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From: "Chris Noble"
Date: Thu, February 21, 2008 3:55 am


> Dear Mr Pint,
> My husband and I, old western side Saudi hands since
> 1978, are currently employed at King Khalid Military
> City Hospital School. We have travelled the western
> parts of the kingdom from Najran and Jizan in the
> south as far as the Jordan border in the north. One
> place we did not venture was the Great Nafud, and now
> we are back in the Kingdom we would like to remedy
> that. However, there are few, if any, other likeminded
> people here and we do not wish to set off alone. Could
> you suggest people like your Friends of Desert group,
> we may make contact with? You supplied Dr Bishop with
> some names two years ago, and we would welcome
> something similar.
> Looking forward to hearing from you.
> Helen and Chris Noble

REPLY:

Hello Helen and Chris!

Good for you! I'm not sure if you realize it, but the Saudi Arabian Natural History Society is still alive and well and would no doubt be delighted to find people who want to go to the Nafud. They meet the first Saturday of every month at the Saudi Geological Survey, at 7:30 PM.

As for the Friends of the Desert, I know they are very interested in showing people around the area (Sakaka is fascinating!) I don't have their phone number with me right now, but you can call my SGS colleague, Mahmoud Al-Shanti and explain what you have in mind. He can give you the phone number of one of the "Friends" who speaks English.

Let me know how it goes. If you run into any snags, I hope I can help.

John Pint

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