Abha, Saudi Arabia

Abha, Saudi Arabia, interesting information and many pictures.

Central Region

About KSA

The Southern Region

Abha

Playing: Baghir

Pictures to open: 21

Throughout these pages, my comments, are in maroon italic type.

The Asir province, as the south western corner of the Kingdom is known, is an area where there are mountains, rainy weather, green landscapes and life with out air conditioning.
Probably the earliest mentions of the area is that of the Roman general, Aelius Gallus, who was sent in 25 BC, to conquer the south Arabian incense producing regions that are today in Yemen and Oman.
Until King Abdul Aziz conquered it in 1922, Asir was an independent kingdom.
www.mideasttravelnet.com/mideastsite/saudiarabia/cs.html

Abha is the capital of the Asir region and its cool weather, mountains and beautiful scenery make it a popular weekend resort. The highest point in Saudi Arabia is 'A Soudah' mountain, reaching a peak of 2,910 meters.
www.mideasttravelnet.com/mideastsite/saudiarabia/cs.html

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The Unspoiled Beauty of Abha, Summer 1997 www.saudiembassy.net/publications/magazine-summer-97/abha.htm

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mountains in Abha

The beauty of the mountains in Abha www.du.edu/~malsahib/view.html

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Olive oil sold in goat skins www.galenfrysinger.com/abha,_saudi_arabia.htm

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Asir National Park covers some 450,000 ha, over 1 million acres, it's a conglomeration of small parks rather than one big one. www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/middle_east/saudi_arabia/obt.htm

Asir National Park

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In the Asir park is a preserved 'hanging village'. Earlier in this century, people lived and terrace farmed in these stone huts at the base of the cliffs in the background.

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Hanging clifs

In order to get to the top of the cliffs, and travel to other villages, they had to use a system of ropes that hung from the cliff tops. http://homepages.infoseek.com/~middleeasttraveler/index.html

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At the center top of the hanging village is a place that you can hike to and see some old Saudi petroglyphics. These have depictions of animals which are no longer inhabiting this area. http://homepages.infoseek.com/~middleeasttraveler/index.html

Our A-Souda Mountain visit:

My husband, daughter and I took a road trip to the south of Saudi and stayed for 5 days on A-Soudah mountain, -- all the following pictures are our own --.

Driving in the clouds

Along the way, we drove through two cities that literally live in the clouds. The drive from Jeddah to A-soda was 11 hours and very
enjoyable because, as we got more south we also got higher iito the Sarawat mountains and the weather became cooler.

All along the road were ruins of old forts and homes, mostly built on the highest point of that area.

Old ruins

The A-Souda mountain is the highest peak (10,200'), in the Sarawat range of mountains that stretches from Jordan all the way down to Yemen along the east coast and on the Red Sea. It is mostly a tourist area and only busy during the summer because it is too cold for living, during the winter season. While we were there in August, the hottest, most humid month for Jeddah, the temperatures of A-Souda were averaging 24C degrees or 72F and dropping to 18C, or 68F during the night time. I was literally on cloud nine in this cold weather!!!!

An old home on alSoda mountain

Here I am standing just behind the building we were staying in, a long row of old rooms, one home perhaps?

my picture

It did not rain during our visit but we had such beautiful weather and twice had dark cloudy skies during the afternoon. Above you can see how the clouds 'rolled' in and covered everything.

the clouds roll in

can't see very far!

My daughter and I spent so much time enjoying, sitting in the sun, that we came home with very nice tanned faces, she commented that we should have been wearing sun screen because we were much closer to the sun on that mountain!
In the apartment we were staying at, I had every window open and just loved it, my husband and daughter couldn't believe that I was not cold. Even sitting on the balcony during the family gathering in the evenings until 1 AM I didn't need to wear a sweater, while they, were all bundled up in heavy coats and sitting next to the charcoal fire! I was just loving and enjoying every minute of the cold that I had not lived in since I was 5 years old and lived in New York!

On the mountain there is not much to do other than camping or driving around and looking at the sights. During a walk around the building we were staying in, my daughter fell in love with the mineature Dasies growing on the ground, everywhere.

We drove to and around the closest city, Abha, a good sized city about a 20 minute drive, along twisting mountain roads and descending about 2,000 ft. which brought the temperatures up to hot again....

We also rode the cable car down one mountain, a trip of about 4 miles and dropping from 10,200 ft. to 8,000 ft., at the bottom we caught a bus to the Almah 'home' and museum.

cable car

Almah meuseum

This is a large complex of homes connected together and was lived in by the Almah families of that area, huge to say the least and well preserved after 415 years, it is now a museum. I am surprised that there is no information on the web about this Museum, nor any pictures of it!

I finally found some information about the Almah meuseum with nice pictures:

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/wadi_tihama,_saudi_arabia.htm

During one side trip, we drove for about 30 minutes down twisting mountain roads then drove a long stretch of straight desert road for about 25 minutes and arrived at a sudden drop off.

a drop off

One brother-in-law has a PHd in Geophysics and is always fascinated by the variation of the Saudi landscape, he told us at one time, this valley was a river, WOW, it was really huge!

About 500 ft. down the mountain was a restaurant for those that would take the cable car down.

Resturant on cliff

Cloud park

We also stopped at Cloud Park, beautiful, with and without the clouds!!

the mountains were georgous

We had just passed an area with ambulance and sirens blasting, a man had fallen over the cliff, so when my brother in law wanted to take pictures of this valley, his brothers held him tight!!

We really enjoyed our visit and I am going to be a walking advertisement, for visiting this area!

Dancers

We visited a small village, Al Sooda, with traditional dancers and a museum that was 500 years old. We are at the highest point in Saudi, 10,000 feet (3100m), such contrasts around the different areas of the country! www.cristytrembly.com/saudi.html

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The first group comes down the mountain slope and hillside of the castle in a line, singing and swaying to the music and chanting. Dressed in thobes, shamaks, belted with jambias and wielding swords, they walk, sway, tumble, jump, spin and turn in rhythm to the words they sing. www.saudiembassy.net/publications/Magazine-Winter-01/wonders.htm