I work in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. South of us is the Empty Quarter where there are mountains of sand and little else. Between here and there is the oasis of Al Ahsa, which contains the largest fresh water lake in the kingdom.
The lake and oasis are at the low end of a freshwater aquifer that starts several hundred miles away, and are surrounded by one of the largest date palm plantations in the world with hundreds of thousands of trees.
In May I went with a tour group to visit the lake, but it didn't go too smoothly and we never made it. So we tried again in June. We left Dhahran by bus, and when we were fairly close to the lake we piled into a group of Humvees to trek across the sand to the lake, which is half encircled by a giant dune.
Of course, I didn't realize this until we drove around the lake and up the flank of the dune and suddenly were parked at the top with a steep slope of sound just below my window! Heck of a surprise but quite a view!
The lake is beautiful, and extends for many kilometers. The tour guide had some snow boards, and some of the group took turns sliding down the slope - had to be quite an exciting ride for some of them.
One young woman did something just right because she went down the hill like she'd been shot from a cannon, and kept going until she was in the lake at the bottom! One of the Saudi Hummer drivers took off running down the hill after her - I don't know how but he made it all the way to the bottom without tumbling. She was fine and laughing, and I was really surprised and impressed with his response. It took him quite a while to catch his breath and climb back up, but everyone was ok.
We stayed on the ridge until almost sunset and then planned to head to a desert bbq/cookout. It was a good plan, but you know how those things go, right?
We had driven in to the lake and dune from one direction, and went out a different way - across the dry lakebed. Things were fun until about a third of the way across when one of the Hummers was suddenly and with no warning buried in mud up to its axles! Turns out the dry lakebed was only dry for about the first half inch - below that was stinky, sticky mud! Within seconds all but 2 of the cars was buried in the stuff, and we spent the next 3 hours or so watching the Saudis try to extract the vehicles from the trap.
One car was finally pulled free, then another got stuck. Eventually three small, lightweight Toyota pickup trucks showed up - local people - and we all piled in and left the giant Hummers and their drivers. We made it to an animal sanctuary in Al Ahsa for the bbq dinner, but by this time it was 10 p.m. and we were all feeling a little weary. The food was great, a traditional Arabic cookout - grilled chicken and lamb kabobs, along with a sausage kabob that was excellent. They had BBQ chicken quarters that were very well prepared, along with slaw, grilled vegetables (onion, tomato, peppers and mushrooms), green salad, beans, and more. Of course there was Arabic flat bread which comes with most every meal. All of this surrounded by giant date palms!
We all wolfed down some food, piled back into the bus, and headed back to the city 2 hours away. I got back to my room about 0130 feeling quite worn out, but at the same time I'd had quite an adventure! I saw a place very few people ever get to visit. I had 3 hours out on a lake bed in the absolute middle of nowhere watching a fabulous night sky open up overhead, and saw satellites, meteorites, planets, and the Milky Way galaxy. And how many people can say they've been stuck in the mud on a lake in Saudi Arabia?! All in all it was a pretty cool outing!
Click here or on the wide lake picture above to see more images from this outing on Flickr!
The lake and oasis are at the low end of a freshwater aquifer that starts several hundred miles away, and are surrounded by one of the largest date palm plantations in the world with hundreds of thousands of trees.
In May I went with a tour group to visit the lake, but it didn't go too smoothly and we never made it. So we tried again in June. We left Dhahran by bus, and when we were fairly close to the lake we piled into a group of Humvees to trek across the sand to the lake, which is half encircled by a giant dune.
Of course, I didn't realize this until we drove around the lake and up the flank of the dune and suddenly were parked at the top with a steep slope of sound just below my window! Heck of a surprise but quite a view!
One young woman did something just right because she went down the hill like she'd been shot from a cannon, and kept going until she was in the lake at the bottom! One of the Saudi Hummer drivers took off running down the hill after her - I don't know how but he made it all the way to the bottom without tumbling. She was fine and laughing, and I was really surprised and impressed with his response. It took him quite a while to catch his breath and climb back up, but everyone was ok.
We stayed on the ridge until almost sunset and then planned to head to a desert bbq/cookout. It was a good plan, but you know how those things go, right?
We had driven in to the lake and dune from one direction, and went out a different way - across the dry lakebed. Things were fun until about a third of the way across when one of the Hummers was suddenly and with no warning buried in mud up to its axles! Turns out the dry lakebed was only dry for about the first half inch - below that was stinky, sticky mud! Within seconds all but 2 of the cars was buried in the stuff, and we spent the next 3 hours or so watching the Saudis try to extract the vehicles from the trap.
One car was finally pulled free, then another got stuck. Eventually three small, lightweight Toyota pickup trucks showed up - local people - and we all piled in and left the giant Hummers and their drivers. We made it to an animal sanctuary in Al Ahsa for the bbq dinner, but by this time it was 10 p.m. and we were all feeling a little weary. The food was great, a traditional Arabic cookout - grilled chicken and lamb kabobs, along with a sausage kabob that was excellent. They had BBQ chicken quarters that were very well prepared, along with slaw, grilled vegetables (onion, tomato, peppers and mushrooms), green salad, beans, and more. Of course there was Arabic flat bread which comes with most every meal. All of this surrounded by giant date palms!
We all wolfed down some food, piled back into the bus, and headed back to the city 2 hours away. I got back to my room about 0130 feeling quite worn out, but at the same time I'd had quite an adventure! I saw a place very few people ever get to visit. I had 3 hours out on a lake bed in the absolute middle of nowhere watching a fabulous night sky open up overhead, and saw satellites, meteorites, planets, and the Milky Way galaxy. And how many people can say they've been stuck in the mud on a lake in Saudi Arabia?! All in all it was a pretty cool outing!
Click here or on the wide lake picture above to see more images from this outing on Flickr!
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