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Othman Llewellyn's Arabia: a Guide to Mountains of Unusual Beauty

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Othman Llewellyn's Arabia: a Guide to Mountains of Unusual Beauty OTHMAN LLEWELLYN'S ARABIA: A GUIDE TO MOUNTAINS OF UNUSUAL BEAUTY (Notes taken by John Ady based on the talk given by Mr. Llewellyn on January 17, 1991) Those who attended the meeting held in January 1991, on the evening of the outbreak of the Kuwait war, when the speaker kept nobly to his promise to get to us from Riyadh, will remember his lyrical descriptions of the beauty of Arabian mountain landscapes. He had seen these during several years of extensive travel around Saudi Arabia on behalf of the National Commission for WilcJIife Conservation and Development (NCWCD), helping to select areas to be designated for protection for the value of their vegetation, wildlife and scenery. As a reminder for those who may be able to visit them, we include a map marked with the localities he described (Figure 1). We have added a few further places, all of them mountain areas of unusual beauty, with brief notes on their character based on his descriptions. This is neither a guide nor a guarantee of their accessibility. In most cases a four-wheel drive vehicle is essential to reach them. 1: Jabal Aja' & Jabal Salma These are two separate but nearby mountain ranges, each a maze of pinnacles and domes of red, rose and lavender granite with many perennial and ephemeral springs. They are full of acacia and palm groves nestling in the heights of the mountains with one of the most wonderful displays of spring flowers in Arabia when the rains have been good. It holds a few small herds of ibex, also wolves and ratels, is said to have caracal and may have some of the largest colonies of griffon vultures in the world. The area is also on the migratory route of demoiselle cranes that pass over in flocks of hundreds. It is a refuge of Pleistocene life with the greatest biological diversity of any site in Najd . • Jabal Aja is located immediately west and southwest and Jabal Salma 70 km southeast of Hail. 2: Majami' al Hadb The Arabic name, "clusters or catchments of domes" is a good description. Hundreds of smoothly rounded gray to pale rose granite exfoliation domes rise 4-500 m above the plain, contrasting strongly with the adjacent hulking black volcanic rocks. These are classical examples of the form. The rainfall is low but running off the domes, collects in runnels that support surprisingly dense vegetation, creating an island of good habitat surrounded by devastated countryside. There are even Afrotropical plant species to be found there. It has been badly overhunted with the result that the ostriches and rich ungulate fauna it once had are lost, the ibex only recently. Gradually these species will be reintroduced by the NCWCD. • 100 km across desert due east of Ranyah, 300 krn east of Taif. 44 r Llewellyn's Arabia 3: 'Uruq Bani Mu'arid 'Uruq means long dunes, and these scenic 250 m high breakers of rose-colored sand, 100 km long, are the largest and longest longitudinal dunes on earth. Their wavelength is 1 to 2 1/2 km and the corridors between them, traversed in places by barchan dunes, are remarkably well vegetated and little grazed. They rise over the southern end of Jabal Tuwaiq whose dissected limestone wadi beds are un grazed and relatively well vegetated. Owing to their inaccessibility they are one of the most intact ecosystems left in Arabia. It was here in 1978-9, that the last reported sightings of Arabian oryx in the wild were made by pilots flying overhead. The dunes of 'Uruq Bani Mu'arid offer a very suitable area for the reintroduction of wildlife. • On the western edge of the Rub al Khali, east of the Najran-Sulayil road. 4: Jabal ad Dubbagb A precipitous granite pluton rising from 200 m above an exceedingly arid coastal plain through a range of life zones to 2,300 m high where it is often covered with snow. Its smooth spires have the appearance of glaciated country and the rock has beautifully delicate honeycomb weathering with many natural windows and bridges. Under the rock, streams can be heard and there are many seeps and springs supporting several endemic plant species. Magnificent Acacia raddiana and Juniperus phoenicia stand in the cirques. Hidden in a small valley near the summit grows a fragrant white tulip known from Siberia, Tulipa biflora, a Pleistocene relict found so far south only here, on nearby Jabal al Lawz and on one Egyptian peak. Ibex and caracal are also found on the mountain. • 35 km north-northeast of Duba. 5: Jabal Qaraqir Jabal Qaraqir is a labyrinth as rugged as Bryce Canyon in southern Utah but on a wider scale and twenty times as high. It is composed of reddish Quweira sandstone capped with yellowish Ramm sandstone (the formation which runs from Petra to Al Ula) and is covered with honeycomb weathering. There are permanent springs among the deep narrow canyons, one stream is 6 km long and seeps supporting hanging gardens of maidenhair fern. There are cascades of azure-leafed Capparis spinosa and the only thickets of wild oleander in the country. The inaccessible summits harbor herds of ibex that are thought to be the largest populations in Arabia. • 65 km west of Duba on the Duba-Tabuk road, then 50 km south near Dissah. 6: AI Wa'bab Al Wa'bah is a sunken volcanic crater 250 m deep and 2 km across. Its floor is crusted with accumulated salts banded like white agate when dry but after rain, with subtle shades of ochre I Llewellyn's Arabia I 3: 'Uruq Bani Mu'arid 'Uruq means long dunes, and these scenic 250 m high breakers of rose-colored sand, 100 km long, are the largest and longest longitudinal dunes on earth. Their wavelength is 1 to 2 1/2 km and the corridors between them, traversed in places by barchan dunes, are remarkably well vegetated and little grazed. They rise over the southern end of Jabal Tuwaiq whose dissected limestone wadi beds are ungrazed and relatively well vegetated. Owing to their inaccessibility they are one of the most intact ecosystems left in Arabia. It was here in 1978-9, that the last reported sightings of Arabian oryx in the wild were made by pilots flying overhead. The dunes of 'Uruq Bani Mu'arid offer a very suitable area for the reintroduction of wildlife. • On the western edge of the Rub al Khali, east of the Najran-Sulayil road. 4: Jabal ad Dubbagh A precipitous granite pluton rising from 200 m above an exceedingly arid coastal plain through a range of life zones to 2,300 m high where it is often covered with snow. Its smooth spires have the appearance of glaciated country and the rock has beautifully delicate honeycomb weathering with many natural windows and bridges. Under the rock, streams can be heard and there are many seeps and springs supporting several endemic plant species. Magnificent Acacia raddiana and Juniperus phoenicia stand in the cirques. Hidden in a small valley near the summit grows a fragrant white tulip known from Siberia, Tulipa bij7ora, a Pleistocene relict found so far south only here, on nearby Jabal al Lawz and on one Egyptian peak. Ibex and caracal are also found on the mountain. • 35 km north-northeast of Duba. 5: Jabal Qaraqir Jabal Qaraqir is a labyrinth as rugged as Bryce Canyon in southern Utah but on a wider scale and twenty times as high. It is composed of reddish Quweira sandstone capped with yellowish Ramm sandstone (the formation which runs from Petra to Al Ula) and is covered with honeycomb weathering. There are permanent springs among the deep narrow canyons, one stream is 6 km long and seeps supporting hanging gardens of maidenhair fern. There are cascades of azure-leafed Capparis spinosa and the only thickets of wild oleander in the country. The inaccessible summits harbor herds of ibex that are thought to be the largest populations in Arabia. • 65 km west of Duba on the Duba-Tabuk road, then 50 km south near Dissah. 6: AI Wa'bah Al Wa'bah is a sunken volcanic crater 250 m deep and 2 km across. Its floor is crusted with accumulated salts banded like white agate when dry but after rain, with subtle shades of ochre 45 Journal ofthe Saudi Arabian Natural History Society and lavender. The salt accumulates in a pattern of converging runnels, contrasting strongly with the dark volcanic walls. On its northeast side is an oasis of palms. To the east the Harrat Kishb is one of the most rugged of lava flows with good examples of ropy (pahoehoe) and rugged (aa) lavas. There are groves of moringa trees; wolves and hyenas and gazelles have been reported. • Near the village of Al Hufr, 75 km north of Radwan on the Taif-Riyadh road. 7: AI Hijr AI Hijr is the classical name for the region of Madain Salih and Al Ula. The area is composed of the same arresting sandstones as Jabal Qaraqir. These are on the east side of the plateau capped by Harrat 'Uwayrid which has ibex and gazelles. The landscape is not as grand nor as biologically rich as Qaraqir but the rock is eroded into sculptural fonns and is covered by filigree bands of honeycomb weathering. The scale of the wide bowl surrounding Madain Salih is impressive. • Al Ula and Madain Salih are 300 km directly north-northwest of Al Madinah. 8: Hisma The northern extension of the sandstone of Jabal Qaraqir but where Qaraqir is a mazy creviced mass, Hisma is a broken range of weathered red monoliths in space, thousands on thousands of separate blocks and peaks surrounded by rose and apricot colored sands.
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