【The Empty Quarter】The Rub' al Khali Desert with No Road Signs and No Road

The Rub' al Khali Desert with No Road Signs and No Road

In Arabic, Rub' al Khali means “the Empty Quarter”. The Rub' al Khali desert is the world’s largest continuous sand desert, covering an area of 650,000km2. The desert takes up a quarter of the Arabian Peninsula. The highest sand dune in the desert stands 300m tall. People seldom visit the Rub' al Khali desert - even the Bedouins, who used to inhabit the desert regions. They call the Rub' al Khali desert “the Sands”.

In 1945, Wilfred Thesiger, a British explorer, was commissioned to investigate the plagues of locusts in the Arabian Peninsula. He was known to cross “the Sands” twice by riding a camel.

Now, by applying for permit through Saudi Arabia’s adventure travel agencies, you can start your adventure in “the Sands’ with a tour guide. Not only you can drive an off-road vehicle freely through the rugged dunes, you can also ride a camel. Although riding a camel means a shorter journey, by doing so you can experience the adventure the explorers used to have.