Camelback on the Darb Zubaydah
February 9 2026
My pilgrimage across the Saudi outback
Satellite imagery is Corrected Reflectance (True Color) from Suomi NPP / VIIRS, via NASA GIBS.
My friend Omar has a magical ability to create adventure wherever he goes. Back in 2021, he informed me that he planned to take a journey across Saudi Arabia from Iraq to Mecca, visiting all of the water reservoirs on the ancient Darb Zubaydah. He planned to do the trip just as pilgrims once did, too: on the backs of camels.
This invitation was perfectly timed, as I had grown tired of being stuck in my barely-over-40-square-meter apartment. I spent the majority of my days at the same desk, be it for work or play. And while lockdowns had faded, so too had the life around me in San Francisco’s Civic Center (and much of the city as a whole). So when Omar invited me along, the answer was a very easy yes.
I’ll be using a number of transliterated Arabic words in this post, which I’ve done my best to try to get correct. I don’t speak Arabic, though, so do not treat this as authoritative. For any place names or terms from Arabic which don’t have an English loanword, I’ll be providing an ASCII-friendly transliteration followed by the original Arabic. For those that do have a loanword, I will use the English spelling.
The Route
The Darb Zubaydah, or Zubaydah’s trail, is an ancient Hajj route connecting Kufa in Iraq to Mecca. If you’re not familiar, Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims will undertake at least once in their lives (if able to do so). The route is named in honor of Zubaydah bint Ja’far, who extensively improved the route.
To say this route and the monuments along the way are old is an understatement. The improvements on the route were built over 1000 years ago; this is four times the entire lifespan of the United States.
Of most interest is likely the incredible number of reservoirs Zubaydah is responsible for along the trail; these would catch water during the wet season to provide for pilgrims the Hajj. Much of Saudi Arabia has no permanent source of water, but seasonal flows do bring fresh water. Prior to the construction of these reservoirs, pilgrims would have needed enough water for themselves and their animals to survive without restocking for potentially hundreds of kilometers. UNESCO has a World Heritage List proposal for the trail with much more extensive information on the history and points of interest.
Most of the reservoirs on the route are more properly called a birkat (بركة, singular) or birak (برك, plural), as there are different types of reservoir. I’ll, however, just be using the term reservoir to refer to any man-made structure for retaining water that isn’t a well. As I didn’t record the name of each reservoir in the moment, I’ve had to reverse engineer which was which from online sources, most importantly this blog post. I feel pretty confident in their labels, but there is still some chance these are off.
Omar had spent a serious amount of time tracking down every reservoir that he could, so that he could visit every single one along the way. While he came into this trip with most of the reservoirs and other points of interest mapped out, locals on more than one occasion pointed us to ones he did not know about. We were truly in an RPG, receiving a side quest from an interaction with the townsfolk.
The trip took place in mid-to-late November and went into the very start of December. This is roughly the coolest time of the year along the route, making it much easier (and safer) to do. The weather was generally quite comfortable: it mostly stayed in the range where we could sleep exposed to the elements at night, but not melt during the day.
While Omar started his journey at the Iraqi border, mine began about halfway in the small town of Sumairaa. We would continue for around 550 kilometers to reach the outskirts of Mecca, after which travel by camel would just not be feasible.
The Day-to-Day Logistics
Routine
Our daily routine was relatively consistent. We would wake up around 6:30 AM, and have breakfast around the campfire. This would most often be flatbreads with a variety of different dips and toppings, such as cheese spreads, ful, honey and olives.
This would be served alongside tea and coffee, which, no matter the time and place, also came with a side of dates. Fun fact: the English word coffee comes from Arabic.
The "beer" bottle in the background is actually a malt soda; this is the closest you'll get in Saudi Arabia.
Coffee would be ground using a najr (نجر), a large bronze mortar and pestle. Being essentially a small bell, the najr can be made to loudly ring while grinding the coffee, supposedly as a way to announce to the world that you are preparing coffee. Alongside the coffee beans we would add cardamom and clove, and for special occasions saffron, to make Arabic-style coffee. These spiced grounds were boiled over the fire, and poured into a dallah, the Arabic coffee pot, for serving. A filter in the spout of the dallah would catch the grounds.
Having drank so much Arabic coffee on this trip, I’ve carried on making it back home, albeit using typical modern equipment like a Chemex. I did bring back a najr and dallah in my checked baggage for special occasions (like waking up the team on ski trips).
On a side note, the najr is the thing that broke my mental model of the internet as an all-knowing machine. Even five years after this trip, it’s almost impossible to find anything about the najr on the English-speaking web. I suspect that this is something that non-English-as-a-first-language-Americans learn at a very young age, but living a relatively “generic American life” makes it easy to never hit this wall. Luckily, AI models are quite good at searching the web in other languages, so this situation should improve over time.
By 8 AM, we would be packed up and on camelback. While on the camel, I spent most of my time reading on my e-reader. I was shocked to find that I often had excellent cellular coverage in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, but I generally tried to not be on my phone if I could help it.
On some days, we would choose to stop around 2 PM for a hearty lunch, and have a light dinner later on. If having lunch, we’d do coffee, tea and dates as well. Generally though, we would skip lunch and have some fruit or other light snacks while riding.
By 4:30 PM, we would stop in order to set up camp. This gave us plenty of time to unpack and set up before the sunlight was gone. Once done, we’d enjoy some tea and coffee.
Finally around 6:30 PM we’d do dinner. This was our main meal of the day, and was most often kabsa: camel or lamb meat, rice and spices all cooked together in a pressure cooker. The most unique seasoning was the dried black limes, which imparted a delicious earthy, citrus flavor.
Many of our meals were eaten with our hands, which I struggled with. There’s a specific technique for eating rice with one’s hands that I just could not get down. I would eventually be given a spoon out of pity, which I would carry on my person at all times, just in case.
Afterwards, we’d have one final round of tea and get settled in for the evening. About 9 PM we’d clean up and get to sleep.
Riding Setup
Our group consisted of five camels with a lead rider, two vehicles with drivers, me and Omar. The first vehicle, an SUV, carried our food and personal belongings, while the second, a truck, hauled the camping setup and water. The five camels were generally leashed together in a V formation, with the main rider at the front.
Daily, we would cover around 35 kilometers. I generally would tire out after around 25 kilometers though, and ride the remaining portion in the SUV. This corresponds with that usual time in the afternoon in which my body can do nothing else but fight off sleep, which has long been the bane of my existence.
Camel saddles take a myriad of forms, but none are quite like the typical western saddle fused into the polygonal mesh of a virtual horse. As dromedary camels (the one-hump, hot desert kind) have a large hump in the middle of their backs, a different structure for holding the rider is necessitated. We rode on shaddads (شداد), a wooden frame which wraps the hump and offers a pole at both the front and back for rider support. On top is placed a kharj (خرج), bags for your personal items, and a jada (جعدة), padding (often sheepskin).
2. kharj (خرج): side bags
3. shaddad (شداد): wooden frame
4. camel
To get on a camel, you should first make them sit down—although Omar would later show me that he could hop on while his camel stayed standing. Our camels were trained to sit when you made a loud “growling” sound from the back of your throat (I am not well enough versed in linguistics to give you the proper terminology here). I never was able to do this consistently, but hey, I’ll settle for the one or two times I managed it.
Once seated, you wrap one of your legs around the front pole of the shaddad, and let the other hang over the side. Your hands can then rest however is comfortable. This took a lot of getting used to, as I did not feel stable at first; camels tilt forward and then backward quite significantly with each step.
Events
Beginning the Journey
November 11th, 2021
My adventure started in Munich.
I took the opportunity to do some backpacking in Europe ahead of this trip, and my last stop was Munich. I was to arrive in Riyadh the evening before Omar’s friend Ahmed was to pick me up and drive me to meet them in the middle of the desert. This meant that I really couldn’t miss my flight or else I’d throw a wrench in all of our planning.
I managed to just barely catch the flight before the gate closed, by less than five minutes.
I had taken the train to the airport headed in the completely opposite direction, and, after realizing, got off at a random station. Now incredibly stressed, I had to figure out how to set up the local ride-hailing app and get to the airport ASAP. Of course this was followed by a massive delay at security, after which I basically had to run to customs and then to the gate.
Once boarded, I could finally relax. I arrived in Riyadh and enjoyed my last night of rest in a real bed.
November 12th, 2021
Omar’s friend Ahmed picked me up from the hotel in the morning. The drive was around five hours, taking us northeast to the town of Sumairaa (سميراء). The views were spectacular, covering a wide variety of terrain and scenery. It was particularly interesting to me to see all of the development going on in many of the smaller towns along the way. Ahmed was kind enough to gift me a shemagh, a loose headscarf for covering up from the sun, which I would come to love in hot weather.
I wish we had these back home (perhaps a large metal log in Jantzen Beach, or a GPU in Santana Row?).
Omar had started the journey about two weeks prior at the Iraqi border. Probably because I had no idea what I was really getting in to, I had opted to not come along for the entire journey, but to meet him at a convenient spot along the way. We met Omar and (human) company in town, where they were taking a break to shower and wash up while the camels were tied up elsewhere. Once they were ready, we headed back to camp to meet the camels.
If you’re at all like me, you would be shocked to find out how tall camels actually are. Being a child of the American suburbs with nearly no exposure to farm animals, I just sort of assumed that they were similar in stature to horses. And those, I assume, are the correct scale in The Elder Scrolls.
This is not the case. A camel’s back is probably 50% higher off the ground than a horse’s back.
Their temperament is also quite different. They did not give off the nervous energy of a horse, but rather methodical annoyance at anything and everything. Camels don’t kick either, but instead tend to bite and spit.
All that said, though, they really are incredible animals.
After getting over the initial shock of the camels, we sat down for our first afternoon coffee and tea, followed by a drive to see our first reservoir, the Uraynibah reservoir (بركة أرينبة). Photos in a paper from 1977 outlining the Darb Zubaydah show that the reservoir is in much the same state as it was 50 years ago, albeit with taller plants.
Riding a Camel
November 13th, 2021
We woke up early, at 4 AM, to get on the road. The wind was not cooperative, though, delaying my first attempt at riding a camel.
After getting help getting onto my camel for the first time, I found myself a great distance from the ground, trying my hardest to fight back against the swaying of my camel in motion. This would ultimately be futile, but I wouldn’t get used to riding a camel for some time; a slight fear of falling off would remain.
We set off on our journey to the southwest, in the direction of Mecca. This section of the journey was relatively barren scrubland, punctuated by the smallest of towns and farms. We would continue until the afternoon, at which point we set up our camp near the town of Kutayfah (كتيفة). Here, some locals joined us for coffee and dates, and a camel farmer had us bring our camels by for some water.
We then took the car to visit the nearby Kutayfah reservoir (بركة الكتيفة).
November 14th, 2021
Continuing on, we headed towards the town of al-Baayith (البعايث). Riding into town was a mix of the old and the new; we rode alongside a modern highway through the ruins of many old buildings made of earth.
Once we hit the main street, a continuous stream of friendly locals invited us for dinner and coffee. Unfortunately, we just did not have the time to accept. We did, however, send our support team for coffee upon an invitation from the police. It can never hurt, right?
We would continue riding for a total of 30 kilometers this day. This was our most remote camping spot so far, well away from any town. I was surprised that we actually got a tiny bit of rain as well.
al-Naqrah
November 15th, 2021
I think this was the point at which I had started to settle into the routine, as I started to notice more small details around me. Or, perhaps there just really was more going on.
Colocynths were one of the most prevalent plants in this part of Saudi Arabia. I took to calling them “angry melons”, as they are apparently so bitter that not even camels will eat them—only donkeys. I was warned to wash my hands after touching them. It’s really unfortunate, because they look so much like their much more appetizing watermelon cousins.
Speaking of camels being surprisingly picky eaters, we found that ours refused to eat apples.
Omar’s camel and mine kept fighting throughout the day, generally instigated by mine. This would become something of a recurring theme.
Nature played nice with our want for even more of a western movie backdrop and gave us some small dust devils.
Around noon, we arrived at (what I believe was) Sanaf al-Lahm (سناف اللحم). This was two separate, large ruin fields of an ancient city.
Towards the end of our riding day, we passed by some small mountains. Unlike later mountain passes, these didn’t provide any challenge for the camels, but offered spectacular views.
While I thought that our camp this evening was in the middle of nowhere, we actually had some strangers come by and join us for coffee.
The views from remote campsites like this one were amazing. You had a very clear view of the night sky with little light pollution, but could still see the glow of electric lights from small towns on the horizon.
November 16th, 2021
At long last, I gave riding my camel untethered to the group a shot. Sadly, this did not last more than about 20 minutes, as I could not convince my camel to keep up with the group.
It was at this point I finally started wearing the shemagh consistently. I tend to burn very easily, so in the bright sun of Saudi Arabia it would take very little time before I would turn pink. Ever since this trip, I’ve been firmly convinced that covering up more, not less, is the better approach in sunny weather.
We arrived in the modern city of al-Naqrah (not the ruins) a little after noon. A kind family invited us in for lunch. We sat in their majlis, a room for hosting guests with seating around the periphery. Most often, this is floor seating comprised of cushions and padded arm rests, but sometimes this all rests on a low wooden bench. I love this style of seating; it’s conducive to a group hangout over coffee and tea.
After lunch, Omar and I visited the ruins of old al-Naqrah. al-Naqrah was once a large city on the Darb Zubaydah, and it has left a vast field of ruins to this day. These were a large number of old, earthen buildings on the outskirts of town, with palm frond roofs. They’re clearly much newer than the ruins from the Darb Zubaydah, but they’re still pretty old. It seems safe to assume this is similar to what some of the structures would have looked like in the older ruins, though.
A Wedding Invitation
November 17th, 2021
I got to try out grinding our morning coffee in the najr. I have to say, it’s probably one of the most fun, and loudest, ways to grind coffee.
One of our team members left to get his COVID-19 booster shot. Even out here, the global pandemic was having an impact.
After breakfast, we got back on our camels and headed in the general direction of Mecca. We ran into a nice man camping in an off-road trailer, who invited us for coffee and dates. Served with the dates was a mildly-sweet dip made from roasted millet called khawadah (خواضة). After hanging out for a while, he invited us to stay for dinner, too.
Dinner was a lamb, which I got to watch be slaughtered. I particularly remember the use of a blow torch to remove the hair from the lamb. The intestines were woven together on a skewer into a flat square and roasted on the open fire for a pre-dinner snack, while the rest of the lamb was placed with rice and seasonings into the pressure cooker. Both were excellent.
While we’d been hesitant to let ourselves get too far off schedule, we ended up staying the night as well. Our host even invited us to his son’s wedding on December 3rd in Jeddah. Omar and I accepted.
al-Rabadha
November 18th, 2021
While our stay with our new friend was fun, we did have to get back on the road. We were now on the way to our next major stop along the Darb Zubaydah, al-Rabadha (الربذة). al-Rabadha was a large city on the route that even had its own fortress.
Early in the day, we needed to cross the highway. This meant taking our camels over a livestock grid, which is exactly what livestock grids are there to prevent. Our team covered the grid with multiple layers of padding in order to keep the camels from getting caught in the slats.
A meme broke out in our group this day. The team member who had taken the COVID-19 shot the day prior was experiencing rough side effects, keeping him from riding the lead camel as he had been. Shouts of “we’ll take care of you, [name]” (but in Arabic, of course) were repeated around for much of the day.
Omar took over leading the camels for the rest of the day, and we continued onwards. We reached the start of the rockier, volcanic terrain more prevalent in the wider region around Mecca and Jeddah. Unfortunately, we took the wrong pass through the mountains, and the camels started to struggle with the sharp rocks. As it turns out, camels are not suited to rocky terrain, having large, soft pads which are adapted for loose ground like sand. We ended up having to backtrack about thirty minutes to get back on the correct route.
We had one of the more memorable dishes of the trip this evening, a bread cooked directly on the ash and hot coals of our fire called jamriyah (جمرية).
November 19th, 2021
Our day started just north of the small town of al-Mawiya (الماوية), which hosted a reservoir on the Darb Zubaydah long ago. We rode into town to admire the ruins from the Darb Zubaydah, as well as other old buildings.
What is interesting about many of these reservoirs is that, while they no longer provide for the pilgrims on their journey to Mecca, they often host flourishing micro-ecosystems. Here, a huge tree had taken root right in the middle of the reservoir. Presumably, the stonework buried in the dirt is still holding in water during the rainy season.
We opted to let one of our camels roam freely, with the expectation that it would stick with the group. This did not happen. Instead, it wandered off chasing a female camel in the distance. Once brought back, it then decided to play sharks and minnows with the group, trying to get a bite of any camel, or rider, it could catch. As if this wasn’t chaotic enough, my camel decided it also wanted to try to bite Omar and his camel.
It was at this point we started to see rubble of what were likely the milestones for the Darb Zubaydah. These are now just piles of out of place stone along the most remote parts of the trail, but once were much larger and more visible structures guiding pilgrims on their journeys.
Towards the end of our day, our path took us through multiple ruins grouped together around the riverbed. I presume this was al-Saqaa (الصقعاء), but I’m not certain.
It was at this point that I was gifted a spoon, to save myself from struggling to eat rice with my hands. Or, perhaps to save the group from watching.
That evening, we were treated to a full moon.
November 20th, 2021
I’d now been on camelback for a week. I had grown quite comfortable with my camel’s back-and-forth motion, and could spend the whole day reading on camelback without issue. Over the course of the trip, I’d be able to read the entirety of Stranger in a Strange Land—although in retrospect perhaps Dune would have been a better thematic fit.
For our support team, though, things were not going as smoothly.
Our crew ran out of cigarettes in the morning, and I could feel the tension in the air rising. In place of cigarettes, we took a couple of hookah breaks to try to get by. This, too, would be exhausted, leaving us without tobacco in what was perhaps the most remote portion of our journey.
Our gas started to run low too.
We would reach al-Rabadha in the afternoon. al-Rabadha was one of the most impressive ruins of the trip, with the remains of an extensive number of buildings still standing. It’s remarkable how well the desert can preserve what it buries.
Of particular interest here was a large tree, growing in a hole so large that it did not protrude far above ground level. Apparently this tree has lived here for a very long time.
The nearby reservoir is in incredible condition for its age, too. The smaller section hosts a massive field of colocynths, while the larger (based on satellite imagery) can still hold water.
But we made it to camp and got set up for the evening. Likely from the other distractions of the day, we failed to tie up one of the camels, who proceeded to literally go head-first into the feedbag. He was only persuaded to stop via the application of a piece of 4x4 lumber.
Part of our team drove off into the night to find cigarettes, leaving us to admire a red moon before going to sleep.
Late in the night, we would awaken to our team’s approaching car. They had returned from what would end up being a 50 kilometer drive. Exiting the car with a smile on his face and a lit cigarette in his mouth, our teammate handed us a bag of hot takeout. Miracles do happen.
A Side Quest
November 21st, 2021
Omar and I went with one of the support vehicles to nearby Sukhaiberah (صخيبرة), to refuel and load up on food. I decided that, as the team had been so kind in sharing Saudi camping food with me, that I would treat them to the best of American camping food: the s’more. While the exact ingredients are unsurprisingly not readily available in rural Saudi Arabia, I can say that I did actually manage to find graham-cracker-like cookies, chocolate and a pack of mixed color marshmallows (which I’m still not sure if were flavored).
This detour had us skip by the al-Wasnah reservoir (بركة الوسنة). Based on a quick look on Google Maps, it may not (yet) be excavated, if it has any remains at all.
Before getting back on our camels, we drove to the al-Sulaylah reservoir (بركة السليلة). This one was unique in being situated next to a number of small, more well-like reservoirs with some modern piping. One of these was super deep, and looked like a cave at the bottom. I have no idea if this was man-made or not. A shallow basin filled by these wells even had a herd of camels drinking from it.
The reservoir itself was a large, square basin with sloped sides. This style would seem more prevalent among the later reservoirs than the cylindrical patterns I’d mostly seen up until this point.
We discovered that, at least in part, the reason my camel had been so aggressive was due to his harness. We found rashes under the portion on top of his nose, so we switched it out and saw a pretty drastic change in mood.
Along the way, we ended up passing by a herd of camels with seemingly no human around in charge. While I contemplated whether they were wild, feral or free-range, two boys approached us for help. You see, they had lost their herd of camels, and wanted to know if we’d seen them. We told them to head opposite our direction of travel.
This really felt like a random encounter quest in an open-world adventure game, but maybe that’s all life really is.
Towards the end of the day, we rode through what I think was dry quicksand or a floodplain. The ground was bone dry, peeling and cracking into small, thin sheets. Omar and I were alone on the camels, so he decided that now would be a good time to run them. The support team generally didn’t ever do this, as it tires the camels out, but we were unsupervised and only a kilometer or two from camp.
Camels can actually run pretty fast. And while running, the ride becomes even bouncier. I could do nothing but hold on.
We ended the night near a Saudi Aramco refinery (with airstrip!), where I offered the team my s’mores.
November 22nd, 2021
Riding away from our camp, we enjoyed the view of a plane landing at the Aramco airstrip. Our path followed the side of the road towards the town of al-Umq (العمق).
This day we did a lot of riding through floodplains. One of the things that really stands out here are the number of shrubs and small trees growing out of the desert with no water in sight. These are trees growing above sources of underground water, or that are able to store enough water in the wet season to survive the year.
Upon reaching al-Umq in the early afternoon, we were swarmed by what felt like every vehicle in town. Five camels riding through your main street is really a sight anywhere in the world, but this was by far the biggest response we had anywhere along the trip. Each driver wanted to have us for coffee or lunch; one man offered me a job working with camels.
Like all good side quest chains, our successful mission from yesterday would trigger another today. The boys who had lost their camels saw us riding through town, and approached us to learn more about our journey. Upon hearing that Omar was attempting to visit all of the reservoirs along the Darb Zubaydah, the boys offered up a very useful piece of information: there was actually a nearby reservoir we were not aware of. We took down the location for a future visit, but I unfortunately do not recall which of the next couple of reservoirs was the one they pointed us to.
An invite by the town emir (a role equivalent in function to a mayor) was one we could not pass up. Omar and I went with one of the support drivers to meet the emir and pose for photos, while the rest of the crew rode onwards. To my surprise, this would actually end up in the local news a few days later.
And on the note of the names of governance roles and the like in Arabic, it turns out the word sheikh is not pronounced the way I’d thought. Now I can be really pretentious playing Smash Bros.
Omar and I continued in the support car backwards to the al-Dabbah reservoir (بركة الضبة), which is also known as the al-Umq reservoir (بركة العمق). Another square reservoir, this one appeared in remarkably good condition given its age.
From here, we drove onwards to Zubaydah’s Rest Stop (مقيل زبيدة). This was a large hill with an alcove where Zubaydah and her team once stayed on her trail. The hill was entirely comprised of what looked (to my untrained eye) to be volcanic rock and scree. The view from on top was great.
Moving onwards, we caught up with our camel team just in time to hit golden hour in a mountain pass. Here I took many of my favorite shots from this trip; the lighting and scenery were both phenomenal.
One of our camels decided to walk on the opposite side of a signpost from the group, shearing off his rein. This will come up again later.
We set up camp in the early evening not far from the road once through the pass. Here we had to watch carefully where we stepped, as the ground was covered in hard, spiky burrs that had no trouble puncturing skin. Once camp was ready for the evening, the whole team opted to drive ahead to the city of Mahd adh Dhahab (محافظة مهد الذهب) to restock and enjoy the perks of civilization.
Omar and I did a tour of some restaurants, while another team member went for a haircut. Of note is the Saudi samosa: while similar to the Indian variety, they are triangular rather than pyramidal. As Omar likes to say, they’re 2D, not 3D.
Thinking about what other monstrosities of American cuisine I could whip up on the trail, I opted to pick up the ingredients for some ice cream floats. At least one team member seemed to like it.
Closing In
November 23rd, 2021
As we approached the finish line, we would start pushing up our wake-up times to get in more riding each day. We’d end up riding about 34 kilometers this day, much of it through terrain comprised of rough volcanic rock and winding passes.
Our only monument for the day was a small, unlabeled reservoir along the trail, which we passed first thing in the morning. Mostly buried, you might not even notice it other than its unnatural square shape. This reservoir was much smaller than most of the others so far. Looking at more recent satellite imagery, though, it looks like it may have been excavated further in the time since my visit.
We soon found ourselves swarmed by a herd of camels. Based on their brands, they were owned by someone, but no rancher was in sight.
Riding towards Mahd adh Dhabab, the same camel from the day prior would break his rein again. Not a problem, but we were starting to see a theme.
Upon arriving in town, we tied up our camels in a dirt lot right in the middle of a neighborhood, and went to visit a team member’s friend for lunch and coffee in their majlis. This was my first time having basil tea, which is fantastic. If this sounds strange, you should know that basil is actually in the mint family.
The volcanic terrain would see us split the camels from the support vehicles after leaving town. This ended up being more troublesome than expected, as we struggled to rejoin each other on the other side of a pass.
This evening stood out for being incredibly windy. I awoke in the middle of the night to the fluttering of the walls of our camping enclosure.
November 24th, 2021
We increased our daily distance to 45 kilometers from here on out. We were getting deep into the volcanic terrain that would carry forward until Mecca and Jeddah.
Riding into a small town during the morning, one memory that stuck out was the large number of animal corpses lying by the road. While it felt ominous, it was likely just from a rancher. We did see a living fox, though (likely the Arabian red fox).
This would be a busy day for us, with three different ruins to visit. The first of these were the ruins of a large building and two reservoirs, Dulay ash-Shaqq (ضليع الشق). Omar and I left the group and hiked over a ridge to visit.
A thick haze settled over us, diffusing the intensely bright morning sun into a flat gray light and occluding the horizon. With no frames of reference for either the time of day or our location, we’d become untethered from both time and space at this ancient ruin. No other part of the trip, or probably my life, felt as surreal as this.
After Dulay ash-Shaqq, we rode onward to the Afiiyyah reservoir (بركة أفيعية). Along the way, this day would finally heat up enough to provide the hot, dusty desert weather I had gone into the trip expecting. The remains of this reservoir were mostly buried, but the square outline gave it away.
We then drove straight to the third reservoir, which I have been unable to locate on a map nor find a name for. This one really just stood out for having a donkey tied up, the first I’d seen on the trip.
At camp, we were visited by a huge variety of insects, including a mantis. Up until this point, we had almost no wildlife at camp.
Losing a Camel, Gaining Influence
November 25th, 2021
With the pressure mounting to finish, our team set our camels up even earlier than the day prior. We ate our breakfast and got right back to our journey.
Due to the broken rein issue, we had the fifth camel riding unattached from the group again, hoping that this time things would be different. Spoiler: they were not.
This time he ran off so far that we lost sight of him.
We rode into the nearest village to pause our journey while our support team drove around in search of the lost camel. In the meantime, the kind people in the town invited us to join them for coffee and lunch.
While hanging out outside before lunch, a bit of a commotion broke out. One of the townsfolk had found our camel. To our surprise, they actually liked him so much they offered to buy him. Upon returning from the search, our support crew accepted the offer, and we were officially down to four camels for the remainder of the Darb Zubaydah.
It was at this time that I received my second offer of the trip to remain in Saudi Arabia working with camels. Keep in mind, I still could not ride my camel independently, and I felt it was apparent I am not a natural with animals. Nevertheless, I was flattered.
After consuming a copious amount of Arabic-style coffee, we proceeded to an outdoor feast. One of the locals kept on giving me more pieces of meat, well past the point of being full, of which I could not politely refuse. It was excellent.
Departing from our new friends after lunch, we headed back on our way. Not long after, though, our support truck started having battery issues. We ended up having to jump start it twice.
Omar and I rode by ourselves for the second half of the day. When I dropped my e-reader from on top of my camel (which, surprisingly, took no damage), Omar took the opportunity to show his prowess for camel riding. In a series of fluid motions, he swung off his camel, retrieved my device, handed it to me and swung back up onto his camel without making it sit down.
We made our way to the south, to a pair of reservoirs: one ancient and one recently constructed. The first was the Pilgrim’s Basin (خبراء الحاج), a modern reservoir made of perfectly formed concrete. While the sharp edges and smooth walls stand in sharp contrast to the reservoirs built of thousands of uniquely shaped stones, the general structure is exactly the same.
The second reservoir, less than a kilometer south, was the al-Amusa reservoir (بركة العموسى) of the Darb Zubaydah. This was nothing but a circular outline of stones.
While the number of bugs this evening was lower than the day before, we were visited by a different type of creature that some think of as pests: influencers. These were actually some of the most interesting people to meet from my perspective, as they demonstrated a form that our shared, globalized culture can take in a different place. Even though I could not understand them, they acted much like English-speaking influencers, but still clearly lived a more rural-to-suburban Saudi lifestyle. Plus, they drove the same car I do back home.
I could tell, though, that the rest of the team were less enthused by our guests. Probably because they could communicate with each other.
One of the two boys started filming, before grabbing my bottled sports drink from in front of me. He must have been suggesting something along the lines of me having brought it from the US, as one of our support team loudly said something while spinning the bottle around and pointing to the Arabic writing. I just smiled and nodded.
al-Kharabah
November 26th, 2021
Being so close to the end, our support team was really ready to finish things out. We awoke to coffee already made, with the najr out just in case a guest appeared out of nowhere. We ate quickly, packed up camp and headed out for a monument-filled day of riding. Up first was another pair of old and new reservoirs.
We stopped at the King Fahd reservoir (بركة الملك فهد الحديثة) first, which was mostly empty. Our hosts from the day prior had pointed out this location as something to check out. At the bottom was a shallow pool covering a lush bed of green plant life, almost like an aquarium. While I often think of deserts as barren, there actually is a lot of life here that manages to thrive despite the harsh conditions.
At this point in the day, the weather grew extremely hot. We had to take a break in the shade to cool off a bit, which was a first.
Next up was the Abu Jafar al-Mansur reservoir (بركة أبي جعفر المنصور), another old reservoir appearing to be from the time of the Darb Zubaydah’s construction. I say that because an obviously modern wall surrounds it. I do not know if it sees active use or not, but satellite images show that it does fill up seasonally. For us, it was empty but partially covered in a thin layer of grass. There were some interesting building ruins nearby, as well.
The next segment was comprised of scrubland, with a (relatively) high density of shrubs growing on or near the trail. We had some disagreements as to the direction of travel here, as the route of the Darb Zubaydah was difficult to discern. I do not recall if this was on purpose or not, but I believe we missed the al-Ghazlaniyyah (بركة الغزلانية) reservoir to our east.
We pushed onward to al-Kharabah (الخرابة), a pair of reservoirs joined by a small groundskeeper’s house. The condition of al-Kharabah is probably the best of any location I saw on the Darb Zubaydah, being fully excavated with both reservoirs holding significant volumes of water and the connecting building fully standing. Camels were even actively using the reservoir as intended during my visit.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of graffiti at al-Kharabah, but this is nothing that can’t be fixed.
Omar and I made a quick stop at the modern al-Kharabah reservoir, and then got in the car to head to our final reservoir of the trip. This was the Aqeeq reservoir (بركة العقيق), which was most notable for the nearby city ruins of Qalat al-Mahaqinah (قلعة المحاقنة). And yet again, a modern reservoir has been built right by the historical one.
Wrapping Things Up
November 27th, 2021
The dawn of the last day hits us.
Our team had gotten up, made coffee and breakfast for us and hit the road before Omar and I were even out of our sleeping bags. We ate, packed up and caught up to our team in the second support car.
Today’s ride would be through much larger, denser mountains than before. The route started passing through vast fields of volcanic stones, appearing more like Mars than the Saudi Arabia I’d grown accustomed to.
In the early afternoon, we would arrive at a large mosque still under construction. Only the concrete core of the building and towers was finished, but it was still an impressive structure.
Pushing onwards, we wound our way through a number of small towns in the mountain valleys. We were surrounded on both sides by lush, green fields and palm trees. It was beautiful.
Once the sun started to set, our team decided that it was time to end the journey. We pulled over in al-Mulayha (المليحا), at the intersection of two valleys. Friendly parting words were passed around, and the trip was over just like that.
From here, Omar and I hitchhiked our way to Jeddah, arriving late in the evening. We picked up some bagged juice and suya, a type of skewered meat from Nigeria, from some street vendors to celebrate.
As we were behind schedule, our support team decided not to head to Mecca but to head back home. Omar would, however, continue on to Mecca himself to complete the entirety of the Saudi section of the Darb Zubaydah. As a non-Muslim I could not join him, so I explored Jeddah’s old town instead.
Addendum: A Wedding
December 3rd, 2021
Omar and I stuck around Jeddah to attend the wedding we’d been invited to. This was a surreal experience.
The wedding had what I can only consider the greatest wedding decoration of all time. That decoration is a plastic palm tree, with dates used to form the trunk. I don’t think I’ve fully unpacked why this thing left such an impression on me, but it will live in my head forever.
Omar gave a speech, one of quite a few, to the audience of hundreds of men. Knowing Omar and his inclination for writing, I imagine it was quite good. And as a member of a speaker’s party, I was sat on stage as well. This placed me in front of a massive crowd, three seats away from the groom, which is certainly not my native habitat.
I think the entire room was wearing white thobes, with only myself as an exception. I regret not having bought one for the wedding, as I stood out far too much in my button-down and black pants.
After the speeches came dancing. The group on stage split into two sides, doing a call-and-response group dance. While I’m really not one for dancing, this was more jumping up and down. Plus I was handed a fake sword, so I can’t complain.
And finally, came dinner. A cooked camel, in its entirety, was brought out on a massive platter. I was in the most polite way possible forced to take one of the first bites. Even having tried to eat with my hands for part of the trip, I still found my skill lacking (perhaps from having given in to the spoon). I must say, though, the camel was great.