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Abu Dhabi Hilton
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Gaze out over the Gulf from the stunning 380-yard private beach at the Hilton International Abu...
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United Arab Emirates: Search for areas
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Arabian Desert (Rub al Khali)
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The Arabian Desert covers nearly 1 million sq. mi. of the Arabian peninsula and is therefore the third-largest desert in the world. It lies in Saudi Arabia and Yemen and extends into the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, and Jordan. No other desert is as sandy as the Arabian Desert. No river flows through or originates from it. A narrow band of steppe separates the Arabian Desert from the Mediterranean climatic zone.
One third of the Arabian Desert is sand, which first accumulated in shallow seas anywhere from 65 to 25 million years ago. The desert today is characterized by 700-ft.-high dunes and giant sand mountains. It is the bullying shamal--the northwesterly wind keeping Arabia extremely dry--that pushes those giant dunes all over the desert.
Worth to be seen is the mamlahah, a salty desert lake that stays dry most of the time. Arabia's rainfall only 2-5 inches on average a year and two year droughts aren't uncommon.
Archaeologists have found artifacts dating back 3,000 years documenting Arabian desert culture. The first white man who traversed this desert was H. St.John Philby, in the 1930s.
© Lonely Planet
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