A Desert Update

These fine animals has strayed from their enclosure and have wandered right up to the guard railing seeking forage. Both camels have young ones and have much milk to give; some for their young and some for the camel herder to whom they belong. As you may have learned, a camel has four teets and a close look will show that their owner has tied up, basically covered up, two teets to ensure he has milk for him and his family. Milk is one of the Bedouin's staples. From it they will make a rich cheese, which add to their spares diet. I came around the bend in the main highway and stopped to take this an other pictures. What happened after I left know one knows? You don't want to hit one of these animals in your car for no only will the damage be great but you may still be required to pay the camel herder for the animal as well under local law.


On the left you will see the camel sooq which stretches on for several kilometers to the east of Riyadh, which one passes along side the main highway leading to Dammam. The local Bedouin now resorts to using his trusty little white pickup for family and to care for his animals, which provide a living for him and a continued connection to the land of his birth and his heritage. The two camels in the first picture wandered from one of these enclosures.

Above you experience real desert country where sand runs in wide swaths across the landscape for kilometers with hardly a bush let alone a tree in sight. The eastern part of Saudi Arabia has little mountainous terrain is is generally wide open rolling red sand dune country as you see in this picture along side highway M 80 heading from Riyadh to Dammam / Al Khobar on the eastern seashore adjacent to the island kingdom of Bahrain. Among the sands one can find million and million year old shark teeth from at least 4 different shark varieties. In the space of and hour, one can easily sift out 30 to 50 shark teeth, which gives you a sense of how many of these great fish of the sea swam in the waters that once covered most of this country.