Went to the desert with my uncle last friday, thought i should.share some pics.

[RyanScanner]

We are inside the fence. The fence prevents people from venturing deeper into the desert, as there are more snakes and scorpions in those areas, and it also helps keep wild dogs out. And yes, the area is desolate because it’s away from the bustling city, a bit on the outskirts. This is how local people enjoy the slightly mild/cold weather here—taking their off-road SUVs into the desert and spending almost the whole day there with friends and families, usually having a barbecue and engaging in activities like off-road quad biking, which can be rented from nearby vendors for different periods of time.



Thanks!

People usually pack all their rubbish in large trash bags and leave them near a rock structure or a tree. It takes a day or two for the Saudi waste management authorities to send dumper trucks and men to pick up those bags, but during that time, wild dogs or lizards sometimes tear the bags apart, causing the litter to spread. But as I mentioned, the waste management does collect it all sooner or later.



No problem! I’ve watched many documentaries, and from what I’ve heard from my relatives, I can tell that your deserts are quite similar to ours, just with more wildlife! I’ve also heard that kangaroos can get aggressive with people?

Pretty sure we have more wild camels than Saudi Arabia now. What were the temperatures like, does it get below freezing at night?

 

[AR1]

So the fence is around a reserve area?

The entire land belongs to the government. They fenced it to a certain limit after a tragic incident in which three local residents ventured too deep into the desert, lost their way, and their bodies were discovered two days later. They died due to dehydration in temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius. Ever since, the fencing has been in place.

What were the temperatures like? Does it get below freezing at night?

We stayed there until 10 pm, and the lowest temperature was 20 degrees Celsius—far from freezing. The lowest it gets here is around 7 to 9 degrees Celsius in December or January, here in Riyadh. It used to drop to 1 or 2 degrees Celsius a decade ago, but global warming has made that impossible in recent years. Only a few parts of KSA experience snow.

 

[jjohnwm]

Thanks for the explanation; that fence is interesting. It looks like a monumental undertaking to put something like that in place to protect the local population from themselves. The height, the barbed/razor-wire, and it appears to have a full-length concrete foundation? Wow...looks more like something out of Jurassic Park...or maybe out of a post-Walking-Dead type of scenario.

The incident you described is indeed tragic...but a big part of the tragedy is that people who live in an area like that need to be not only told but actually restrained from venturing out into the wild without safety precautions.

What's the local feeling towards that fence? Positive or negative? I wouldn't want to live even on the outside of it anywhere close enough to actually see it, much less inside of it.

How about those wild dogs; are they feral domestic dogs, or some naturally-occurring type of canid?