I’ve just walked the length of Saudi Arabia. As a single woman I’m breaking taboos

This morning I became the first documented person to walk from north to south. Saudi Arabia – at every step. It took me 112 days and I hiked 2,195 km (1,364 miles); This is roughly equivalent to half a marathon per day.

Scorching temperatures of 39 degrees, ice in my tent, scorpions, snakes, strong winds and exhausting sand were all part of the journey. At one stage my blisters were so bad my feet were bleeding into my shoes.

But there was real joy in the vast wild desert landscapes, camping next to rock carvings made thousands of years ago, and drinking cardamom coffee in Bedouin tents along the way.

I mostly felt a sense of accomplishment this morning as I completed my epic journey; After so much effort, I finally succeeded with the help of my team. Arriving in Najran on the Yemen border was an emotional experience that marked the end of a chapter.

My journey started in Halat Ammar on the border. Jordan. I did this in two stages: January 1-February 14, ending at the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, and continued from there again from October 10 until today. (There was a break due to Ramadan, which was followed by the impossibility of walking in the extreme heat of summer.)

During this period, I had a backup team coming from various places from Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Ireland. I also took two camels with me: Juicy and Lulu. I didn’t need camels while walking and had the luxury of a spare vehicle, but camels are an integral part of Saudi culture and I told myself it would be wrong to walk parts of these ancient pilgrimage and caravan routes without them.

Why did I cross this controversial country?

When I was 11 years old, my father gave me a copy of Wilfred Thesiger’s book. Arabian SandsThe story of crossing the Empty Quarter with his Bedouin friends, published in 1959, is engraved in my mind. This was one reason why I decided to study Arabic at university and later live here. Morocco.

When Saudi Arabia began to open up after the pandemic, I saw my chance to explore the heart of the Muslim world. Before I even got to the starting line, it took two years of planning, fundraising, and selling my apartment to partially finance it.

I lost sponsors who did not want to engage with Saudi Arabia; Many people questioned why I was going to a country with such a poor human rights record and where women did not previously have the same freedoms as men.

But I believe in the power of knowledge and understanding. I think the only way we can live together as humans is if we learn about each other; not just through the news, but on a human level.

I’m not an apologist. I know there is a lot to worry about, but I don’t believe turning my back on these problems is the answer. I am an explorer.

Call me inspirational or stupid, but I wanted to know what it felt like for a Western woman to do something frankly so extraordinary in a country that the world still viewed with suspicion.

The details of the fight depended on weather and terrain. Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932; Water scarcity means you need to have support animals or vehicles to make any progress, and unless you’re doing this as a designated walking journey like me, you’ll use these to cycle parts of the route.

My journey touched upon many parts of different routes such as trade and pilgrimage, but walking entirely from north to south was an adventure no one had attempted before.

Slow route via Saudi

I quickly settled into the routine: I get up at 4.45am, walk before sunrise at 6.15am, and finish at noon to avoid the intensity of the heat. I navigated with GPS (which also recorded my entire route) and helpful corrections provided by my navigator, Alan Morrissey.

Sometimes I walked alone; sometimes members of the team walked with me. I was constantly asking questions about the land, wildlife, people, traditions, and tribes. I also had hours to think and experience the serenity of traveling the world.

The route started from the Mordor-like lava fields in the north. There are terrible black rocks covering the plains, and the high black mountains are impassable.

I then descended to Wadi Al Disah, a magnificent valley in the Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Royal Reserve. Here, red gate walls protect a lush valley filled with multi-trunked palm trees called doom palms. Waterways run through the central part, and local shepherds bring their animals down, led by “sheep donkeys” who wear bells to encourage the herd to follow them.

Al UlaThe hub of Saudi Arabia’s new tourism offering was the highlight of my trek north. This region, which hosts large ruins of the Nabataean and Dadanite kingdoms, also has a huge national park.

I noticed one of the antelopes that had been reintroduced here; They gallop through wildly shaped rock formations that sing eerily as the wind passes through them at dusk.

symbols of the south

Then we went to Medina, one of the holiest cities in Islam. It has recently opened its center to non-Muslims. It’s now open to everyone. In the second stage, at the time of morning prayer, Hz. I started in front of the mosque where Muhammad’s tomb is located and walked the first few kilometers against the flow of worshipers from all over the world.

The south of the country is wilder and more remote. It is also warmer; I was drinking four liters of water a day, but I was only going to the toilet twice a day. Walking with my two camels meant I had to plan a route on the sand, especially when Lulu developed blisters and we had to make her a rudimentary shoe.

This region features vast, open desert landscapes surrounded by towering mountains. I hiked through valleys full of thorn trees and dotted with shepherds’ camps. The terrain was either good for camels and bad for humans (deep sand) or better for humans but worse for camels (rocky mountain passes).

After a long day where the sand was miles deep and my calves were hurting, I went to explore some curved rocks. I found a series of eerie carvings of single hands; I thought maybe these were tribal symbols.

Two weeks later, I met Mohammed Harish Al Mustatir, who devoted his life to petroglyph research in the Bir Hima region.

“They are totems of the god Wadd,” he told me, “Wadd is one iteration of the Moon God.”

A woman in a man’s world

Walking long distances is no longer normal in Saudi Arabia: A woman walking in the wilderness Tyrannosaurus rex I’m wandering around Kent. I made sure to dress appropriately by putting a robe over my walking tights and top, and a headscarf under my hair and hat. This also helped me protect myself from the heat.

This is a sexist society where men and women often have very different roles and responsibilities. In Saudi Arabia, Islam is not a separate part of life, but is woven into every action.

Family and tribal ties are very important; The needs and desires of the individual are secondary to the needs and desires of society. The parameters of society are strict for men and women, and respect for hierarchy is non-negotiable. I was breaking many taboos in this individual quest.

I was welcomed everywhere I went. But I had to get used to being comfortable with social discomfort. If I was sitting with men, I knew they weren’t used to it and that I was a stranger to them. I was often asked if I was a Muslim, and when I said no, I was a Christian, I could see my stocks falling.

Likewise, when I said that I was not married and had no children, there were people who disapproved, and a marriage invitation came from a man of appropriate age but without teeth: “He loves the desert and camels, leave him here, I will marry him.”

A sense of liberation

A discovery inherently surprises you. I was blown away by the freedom to wander and camp anywhere without supervision and the sheer volume of history spread along the path I walked.

During over 100 days of hiking, I also experienced extraordinary things, from finding Stone Age tools in the camp to walking past a tree full of dead hyenas and wolves; From drinking fresh camel milk milked into a bottle in front of me to cracking the skull of a cooked sheep to eat its tongue.

Things are changing rapidly in Saudi Arabia, but it is still definitely not normal for a woman to go on a long, adventurous journey with a crew of men to whom she is not related. For the most part, the Saudis I met were able to ignore this and accept me and the expedition as an adventure.

Yes, Saudi Arabia is a controversial country with cultural norms that are deeply at odds with Western ideology.

However, when you walk this path, you will realize that people are fundamentally the same all over the world, and what matters is kindness and human connection. Cultural barriers are something that must be overcome.

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