Al Habala, Asir, Saudi Arabia. December 2013
The nanny-state ruins my view
[From FB: December 5, 2013]
Finally made it out to this huge gorge...which is a big cleft in the escarpment down to the lowlands. Impressive stuff.... looks like Arizona. Could have done without the fence on the edge. Amazing that in a country which has almost NO safety regulation they put a fence up there.... and in the over regulated USA, there probably would be NO fence.
After hearing about the debacle of WBT and my visit to Dalagan Park {see: Dalagan Park}, where we were told it was Al Habala falsely, YA promised to take us to the real Al Habala. Armed with low expectations, we left Abha one winter weekend afternoon to see this place we had heard so much about. YA, a young Saudi, had his Master's from a university in Indiana and was also our local coffee shop regular. We knew him well. He worked at the university, too, and was studying TAFL (Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language) en route to a PhD from the USA. He was always dismayed at WBT and my lack of picking up ANY Arabic during our time in Abha. That is a topic unto itself, however.
How ironic that the road to Al Habala goes past Dalagan Park -- one only need travel a few kilometers more to reach it. SA really was a shithead for thinking we would never find out the truth about our fake outing. The real Al Habala is set up for mass tourism with several large parking lots scattered along a looping road. In the off-season, the place is empty, but in the summer high-season when seemingly the whole of Saudi Arabia descends on Abha in search of cooler temperatures, Al Habala is mobbed. I was grateful to be there with just a handful of other people on a crisp winter day.
Al Habala is jaw-droppingly astounding. Quite similar to standing on a canyon edge in the American Southwest, it is actually a valley eroded into the Hejaz Escarpment making it "canyon-like" in appearance. This was my first real trip to the escarpment, so I was shocked to discover that such incredible beauty existed near Abha. I definitely needed to reassess my impressions - in a good way. The land is flat, right up to the edge and then drops off in a huge cliff which becomes mountains and hills that fade off into the hazy distance. I thought, "No one will ever believe THIS is Saudi Arabia".
There used to be people who lived in a cliff-hanging village about halfway down. As the modern world took over and those cliff-dwellers no longer needed the security of that location (the tribes in the area were often in conflict with each other), the place was bought by the government and made into a museum with a cable car for easy access. Previously, the people were able to live there by using a system of ropes and pullies to take them to the top of the escarpment in order to go to market or travel on the main roads. The story of those people is locally legendary.
My biggest takeaway from that first visit, however, was not the scenery nor the history, it was the fence. A hideous chain-link fence stands between the visitor and that incredible view. Why why why would a fence be put up to mar the view of such a lovely place? Clearly people "should know better" than to step off into the chasm below. Apparently, they did NOT. Before the fence and some barriers in the parking area, people and CARS routinely plummeted to the canyon floor. Really, that happened.
In the USA, where liability and tort law reigns supreme, our national parks are amazingly open, free, and AYOR. At the Grand Canyon, viewing platforms on the edge with only split rail fences provide "managed" viewpoints, but the whole of the canyon is not "people proofed" by a barrier. Even an American knows that if they fall off the edge of the Grand Canyon, a suit against the National Park Service will not be successful. I remember before Brian and I visited the Grand Canyon, my mother sent me an article about the number of people who died each year taking photos there - "just one more step back...." At Al Habala, due to the sheer numbers of people who plunged to their deaths, a fence was put up along the entire tourist area rim. It is possible to slip under it, of course, but it stands steadfastly marring the view. The nearby parking area is also filled with concrete barriers for the same reason. Young men "drifting" in their cars would lose control and torpedo over the edge. My mind was filled with "how stupid would a person have to be??"
A few years later at the university after having become totally fed up with the quality and lack of seriousness of the students in our department, I suggested a department-wide outing to Al Habala, but without the fencing. My logic was reasonable. Those who did not survive the outing were likely better off not studying in our department. Given how frustrated my Saudi colleagues also felt teaching at the university, they even laughed, too. To say there are many students who should NOT be in university would be an understatement, but the Saudi government is giving EVERYONE the chance to study at the university level. University students not only receive a free education, they are given a monthly living stipend!
The fact is that, in some cases, the Saudi state "takes care" of its citizens to the point of ridiculousness (like the protective fence at Al Habala or the guarantee that everyone can go to college and be paid for it). Outsiders who like to challenge the Saudi royal family for their lavish lifestyles while a large part of the kingdom is semi-impoverished might take note of the huge strides made in that country since the discovery of oil. The royals in Riyadh might be overly patronizing and controlling of their subjects, but they have good reason. Change to the Arabian Peninsula came very quickly. What happened in Europe over a couple of centuries happened in Saudi Arabia over a few decades. Humans simply cannot change that quickly, so, in fact, YES, there has to be a chain-link fence at Al Habala along with other "society protective" measures until people have a chance to catch up. Water, electricity, gasoline, education, and even most food in the supermarket is heavily subsidized by the government - the king is "helping" the citizens. The average Saudi has no idea about these subsidies and never even realizes they pay less for water than citizens of water rich countries. First, water is provided to all, THEN they are slowly weaned off the subsidies and made to understand that it is an expensive commodity which needs to be conserved. This process is happening right now. Even the rich royals in Riyadh cannot maintain this level of "nanny-ism" forever.
By way of comparison, look at all the "controls" currently put on the internet. They might be looked back on as "quaint" or "overly intrusive" by a later society that is not reeling from the cataclysmic change people are now living through. Rapid change is never easy. No one wants government control and interference, until of course, the situation becomes so dire, there is no choice. All the controls put up on the internet "for our own safety" are the "e" equivalent of the fence at Al Habala. As children, we want to be independent from our parents - until we need them. The Saudi government very much treats its citizenry as "children" and a work in progress. When huge changes and challenges come to a nation, doesn't every government become a "nanny state" to some degree?
I may understand the fence at Al Habala after my time in Saudi Arabia, but it doesn't mean have to like it.