Rub Al Khali, the Empty Quarter

From Najran, along the Yemeni border into the Rub Al Khali, the Empty Quarter, the largest sand desert in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula, reaching as well into the UAE and Oman. Dunes reaching up to 250m in height. Driving up and down the dunes on well-paved two-laned highways. I of course don’t attempt to venture too far off the roads, only in between the dunes, where the sand is firm and there is no danger of sinking in and getting bogged in loose sand (again!!!). You can travel far on these in-between-the-dunes areas, which provide the most beautiful, remote and scenic camping spots. I now seriously regret the choice of car, wishing to have a full blown 4WD which does not mind digging the wheels into the sand. But, hey, Lola is doing well, for a van of her making.
Along the road, in between the dunes, I find the Germans again. We are trying unsuccessfully to get into the Oroug Mani M’aradh Wildlife Sanctuary, where the extinct Oryx has been reintroduced into the wild, herds of Arabian Sand Gazelles and Ostriches are roaming again. We are not lucky, the only road in this area we find is too sandy for us to access. So, we give up and travel further up the road, where Steffen and Birgit know for another access point to be. Here we learn that you can only access the reservation after prior permission by the Saudi department for the environment. But being in Saudi for quite a while now, we know, waiting a bit may bring results as well. We don’t have to wait for too long and a ranger comes along. After a short chat, we all scramble into his vehicle. And off we go into the wild. And what a ride that was! This guy really knew how to ride the dunes. After dropping a lot of air out of his tires we climbed up the highest dunes, raced along a steep tilted slope around the inside of a huge sand crater, (scary!!!) down the steep valleys, around the corner and up some more steep dunes. And even he got stuck! But as Saudis don’t get out of the car, unless absolutely necessary and don’t dig, he just put the foot to the pedal, steered left right left right…. Until the car decided that’s enough and moved again. (I’ll have to tell Lola that trick). Yes, and we even spotted an Orys; over there, on the faraway sand dune, that white spot!!!
Unfortunately, I put a little damper onto this otherwise so amazing experience. We were allowed to camp in the reservation for the night. Before we went for the 4WD excursion I was asked to leave the dog in the car, which I did. The next morning, I took Rexby on the leash to take him for a walk. The ranger and his superior came racing their car towards me and gave me to understand that he had told me to keep the dog in the car, and I was not allowed to walk him, not even on the leash. I profusely apologized, saying I felt really sorry that I unintentionally had acted against his instructions after he was so nice to us but had the impression, I was not able to fully appease him. So once I had packed up my car, I grabbed a bag of dates, you always have heaps of them in Saudi, as you are permanently gifted some, went to see him to make up, but he just laughed, thanked me and all was forgiven.
And again, you Saudis are amazing!!!! Thanks so much for this unplanned adventure!Read more