A Day at the Edge of the World

96 km northwest of Riyadh lies the magnificent sight of the Edge of the World. Here the cliffs of the Tuwaiq escarpment drop away giving splendid views over the plain below. We left bright and early from Riyadh with a small convoy of 2, 4x4  Toyota's, and a couple of drivers who knew how to get our group of 7 safe and sound to this spectacular place. Even with a GPS it would have been pretty hard for us to go solo the first time. Finding this place is a little challenging because it's off the beaten path. 

We drove for a good hour until we veered off the road onto gravel and sand. There were no signs or markers telling us where to go, only tire marks on the sand. We passed several camels out in the dessert. The only time I had seen a camel was at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. Now here they were just out in the wild traveling in packs. 

We also saw goats being herded by the man below, who waved at us after I took his picture.

Long haired goats enjoying the shade.

Goat Herder

After a half hour trek in the desert we reached the Edge of the World which is part of the Tuwaiq escarpments that runs 800km from the south to the north central region of Saudi Arabia. There are many narrow valleys and wadis. The panoramic views are endless and the cliffs are breath taking. But watch out for your step, because one careless move could be deadly.

View of the valley from the top of one of the cliffs.

Edge of the World back drop

We spent a couple of hours exploring the area, hiking from one mountain peak to another. Once the sun started to warm up we got back into the SUV's and found a nice shaded area to have a picnic. Each one of us brought something to share so we had a wonderful array of yummy foods to chose from. Next trip out will probably be an overnight one, but we'll have to wait until the weather cools down some.