Abha Trophy

The moutains of Saudi Arabia

Laying between the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, some 2,150,000 km2, occupies almost all of the Arabian Peninsula. The kingdom was officially proclaimed by King Abdul Aziz Al Saoud. The country, dominated by desert and subdesert, has an average rainfall of less than 150 mm per year . The desert of the Rub Al Khali practically never sees a drop of water. By contrast, the province of Aseer in the south west sometimes has 500 mm of rain in a year.

 

Aseer is a country of paradox and variety. Here it is possible to find desert, high plateaux of semi desert, high mountains approaching 3000 m covered in forest and the virgin beaches of the Red Sea. With wooded spaces, spectacular sites, and the coolness of the summits, Aseer shatters the usual image of the Arabian countryside .
" It is perhaps there that one finds the Garden of Eden " wrote SJ Philby, who in the 1930s was commisioned by King Abdul Aziz to map Aseer.
The topography of the region gives rise to different ways of life . Tribes of the high terrasses of Sarat have a unique architectural heritage. There are the Bedouins, the nomads of the desert, and the Flowermen who live in the foot hills of the Red Sea.
The population of the Red Sea coast live by fishing and farming, a style of life influenced by their proximity to Africa.