An-Nafud Desert

An-Nafud, the great Nafud, covers around seventy thousand square kilometres of northern Saudi Arabia, a sand sea distinguished from the Empty Quarter by its colour, a strong red-orange from iron oxide on the grains, and by its dune forms: large crescentic barchans and long ridges separated by flat corridors, with deep steep-sided hollows called falj scoured out between them. Lake sediments beneath the sand show that this was a much wetter landscape in past periods, which is what the rock art at Jubbah on its southern edge records. After winter rain the hollows can green with grass and flowers, and Bedouin bring camels to graze them. Crossing the interior requires proper desert preparation.

The landscape

• Red crescent dunes - the barchans and ridges of the sand sea.
• The falj hollows - the deep scoured depressions between dunes.
• Post-rain grazing - the green hollows and camel herds after winter rain.
• The desert edge - the transition at Jubbah and the Hail plain.

When to go

November to March; summer temperatures in the sand sea are lethal without preparation. February and March after rain can bring flowering. Nights in winter are cold.

Practical notes

Entering the interior requires a convoy, recovery equipment, water, navigation and experience; going alone is dangerous. There are no facilities or fuel. The edge near Jubbah is accessible for a day trip; the deep interior is an expedition. Sand storms occur in spring.

Nearby

Jubbah lies on the southern edge; Hail is south.