Back in Action - Part I: Edge of the World

For various reasons the Blog has been AWOL for several weeks so I will highlight the events of the past month. The key and most important event of my experience her in Riyadh was the all too brief visit of Janet in mid-February. We had a wonderful time together both in Riyadh and in a side trip to Jeddah in the far west of Saudi Arabia. Our peak experience in Riyadh was a trip into the desert to view and hike around the area appropriately named the Edge of the World, which is located about an 1-1/2 hour drive outside Riyadh. Janet and I and three other expats made the bone-shaking trip in a four wheel-drive Jeep through the scrub desert over a trail that at best provided a clearly marked gravel road bed and at worst deteriorated into soft sand or step hills and craters with axle-testing rocks. Our driver was a Norwegian who (praise God!) was an expert trekker and knew the route well with some GPS support. Another couple was driven by our favorite Pakistani limo driver, S. in his 8-cylinder Ford sedan. If you are envisioning a Lawrence of Arabia scenario with vistas of sand dunes - well that's the movie and another part of the Saudi eco-system. The desert leading up to the rim of a high plateau, ie., the Edge of the World, was flat, crossed by dry river beds, with occasional clumps of brush and low-lying trees that must have been fed by underground aquifers since this area had not experienced rain for 6-12 months. Solitary and small clusters (too few for a herd) of camels were seen off-road usually around the small oases of trees and brush. At one point we stopped to let a goat herder who led but didn't ride a small pony, and his flock pass in front of us.

About half way into the trip through the desert we saw a sign in Arabic and English that announced that we were approaching a dam! To our amazement as we crested a rise to our left was a totally bone dry reservoir: again it had not seen liquid in a very long time. Why was it here in the very midst of Nowhere and did it ever hold any H2O? Soon after the track seemed to end at a set of pillars and link-chain fence. Our driver, let's call him Nels, was quite surprised as during his most recent trip he had maneuvered around this obstacle. Finally he discovered the gate which was locked by a heavy chain.  Nearby was a small building resembling a class room portable and several of us walked up to it hoping to find a guard. Fortunately a very affable Yemeni guy opened the gate for us promising he would be on duty later in the evening to let us exit - but I had serious doubts about that!   Why exactly was this fence in place and what was the purpose of the security in this remotest of locations?Another Saudi mystery that only God can understand!

Finally we saw an uplift and break in the terrain ahead, several parked cars and a makeshift fireplace. After stretching our weary limbs, we went to the edge of the precipice - which I did very cautiously as the surface was easily fractured sandstone and the drop into the valley below between 500-700 KM. The view was breathtaking even from this vantage point as you could see for miles the plain below criss-crossed with what had once been riverbeds and no signs of human habitation. Except for streaks and patches of vegetation, it would have been a lunar landscape. Those who were able climbed up a rocky trail to the top of this ridge for an even broader view. Across the near horizon  were two flat-topped twin peaks (chimneys, actuallly) about a 1/4 mile walk ahead. Nels and two of the ladies walked to the very top for a photo op but I decided not to test my vertigo for yet another peak experience!

While some of us scrambled up the heights, Janet took photos from the plateau's edge and while doing so heard a strange low sound from the valley below which at first she couldn't identify. After peering down into the abyss she was able to spot a line of  brown objects moving in formation - and realized that she was hearing the braying of camels. Once I had returned to the lower rim, Janet remarked how she had been increasingly experiencing a sense of the age and mystery of the place, a scene that minus the cars and backpacks would not have been unfamiliar to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A glimpse perhaps of the Ancient of Days in Saudi Arabia 2012!

The plan's organizer, Edith, an expat nursing supervisor from the Netherlands had coordinated the whole trip including a picnic supper which we were to enjoy along with the Saudi sunset. Having left the rim we found a comfortable spot along a former river bed for our picnic table and portable chairs. Again Janet expressed her wonder at the scene resonant with deeper significance. This small group, five men and three woman representing five nations, Pakistan, Norway, Netherlands, Ireland and the US were in a biblical setting literally breaking Pita bread together, sipping non-alcoholic, homemade "red wine", sharing quiche, humus and cheeses and sharing our stories as the red-hued sun slipped below the horizon - an experience I will never forget.

The trip back to civilization was memorable in a different way as the darkness set in quickly in the desert. I will never understand how Nels was able to find and keep oriented to a navigable track. At one point in pitch dark, he encountered soft sand which he could maneuver but feared that the Ford limo following us could not. We sprent 10 anxious minutes during hairpin turns trying to find a more solid track. Finally - and in my view, miraculously, came to the fence and locked gate. Coincidentally, a car ahead of us filled with a group of young Syrian guys were also trying to exit but there mobile phones weren't picking up a signal. Consequently, we began to trudge up the hill to the gatekeeper's shack when he appeared smiling with his keys. I could have hugged him as I wasn't eager to spend the night in the desert, especially as it was a relatively cool evening and I also couldn't dismiss images of scorpions and snakes looking for a warm place...

Although again, the last leg of the trip from the desert to the highway, was bone-jarring, it was otherwise uneventful. Once we turned onto the asphalt, I breathed a silent prayer of thanksgiving both for the incredible experience and our departing it safe and sound but sore. However, we had only gone five minutes on a two-lane highway and up ahead was a car coming in our lane toward us full speed. By now I had full trust in Nel's driving skills but wondered what maneuvers he would execute to avoid collision. Fortunately, the car ahead quickly went onto the shoulder having decided we weren't going to yield. Having just caught our collective breath on this near miss, Nels resumed speed as it was getting late and Riydah traffic, especially on weekend evenings until about 1:00, is brutal. We saw some blinking lights ahead which sometimes indicate a security check point that are placed on the fringes of the city. Suddenly Nels hit the breaks to cushion the impact of a speed bump in the middle of this high speed highway. Janet's head hit the ceiling but otherwise no one was injured, wa-alhamdulilah... but it again begged the question: Why here?

All things considered, though, it was a WONDERFUL and unforgettable experience!