Khaybar: Black and White Volcanoes

Black and White Volcanoes ("White Head") , Khaybar, Medina Province.

[from FB post: December 8, 2017]

A place like no other on the planet. It was a two hour drive from Medina on a normal road, then 10 km off-road, then another 7 km on foot. Just wow!

A true adventure in every sense

After I realized I ACTUALLY was going to do a life-reset in Saudi Arabia, I started to do a little research. Even as late as 2013, very little on the internet was available about things to do in Saudi Arabia other than typical expat activities like scuba diving or 4WD jaunts in the desert. A few people were adventurers though, and I found one article about a group who journeyed to the Black and White Volcanoes north of Medina. That intrigued me and I did some research. As it turns out, those volcanoes were Saudi Arabia's truest unique geographic/geologic feature. A silica spewing white volcano next to a basalt spewing black volcano existed nowhere else on earth. They were even visible on google earth!! That place was 1uickly added to my list.

After arriving in Saudi Arabia and getting settled, I started to talk to Saudis about the Black and White Volcanoes. No one, and I mean not a single person, had ever heard about them. In fact, most Saudis were unaware that there were volcanoes in their country at all!! Clearly, it was going to require a lot more planning and research. Over the years, I got AQ interested in trying to visit, but even he was extremely dubious initially. Literally, no one had heard of the place and google maps/earth was not very clear as to the condition of the roads. The article I saw before coming to Saudi said that people went overland from the Red Sea coast equipped with lots of spare tires (that black lava would shred a tire) and water. Even if those people had travelled 10 years prior, their description seemed completely out of sync with the reality of modern Saudi Arabia. A decent set of main roads could get one "close" to the volcanoes. I began to wonder if the account was exaggerated (or very dated).

Finally, the planning was done and brothers aQ and I flew to Medina where we rented a 4WD SUV. It was orange and we named it "pumpkin". We spent the night there (outside the city center - off limits to non-Muslims - although AQ was just DYING to take me there and, frankly, who would have known?) The next morning, we drove north toward Khaybar [see: Old Khaybar] using GPS and google maps. We turned off the main road onto a narrow, surfaced road that climbed up into the hills. Soon we were in a black lava field and skirting the base of the Black Volcano (we also caught glimpses of the the white one). At a non-sign marked, unsurfaced road that we all agreed SHOULD be the turn, we took the plunge. We drove on a fairly good dirt road to an overlook of the volcanoes. It was impressive, but they were still quite distant. From there we saw the road snake down to the bottom of an old crater filled with sand. Should we do it? Well, we didn't come this far for nothing.

We drove down a huge sand hill and across a flat area until the road started to get bad with sharp rock outcroppings. We agreed it was time to park and walk. We entered through a gap in the old crater wall. The track appeared to head toward a good viewpoint. The area was a mix of yellow/white sand and pieces of obsidian (many in perfect cubes!). We made it to the viewpoint -- below us were the strikingly contrasted twin lava fields of the volcanoes. The photo above is the white volcano with the black volcano's lava field in front of it. A truly unique place - somewhere very few people had visited, period.

AQ wanted to walk to the summit of the white volcano and it was tantalizingly close, but SQ and I knew we would also have to walk back and then there was the drive out and we did not want to be attempting anything late in the day. Much to AQ's dismay, we eventually turned around and went back to the car. I am happy we didn't go to the White Volcano as I was wiped out by the time we made it back to the car. Then we made the careful drive back across the sand/lava field and were faced with going back up what now looked like one huge sand dune. We all were nervous. With no houses, no tents, no cars, no cell phone signal, if we got stuck, we were REALLY fucked (the only word to describe it). AQ got a running start and we got about 2/3 of the hill and got stuck. We all had a brief moment of panic, but somehow became unstuck again and made it to the top. I felt such a rush of relief and accomplishment after we got out of the crater.

We had visited the Black and White Volcanoes of Saudi Arabia! It is beyond "Holy Grail" for travelers even now. I will leave a return visit for AQ and SQ and their kids. By that time there will no doubt be proper roads, and they can spin their "old man tales" of going there and nearly getting stuck in the sand. Maybe AQ will finally make it to the top of the White Volcano with his children?

It was the single best experience I had in Saudi Arabia and one of the top adventure experiences of my whole life. Just.... wow.