Jabal Al Qarah 1986-1988
A locally famous sandstone attraction, east of Hofuf.
Jabal Al Qarah is a sandstone outcrop, with every fracture opened out into a series of gullies, with the ridges forming row upon row of fins and hoodoos.
Gullies and valleys.
Fractured hills.
Double gully.
Walking through the gullies.
Hoodoos lining the sides of a gully.
Masters of Hoodoo.
Sphinx, and two of my sisters.
Surrounded.
Hoodoo and fin group.
Deposited caliche (natural calcite cement) and dissolved sandstone.
Rotten rock.
Mushrooms.
Toadstool.
Stumps, with my sister, and the daughter of "the other Englishman in Hofuf".
Climbing the clefts between hoodoos.
Up to the remains of an adobe house.
My dad, and some milk bottles.
Natural bridges and caves.
One of the major features and attractions of Jabal Al Qarah is Ghar Al Nashab, a 1.5 km long cave system, formed along multiple parallel fractures within the sandstone.
This would actually have been my first ever cave, but I do not count it, since it is a show cave. The cave is lit with street lamps, and consists mostly of a large number of easy walking, sandy floored passages.
The cave lies just below the surface, and every time the roof rises, it breaks out as a daylight shaft.
An outlying part, with its own caves.
Sadly it seems that littering is a global problem.
Cave tunnel.
Jabal Al Qarah is a sandstone outcrop, with every fracture opened out into a series of gullies, with the ridges forming row upon row of fins and hoodoos.
Gullies and valleys.
Fractured hills.
Double gully.
Walking through the gullies.
Hoodoos lining the sides of a gully.
Masters of Hoodoo.
Sphinx, and two of my sisters.
Surrounded.
Hoodoo and fin group.
Deposited caliche (natural calcite cement) and dissolved sandstone.
Rotten rock.
Mushrooms.
Toadstool.
Stumps, with my sister, and the daughter of "the other Englishman in Hofuf".
Climbing the clefts between hoodoos.
Up to the remains of an adobe house.
My dad, and some milk bottles.
Natural bridges and caves.
One of the major features and attractions of Jabal Al Qarah is Ghar Al Nashab, a 1.5 km long cave system, formed along multiple parallel fractures within the sandstone.
This would actually have been my first ever cave, but I do not count it, since it is a show cave. The cave is lit with street lamps, and consists mostly of a large number of easy walking, sandy floored passages.
The cave lies just below the surface, and every time the roof rises, it breaks out as a daylight shaft.
An outlying part, with its own caves.
Sadly it seems that littering is a global problem.
Cave tunnel.