The Harrat Kishb Volcanic Plateau
There are places in this world that leave you speechless. We’ve seen a few of them on this trip so far, places shaped long before our time, places that seem to carry countless stories within their landscapes. Al Wahbah Crater is one of them. Also known as Maqla Tamiyyah, Al Wahbah Crater is one of Saudi Arabia’s most impressive natural sights. It sits on the Harrat Kishb volcanic plateau, around 400 km from Jeddah, in the western part of the country.
The crater is huge: roughly 2–3 km wide and about 250 m deep, with steep dark volcanic walls and a bright white floor covered in mineral/salt deposits.
For a long time, people thought it might be a meteorite crater because of its almost perfect circular shape. Today, geologists classify it as a maar crater, formed by a violent steam explosion when rising magma met underground water. When we were sitting there at the edge we only imagined how massive this explosion must have been.
Off-road love
After spending a few days in Jeddah, we made our way towards Al Wahbah Crater. We had been invited to stay at Richard’s place, a German guy who had been living in Saudi Arabia for several years and whom we had met earlier in Al Ula.
From Jeddah, we drove for a few hours northeast, following the highway through vast desert landscapes and volcanic terrain. The temperatures started climbing again, and at some point, we took a sharp right off the paved road and headed straight into the middle of nowhere. Off-roading.
The landscape reminded us of some places we had seen in Namibia. Once again, we drove for hours without seeing another soul around. There wasn’t as much wildlife out here, but every now and then, we crossed paths with a few camels wandering through the emptiness.
We followed the GPS tracks, along with the faint trails already visible in the desert.
A few times, we crossed paths with camels. But here, they were white camels, something we had never seen before.
Al Wahbah Crater
From the rim, it feels like looking into another planet
The views from the roof of our car were even better.
Sitting there and taking it all in was already impressive, but the drone shots showed the true scale of the place.
The wider Harrat Kishb volcanic field is quite large around 5,892 km²
Stretching all the way to the horizon.
The view of this crater was simply unreal.
Camp in the lava fields
On the first night, we set up camp right on the rim of the crater, completely exposed in the wide open. It was beautiful, but also quite windy, and strong wind never gives you the best feeling when sleeping in a rooftop tent. So the next morning, we decided to move on and look for a more sheltered spot to camp.
We drove only a few more kilometers away from the crater until we reached the beginning of these huge lava fields. Seeing it in real life was absolutely insane. We set up camp right in front of the place where the hot, liquid lava once stopped moving and slowly turned into stone. Just imagine that.
We found a spot right at the edge of the old lava field, a pretty perfect place to set up camp.
What looks today like endless black stone was once moving molten lava, flowing across the desert before it slowly cooled down and turned solid.
Of course we followed the local rules and set up our camp fire in the portable bbq.
Another rule we followed was our own: whenever possible, we barbecue. And over time, it became our favorite dinner on the road.
Tiny stingless bees seemed to be everywhere in the jungle around Krabi. Barely bigger than a fly, building their homes inside the trunk of a tree. Unlike honey bees, they cannot sting, which makes them surprisingly gentle. They play an important role in the jungle, pollinating countless tropical plants and helping the forest thrive
