| Page Views: 6,682 Last Visit to Jabal al Hijaz: August, 2003 | Jabal al Hijaz by TomorrowsAngel - last update: Sep 18, 2003 |
I've been to Taif, located in the Jabal Al Hijaz mountains twice. Both times it has been in summer. Up in these mountains it is hot and dry during the day, and pretty cool at night. |
Jabal al Hijaz is geographically located on the western coast of Saudi Arabia. It is made up of two mountain ranges separated by a gap near the city of Mecca. The northern range in the Hijaz seldom exceeds 2,100m, and the elevation gradually decreases toward the south to about 600m around Mecca. The landscape of Hjiaz is varied, to west there are rugged mountains dropping steeply to the Red Sea, eroded slopes, fertile plains, and wadis (dry riverbeds). To the east the land is not as steep and are wadis lead the rare rainfalls down to the plains. Scattered oases, draw water from springs and wells in the vicinity of the wadis, permit some settled agriculture. Of these oases, the largest and most important is Medina. |
South of Mecca, the mountains exceed 2400m in several places with some peaks topping 3000m. The rugged western face drops steeply to the coastal plain, the Tihamah lowlands, whose width averages only 65km. Along the seacoast are salty tidal plains, backed by potentially rich alluvial plains. Relatively well-watered and fertile upper slopes behind are extensively terraced to allow maximum land use. The eastern slope of the mountain range in Asir is gentle, melding into a plateau region that drops gradually into the Rub al Khali. Although rainfall is infrequent, fertile wadis, the most important are the Wadis Bishah and Tathlith, make oasis agriculture possible on a relatively large scale. A number of lava beds (harrat) scar the surfaces of the plateaus east of the mountain ranges in the Hijaz and Asir and give evidence of fairly recent volcanic activity. The largest is Khaybar, north of Medina. |
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TomorrowsAngel's Jabal al Hijaz Travel Tips
| Overview | Things to Do | | | | Restaurants | Hotels & Accommodations | | | | Nightlife | Off The Beaten Path | | | | Tourist Traps | Warnings Or Dangers Tips: 1 - Photos: 1 | | | Transportation Tips: 1 - Photos: 1 | Local Customs | | | | Packing Lists | Shopping | | | | Sports Travel | General Tips |
TomorrowsAngel's Jabal al Hijaz Travelogues | | | | Title [Click to view] | Travel Year | Pictures | | Camel Races | August, 2003 | 8 |
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Comments for TomorrowsAngel about Jabal al Hijaz | | | | |
iandsmith Wed Sep 1, 2004 09:20 UTC Never heard of the place, very interesting | pepples46 Fri Aug 29, 2003 22:29 UTC ribafish...I don't think so...just dust!! anyway, would like to see such a race one day. thanx Bec for all the fine infos and great pics | ribafish Tue Aug 26, 2003 10:49 UTC Any beer down there? |
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