Saudi Arabia Hiking Road Trip: 6. Hegra
Hegra is Saudi Arabia’s most famous archaeological site, also known as Mada’in Salih. In the middle of the sandy plain, rock formations rise up like storm clouds. These rocks were carved by the ancient Nabataeans into their most important sites, mostly tombs, but also enigmatic temples. Lesser buildings would have been built around the rocks but they did not survive. Until recently the site was considered cursed, and not paid much attention. Nowadays it is a major tourist attraction, which we wandered around whilst listening to an audioguide.
We learnt that the Nabataeans were masters of finding and conserving water, which made Hegra a vital stop on the incense trade routes. The region has an ancient tradition of epic journeys on foot, which I hope will one day be resurrected in the form of long-distance hiking trails. One old route extended north to Petra in modern-day Jordan, Hegra’s better-known (and much busier) counterpart, also built by the Nabataeans. Jordan now has a hiking trail which runs the length of the country. For more information on the Nabataeans, I recommend the short BBC series ‘Arabian Adventures’ by Alice Morrison (
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00203rj).
Hegra is not far from AlUla, which is also a historical site. We visited the old town and saw an ancient vending machine.
Photo list (see
https://hegraconservation.com/the-map/).
1. Diwan chamber (IGN16), Ithlib area.
2. Tomb IGN18, Banat Necropolis.
3. Jebel Ithlib.
4. AlUla old town, at night.
5. Old vending machine.
#SaudiArabia #Hiking #Overlanding #Hegra #Nabataeans
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