Saudi Arabia in Pictures

[Saif al-Arab]

Snowfall back in November 2014 near Al-Zulfi in the nearby desert. Some 260 km northwest of Riyadh.

Looks surreal.

Desert, greenery and snow. A nice and unique combination not often seen!

Snow in Northern Hijaz (Tabuk area). An yearly occurrence during winter.

Yes, KSA is a country of many hidden pearls. An unknown kingdom indeed. I guess that this is part of the charm for people unfamiliar with KSA and most foreigners in general.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

The beautiful and ancient Asir province:

(dedicated to the wild monkeys on this forum)

Waterfall in Asir:

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Al Wadj Bank, Saudi Arabia (NASA, International Space Station Science, 12/30/07) by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, on Flickr


فرسان by Jazan Know, on Flickr

Tabuk area منطقة تبوك by tabuk تبوك, on Flickr

​

There are almost 2000 islands in KSA. The vast, vast majority are uninhabited. Most are found in Western KSA along the tropical Red Sea coastline which is the northernmost tropical sea in the world.

In recent years several new volcanic islands have emerged in the Red Sea due to volcanic eruptions. More specifically in the waters close to KSA and Yemen. Most recently last year.​

This video is 5 years old.

It's quite amazing really.

KAUST wrote a paper on the subject not long ago.

Plate separation births two volcanic islands | KAUST Discovery

Another article from another source.

Birth of two volcanic islands in the southern Red Sea : Nature Communications : Nature Publishing Group

Speaking about volcanoes, KSA is home to numerous extinct volcanoes. Western KSA in particular probably has more than any other MENA region.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

 

[Zarvan]

How many of the islands which are part of Saudi Arabia are large enough so they can be turned into resorts and small towns ? @Saif al-Arab

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Some traditional Hijazi clothing:

How many of the islands which are part of Saudi Arabia are large enough so they can be turned into resorts and small towns ? @Saif al-Arab

I receive no notification when you tag me. Something must be wrong.

A lot. Many are inhabited already. I don't know about the exact number. There are so many islands.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Parts of the mighty Rub' al-Khali from the space

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Lavender fields in Northern KSA:

 

[Zaem]

How many of the islands which are part of Saudi Arabia are large enough so they can be turned into resorts and small towns ? @Saif al-Arab

It dont matter for arabs, you can always build an island!

 

[Al-Andalus]

It dont matter for arabs, you can always build an island!

Before you replied you saw that KSA has almost 2500 islands. Why would KSA need to build more islands? Do you have trouble with logic?

Farasan Islands Beach by omar.sa, on Flickr


Farasan Is cruise by Arthur Anker, on Flickr

Masjid Umar bin Khattab r.a by 'asyiqul^huur, on Flickr

 

[Al-Andalus]

I ❤ K.S.A by sulaiman AL-qublan . سليمان القبلان, on Flickr


الوطن في قلوب التؤامين"ماشاء الله "Explore" by fαнαd (InstagramIfofe), on Flickr


Untitled by ALAA AL.SHALLALI, on Flickr


بريئه.."ماشاء الله by fαнαd (InstagramIfofe), on Flickr

Some valleys and wild areas (well most of KSA is that) of Northern KSA:

 

[Solomon2]

Can we see some pictures of modern Saudi palaces?

 

[Saif al-Arab]

The skyline of Riyadh is slowly but steadily becoming more and more impressive. KAFD is really nice in terms of architecture.

Riyadh and immediate outskirts continued:



Al Bujairy Naighborhood in Ad Dariyah Saudi Arabia a heritage town they had been revived to remember our ancestors حي البجيري بالدرعية التاريخية به محلات تراثية ومقاهي by Faisal Bin Zarah, on Flickr

Imam Mohammed Bin Saud Mosque by Faisal Bin Zarah, on Flickr

Sunset Wadi Hanifa by Jemer Gonzales, on Flickr

In the Middle Ages when Riyadh was a middle-sized settlement the city was famous for its canals courtesy of Wadi Hanifa. Ibn Battuta (1304-1369) has written accounts about this and other famous travelers during that era.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Hanifa

Also Riyadh is located 624 meters above sea level. In Europe for instance, only Pristina (when it comes to European capitals) has a higher elevation. Of course this is nothing compared to many quite big Saudi Arabian cities which are located 2000-2500 meters above sea level.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_capital_cities_by_altitude

Turns out that Sana'a in the same Arabian Peninsula is the highest elevated capital city in Asia after Thimphu (capital of Bhutan). Cool.

Can we see some pictures of modern Saudi palaces?

I am not aware of any modern palaces other than a few royal palaces, unless you are talking about big villas or private property in upscale neighborhoods? I don't see much point posting them (some of them have been posted in this thread btw) but you can easily find a lot of material on this front if you use Google. Just search in Arabic.

Anyway the second last photo in post 1315, is an example of a "modern palace" built in a traditional Arab/Islamic architecture but except for it being a mosque (Al-Rajhi) in Riyadh.

KSA is much more traditional/old-fashioned. If you like such extravagant architecture UAE and Qatar are better choices.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1027026/saudi-arabia

RIYADH: Ali Al-Suhaibani is the first Saudi to develop the RC plane hobby in the Kingdom and said that ever since he was young he had the desire to improve technologies.

“I’ve always been keen on anything mechanical or technological since childhood,” Al-Suhaibani said. “It started with bicycles, toy cars and paper planes. I used to take toys apart to see how they worked and then tried to replicate their technology. Then that evolved into larger more complex things like cars and motorcycles. Finally I settled on aircraft.”
He added it is always in his nature to try to improve something by making it work better or be bigger.

Al-Suhaibani first saw expats flying their RC planes in the desert in Riyadh about 30 years ago and decided to buy his own RC plane and learned to fly it. He later started experimenting with building his own planes at home after one of his planes crashed and he fixed its damaged wing.

“The men I first saw flying the RC planes had formed a sort of club and so I observed them to learn more about the planes,” he said. “It was mostly my own interest that pushed me to pursue this hobby.”

He first developed RC planes similar to the ones he was flying. Then Al-Suhaibani decided to try something bigger and grander by building an F-16 model plane. After a while he got into jet engines and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).
Al-Suhaibani built the Typhoon, which is a 1/3 scale model of the real typhoon in shape and flying capability, to show what he is capable of building. It is a prototype with fixed landing gear.

He is now close to finishing the first version of it with retractable landing gear, more power and fixing all other bugs from the prototype.

“It happened little by little as I have always had a workshop for my planes in almost every house I’ve lived in,” he said. “So I would collect the material needed for every project and start working on them in my spare time. It started out as a hobby and then developed into a career.”

One of the projects that Al-Suhaibani is currently working on is a UAV aerial target, which is an aircraft used as a target for training purposes, that he built in his workshop at his home. He is developing it to reach certain requirements such as speed, elevation, duration, etc.

 

[Al-Andalus]

^^^

Wrong thread.

Father walking his children to school in the beautiful Al-Faifa mountains.

Ancient rock art in Hijaz (Egyptian hieroglyph inscription, one of the few found outside of Egypt)

Over 4000 years old.