Al-Waaba Crater Under Threat From Vandals

Author: 
Roger Harrison, Arab News
Publication Date: 
Wed, 2005-07-27 03:00

JEDDAH, 27 July 2005 — As a tourist attraction, the Al-Waaba crater is a hole in the ground. A very big one. Three hundred meters deep or more and 2,500 meters in diameter, it is one of the biggest — if not the biggest — land-based caldera in the world.

Located 70 km north of the Taif-Riyadh road, it is an isolated bleakly desolate spot, surrounded by dully gleaming basalt lava fields on one side and a rock strewn desert on the other. It has a harsh beauty to it and it is one place where a visitor can, without exercising too much imagination, get some idea of the enormous forces of nature.

Five years ago, few people visited the place as tourists. The only available route was by dead reckoning across open desert or by badly surface road that petered out into rough desert tracks. A few local villagers knew the place, herdsmen watered their flocks at the spring issuing from the north wall onto a ledge, where it nourished a brilliantly green garden, with waist high grass, palms and shady bushes.

A year or so ago came a new road that allowed easy access all the way to the very edge of the crater. Small white gazebos that provided shelter from the extreme heat were built to encourage visitors.

Since then, the few minute ribbon villages that dotted the road from the highway to the crater have flourished. New power pylons march across the salt flats to service newly-built garages and assorted accommodation; bilious green and orange buildings glow in the sun, evidence of inward investment.

Tourism has arrived; in principal a useful fillip to the local economy and an introduction to the natural wonders of the Kingdom. Ideally, tourists take photos away and leave money behind, generally a good deal for both sides.

With all the positive and constructive input that has clearly been made to develop the area and provide work and a sense of self-respect for the local community has come the vandal. It seems to be axiomatic that if an individual or an organization tries to improve or preserve something, as well as attracting responsible visitors, the low life will surface and gain some twisted amusement out of destroying it. That phenomenon is not unique to Saudi Arabia; it appears to be part of the human condition.

“The ‘Leave No Trace’ program, which is being organized by Supreme Commission for Tourism in coordination with public and private sector organizations, is an internationally recognized program about environmental awareness,” Prince Sultan said recently.

The first trace of vandalism is on the approach to the crater. A green traffic sign directing the visitor to the site has been partially ripped out of the ground, rotated 180 degrees, smashed nearly flat and sprayed with graffiti.

Prince Sultan expressed sincere concern about creating deep awareness of the importance of preserving the environment, whether land or marine, which he said, “has become a paramount concern especially with the rising population of the Kingdom where the number of visitors to the various natural areas has doubled, resulting in negative factors which have reduced the attractiveness of these areas and endangered the natural habitats of wildlife...”

It is an admirable scheme; it needs to get through to the general public — especially in the remote areas of the Kingdom which have some of the most spectacular natural wonders.

Within weeks of the white gazebos appearing on the scene, they were smothered in sprayed graffiti. The rocks on the sheer sides began to sport more graffiti — the result of planned and quite strenuous climbing to get close enough to spray them. If only the effort and logistical planning applied to vandalism and gratuitous self-advertising could be applied more productively!

A series of climbs down the walls to the crater floor and various ledges over the last five years have revealed exactly what some visitors leave — and it is not cash. There is the usual detritus of paper and cardboard packaging. Plastic bottles and aluminum drinks cans are scattered in all but the most inaccessible places on the crater walls. Abandoned sandals, torn ghutras and even a rusting oil drum testify to the shift in perception of the vast crater by some visitors away from tourist attraction to landfill site.

The lesson to be learned from the Al-Waaba crater is this: Whatever you plan to do with all the good intent and vision for a thriving tourist industry in the area and the Kingdom is simple; do it and do it now.

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