A Weekend Escape to the Edge of the world!

Riyadh, the capital of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia never held any charm to me. Whenever there came up a chance, we always preferred to run away from the land of deserts, barren with nature and moving lifestyle. We never thought of exploring its heart other than the shopping malls and well kept parks.

It was by sheer accident that Sreejith came upon the pictures of an exotic location that his friend had updated in her Facebook profile. The hanging cliffs, the wilderness of the desert around it and the sheer excitement on the face of travellers tempted us to the core. We started searching for the suitable comrades to explore this enchanting place. Our search ended soon and we all started our journey on 10/03/2011.

Since our company comprised of travelers as toddlers too, we had chosen comfortable and relaxed timings for our journey. The five SUVs started in a line from Hara around 9a.m in the morning.  As we took the right turn from the majestic building of Kingdom tower, the city scenarios started to change into village scenes. We passed the vegetable farms and associated stalls before we reached the wilderness of the desert. Our travel was directed by the route map taken from the websites,  GPS in the fellow companion Shaji’s car and the previous visiting knowledge of Mr. David.

The road between mountains

Our travel was uninterrupted except for missing a deviation for once. However we didn’t mind this deviation since we had a chance to travel on a road constructed between the Desert Mountains.

As we entered into the desert roads the momentum of our vehicle started to slow down. I, who had constantly questioning the need of a SUV for this drive started realizing the demand of the unpredictable desert road.

As soon as we entered to the preserved desert area, we found something surprising-the construction of a dam! Riyadh is known for the scarcity of water sources. Yet, the increase in the consecutive rains might have prompted the authorities for this construction. This is the season of rains in deserts and our vehicles moved ahead through the moist soil.

After taking permission from the check post we moved into the real wilderness of the deserts.

Continues in The Beauty of the Mirage