travel diaries: one traveller, mount shada, and happiness

I stare, first in awe, followed by disbelief. There are massive granite boulders around me, everywhere. Climb these? Heck, no.

But then every time I stand stuck, wondering how to traverse a massive crevice, or slide across a cliff topped with a rock that stood precariously over it, my guide Saeed’s hand would be there. And I’d make it. Higher and higher up the barren Lower Shada till I am looking down at the avalanche of rounded buttery stones till as far as the eye can see. The two accompanying villagers, who call these craggy heights their home, settle down on a sloping plateau. One plays his flute. Just like his ancestors did, and his children maybe will. And I find myself beaming with happiness.

I am deep inside south-west Saudi Arabia, on the Lower Shada [Shada Al-Asfal] in the Sarawat range. The mountain rises over 1,500 metres, filled with 3,000-year-old rock art and entire villages built into its 763 million-year-old caves. Towering next to it is the 2,200-metre-high Upper Shada [Shada Al-A’la], peeping through the clouds. Most of the villagers have now moved to the cities, their cave-homes morphed into holiday-homes or homestays. The prized Shadwi coffee bushes and iridescent flowers continue to grow unfettered in the wilderness.

Come along with me, up the Lower Shada, and let me share with you its incredible breath-taking beauty.

On my way to Lower Shada.

The last leg of the road winds its way through enormous boulders.

Inside these boulders are homes, now morphed into ‘resorts’ and homestays.

His music echoes and reverberates in the granite bowl.

From which this path leads out of.

And somewhere in the top is this narrow shelf that leads to more wonders.

Billion-year-old rocks weathered into a skull.

Or a bench to quietly rest upon.

Flowers continue to bloom in the barren expanse, with a window peeping out of an ancient cave-home.

Where cave dwellings, now stone houses, fill crevices and caverns.

Here’s my guide Saeed, who made it all possible.

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Travel tips:

Saeed Guzai, one of the most patient and kind guides I have ever come across, runs Akam Al Jazerah and can be contacted at +966 50 458 8112.
Drop by for a meal or a stay at Caves Resort, +966 50 115 2935/ +966 50 177 1180. Iqbal, the cook-cum-caretaker is from Jammu in India. If you too are from India, promise he will bend over backwards in warmth and hospitality. 🙂

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With this, I also come to the end of my Saudi Arabia series. If you missed any of my earlier posts in the nine-part series, here they all are. Thank you for being part of my travels. ❤