Bat’n SabSab Trip Report
Thanks
largely to the co-ordinates for the dahl provided by Greg Gregory, our
camping trip to the Bat'n SabSabDahl was very successful. John Weatherburn, Tom
& Blanche Harman, me and two of my sons, Aiden and Elliot, went
on the trip. We left shortly before 9:00 AM on Thursday morning and
drove west on the Dammam/Riyadh Expressway to Urayrah, then (N) on
route 603 to Shafiyah (this road continues on to Hanid and Nariya).
This is 205 km from my Aramco, and we arrived there in 2 hours. There
is a gas station where we could have refueled if we had needed but
instead we bought some cold water and other supplies. There is a clear
trail heading west from this gas station and we headed out on that
trail.
The
driving was very easy. In fact Elliot did most of the driving from this
point until we were very close to the dahl.
The
co-ordinates that Greg Gregory supplied was were absolutely on top of
the dahl. I parked about 30 feet from the entry point and the GPS was
pointing in the right direction and giving a range of .01 km. (Total
trip distance from home 251 km.) The importance of the correct
co-ordinates cannot be overstated. Tom has criss-crossed this
countryside on previous occasions looking for the dahl with no luck.
The entry points are mere slits in the ground. If you accidentally
drove into one you might damage your car but you wouldn't fall right
into it.
The
dahl is easily accessible. We used only the south entrance and we were
able to walk down, almost like steps, to get to the first chamber
immediately below the surface. From that point on we needed our
flashlights. The cave/tunnel that we followed was quite rough around
the edges but not too, too narrow. In places we could get by stooping,
in many places we had to crawl and in some places we had to slither (a
bit). The floor had occasional puddles, one of which hosted a swarm of
little water creatures someone identified as shrimp and also a floating
(but dead) mouse. We also saw one scorpion (deceased). We strung
together several ropes and proceeded quite a way into the cave but
eventually we ran out of rope and at about the same time we came to a
place where the tunnel turned into a downhill shaft. We decided that we
would return later with a better system for marking our way back and
more ropes in case we needed them for climbing back up. (The ropes that
we did take we used only as markers on how to get back.
However
there were no real forks off this tunnel to confuse us. Still, as this
was our first experience with caves we thought it would be better to
take the safest available options.
While
we were there we were joined by someone from British Aerospace who
happened to crawl down the hole after us. (Some of our party had stayed
at the surface.)
When we emerged from the dahl it was time for lunch. Well past time for lunch. We set up a table and chairs and enjoyed a light lunch and some drinks while some Saudis arrived in two vehicles and poked around the hole. One of them came over to talk to us largely in Arabic.
After lunch it was time for
John to head home because he had to go to the airport and collect his
daughters who are home from boarding school for the next several weeks.
The rest of the crew headed for some co-ordinates provided by Mohammed
Saloojee and rated as a good, green camping spot. Aiden took over the
driving for a large part of this leg of the trip. Along the way we
found ourselves on one of the high plateaus in the area and we very
impressed by the amount and height of the grass there. Our track took
us to the other side where we came to a gravelly track that went over a
small hill at with a 30-degree slope from side to side. What would I
get by going over this hill on such a canted track with a large, deep
drop-off immediately to my right? I wondered. I wondered enough that I
got out and took a look. After the hill the track narrowed to the point
that I did not believe the Suburban would fit on, then with deep falls
on both sides it turned right along a ridge spine, and after another
100 or 150 feet, a sharp left along another ridge spine to descend to
valley below. I decided that there must be a safer way down and we
turned around and tried again. This time we found a very safe descent
to the valley. Later we mounted another plateau. Our descent from that
was on a steep track of soft sand. There were clear tracks of someone's
unsuccessful attempt to climb this track, ending with 8-inch deep tire
tracks that did not make it all the way up. (We were confident there
were other ways out of the valley we were going into.)
When
we arrived at the co-ordinates we were not as happy with the location.
Part of it was that it didn't feel enough like desert camping and part
of it was that there were some interesting cliffs in view to the west.
We made our way over there and found a nice, reasonably sheltered spot
on the eastern side of a cliff there.
Elliot
and Aiden enjoyed climbing the heights while we set up camp and
prepared supper. Supper was quite ordinary but tasted much better
because of where we were. I prepared a peach cobbler in my Dutch Oven
using a Boy Scout recipe (with a few substitutions) and it turned out
very nicely.
In
the morning we benefited from the morning sun. We cooked breakfast,
packed up our camp while a herd of camels emerged from around the jebel
and browsed the bushes and grasses to the north of our campsite.
Blanche went and talked to the camel herder and took a few pictures.
The camel herder was disappointed when he found out that the picture
would not be ready right then. When we were ready to go again we
meandered towards a lake - actually a large puddle out on a sabkah. We
did not trust the surface here and moved back to firmer ground heading
east aiming for the road. Although we did not aim for the Shafiyah gas
station, that's where we reached the road again. After that it was a
straight ride home with a couple of stops at gas stations just to shop.
We made it home by 13:00 on Friday afternoon.
It was a great trip. We
enjoyed the cave and the camp and the drive was well worth it. We did
the whole trip with fully inflated tires and in two-wheel drive mode
without even switching into 4-wheel drive.
(However
the car has very good ground clearance and sand tires and the driver
had the peace of mind of knowing he had 4WD available as well as the
option to reduce tire pressure plus sand ladders, shovels, a winch and
travelling companions.)
It
was definitely a trip worth repeating.
(and so it has been!…)
Wiechula, Marek G.