Al Ain Wildlife Park Tombs and Bidaa Bint Saud

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Al Ain Wildlife Park Tombs

   Jebel Hafit rises out of the flat desert at the edge of Al Ain like a long, pale whale, and on its lower slopes sit some of the oldest buildings in the United Arab Emirates. These are beehive tombs, circular cairns of stacked stone, built around five thousand years ago in the early Bronze Age, which give their name to the Hafit period of Arabian prehistory. Dozens of them survive on the ridges and foothills, and the ones near the wildlife park are easy to reach, standing in the open on a spur of rock with the town on one side and the dry mountain on the other.

   Read the complete Al Ain Wildlife Park Tombs write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Al Ain Wildlife Park Tombs is where the day begins. Next is Hili 2.

2. 2. Hili 2

   Jebel Hafit rises out of the flat desert like a wall of grey limestone, and at its foot lie some of the oldest tombs in the Arabian Peninsula. Hili 2 is part of the archaeological park on the edge of Al Ain, in Abu Dhabi emirate, where beehive-shaped stone tombs were built around five thousand years ago, in what archaeologists call the Umm an-Nar period. The round towers of neatly cut stone, some with carved animals and human figures on the doorways, held collective burials, and the place is also home to remains of a Bronze Age settlement and ancient irrigation channels called falaj. The tombs, together with the oases and the hill, are part of the UNESCO listing of the cultural sites of Al Ain, inscribed in 2011.

   Read the complete Hili 2 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hili 2 comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Bidaa Bint Saud.

3. 3. Bidaa Bint Saud

   Jebel Hafit rises out of the flat gravel desert near Al Ain like a lizard's back, a bare, folded limestone ridge about twelve hundred metres high that marks the border between the United Arab Emirates and Oman. It is the best-known landmark in the area, and the scatter of ancient sites around it tells the story of the people who lived here. On the lower slopes are about five thousand years old beehive-shaped stone tombs, the first examples of a type of grave that is now named after the mountain, and the Hafit period is a recognised phase of Bronze Age archaeology in south-east Arabia.

   Read the complete Bidaa Bint Saud write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 34 km into the recorded legs you reach Bidaa Bint Saud. Next is back through Hili 2.

4. 4. back through Hili 2

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hili 2 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Hili 2, late in the day. Next is Al Ain Wildlife Park Tombs.

5. 5. Al Ain Wildlife Park Tombs

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Al Ain Wildlife Park Tombs write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Al Ain Wildlife Park Tombs. That is the ride.