The UNESCO World Heritage Site at Jubbah may be the largest petroglyph site in Saudi Arabia but all it did was whet our appetite for AlUla. As with rock art we have seen around the world, the the artists will remain forever unknown and the meaning behind the carvings is open for interpretation. The recurring theme is the camel, important even 10,000 years ago. The earliest carvings show one-humped Arabian camels while later versions depict camels with riders. Other panels portrayed hunters with bow and arrow—whether recording successful hunts or as blessings for future success we will never know. There are numerous inscriptions written in pre-Arabic scripts which, of course, we couldn’t read. The most iconic petroglyph in Jubba his of a chariot pulled by two horses, probably carved around 5000 BC after the invention of the wheel.
After another long drive with a stop in the desert to eat whatever was purchased at the petrol station (or stolen from breakfast) we arrived at Arch Mountain Camp where we will spend the next three nights. The final kilometers on teeth-jarring washboard road take nearly 20 minutes but we arrived early enough to take the six-kilometer hike to Rainbow Arch (from whence the Camp gets its name) before dinner. As we hiked out a herd of camels came trotting by followed by a Lawrence of Arabia-type riding a camel. In the fading sunlight the arch wasn’t much to see but the walk, even in desert sand, felt good after the long ride.
Accommodations consist of Bedouin-style tents with carpeted floors. The beds are made of woven palm fibers with a thin mattress pad and thick duvet. At first the beds seemed unreasonably hard but I have seldom slept better—it was very reminiscent of our first years of tent camping. Each tent has an air-con/heater, a mini-fridge and an attached bathroom, partially open to the sky. It’s cold in the morning but the wonderful rain-shower has plenty of hot water. Breakfast and buffet dinner are served in the dining tent. The food is good, varied and plentiful and, to our surprise, Yannis is a skilled omelet-maker.
