On Friday 2 February 2024, the participants from all over Europe left for Riyadh on their own. We all arrived at the King Khalid international airport in the late evening/early morning of Saturday 3 February 2024, where a special customs counter had been reserved for the fair visitors, which went very quickly. Collecting the luggage took a bit longer and finding the car rental counter and obtaining the cars took a lot longer. This was followed by a drive of about an hour to the hotel, where it was noticeable that the road was already very busy in the middle of the night. The sun was already rising again when the tour guide walked into his hotel room.
After a few hours of rest, the group met in the lobby to discuss what we could do together that day. It was decided to go towards the natural phenomenon ‘The Edge of the World’. This is a very high cliff (1131 meters) at the end of the 800km long Tuwaik mountain range, about 100km from Riyadh. We knew that this required a bit of a dirt road and our rental cars were not designed for this, but we would see how far we could get. Otherwise there would still be time to try this later in the week.
Driving in Saudi Arabia is an adventure, requires nerves of steel, flexibility and experience to ‘read’ the traffic as rules don’t really seem to exist. With daylight it was now noticeable how many construction projects were going on, everywhere you see construction cranes and walls behind which construction is taking place. Outside the built-up area you see the beautiful yellow/orange colors of the desert.
The dirttrack starts about 20 kilometers from the ‘Edge of the World’. We followed the route Google gives us, because there are no signs anywhere. We drive slowly for the first 15 kilometers and can easily handle it with our cars, but then it becomes a lot more difficult. We stop regularly to take a few photos and enjoy the wonderful temperatures in winter, about 18° Celsius. Now we also have to stop regularly, but to let people get out so that the car has more ground clearance for the obstacles. A few times we have to go back a bit because we really can’t get through/past it, but after 2.5 hours we reach the parking lot where many 4×4 drivers stare at us and admire the result achieved.
We agree on a time when we will return so that we will be back on the paved road in daylight. The ‘Edge of the World’ is indescribably beautiful and many photos were taken here and simply enjoyed the cool view. About the time we wanted to turn back we saw two buses pulling into the parking lot! They could never have come our way. That was correct, there turned out to be a dirttrack path over which you could reach the paved road easy and without obstacles. Learned something for next time, but it was a great adventure that we experienced without damage to the cars. We enjoyed a simple meal near the hotel before going to bed on time.
