest people you could ever meet in your lifetime, and I've travelled to many countries.
Lake Prodan is a little oasis of fresh water, just a few km from Shaqra and Ushager Heritage Villages.
It is a truely magical place to stop, camp overnight and watch the sunset over the huge sandunes that lie to the West.
Graffiti Rock, Musayqirah
About an hour's drive South West of Riyadh, on the Mecca highway, you reach Graffiti Rock (Petroglyphs) as its known to expatriates, close to the Musayqirah settlement. A man-made record etched into the sandstone from the neolithic period, some 10,000 to 300 years BC, of what the landscape used to look like - a lush green forest with an abundance of wildlife. Water bufaloes, around what once was a natural lake. Men on horseback yielding swords, lions, camels, dogs and ibexes adorn the rocks, probably inscribed by travelling caravans at the time.
After arriving on a track, best accessed by 4x4 for the final couple of hundred meters, you can walk right up to the etchings, perfectly preserved by the hot, dry desert air for thousands of years. Evidence can be found of blackenned fires, against some of the rocks, probably to keep warm at night by passing desert caravan traders.
South of Riyadh, on the Mecca road, head for the Red October observation point, where you will experience some of the most stunning desert scenery anywhere in the world - towering red sand dunes you can climb, distant mountain scenery, stunning green date palm plantations and villages. Make sure you plan in a night under the stars, the sky has no light pollution and you will see stars and distant galaxies like never before, all in the most peaceful, magical surroundings. Stop off at the ancient ruins of the Al Moqbel Palace on the way, before driving through canyon-like mountain ranges, en-route to the dunes.
Be aware of the water melon-like plant life (picture below), do not touch or taste them, they are poisonous and bitter, but water melon-like.
Follow the roads (tar and gravel) and tracks, dont be tempted to venture off into the soft deep orange sand, stick to the tracks.. as you are likely to get stuck, unless confident driving in deep sand with an appropriate vehicle and in an experienced group. Always carry plenty of water, you can quickly become dehydrated here, even in winter, the climate can be harsh.
Never seen any scorpions, spiders or snakes, but they do exist, heading toward camp fires to keep warm in winter and come out in summer.
Rawdath, Tinhat Nature Reserve
The title isnt a spelling mistake, there really is a place called Tinhat, a nature reserve, around an hour 20 minutes North of Riyadh, around 180km toward Ar Rafiah in the district of Rumah, where the mouth of several valleys converge.
Although the trek is mostly desert based, with impressive red dunes and mountains either side of the road, then a mountain range, climing up to a plane area, when you reach the Tinhat nature reserve you will be surprised how green the area is, with grass, trees, large established shrubs, lush vegetation, in the middle of nowhere. This makes a nice place to camp, picnic, or just rest up for a while, from the harsh landscape surrounding it.
If you viist in early spring you may see a number of lakes appear and tulips in flower, when many areas of the desert often come into bloom.