The Rub' al Khali (; , ) is a desert encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula. The desert covers some , including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. It is part of the larger Arabian Desert.

Description

Terrain

The desert is long, and wide, covering the area of longitude 44.5°−56.5°E and latitude 16.5°−23.0°N. Most of the terrain is ergs, with sand dunes up to high, interspersed with gravel and gypsum plains. of Oman being a rare and prized breed. As an ecoregion, the Rub' al Khali falls within the Arabian Desert and East Saharo-Arabian xeric shrublands.

Oil

The Shaybah oil field was discovered in 1968. South Ghawar, discovered in 1948, is the largest oil field in the world and extends southward into the northernmost parts of the Empty Quarter. through the Empty Quarter, was completed in September 2021. Measuring between , it extends from Ibri in Oman to Al-Ahsa in eastern Saudi Arabia. A stretch of the road is on the Omani side and is on the Saudi side.

History

thumb|right|Satellite image of sand dunes in the Empty Quarter

Desertification has increased through recent millennia. Before desertification made the caravan trails leading across the Rub' al Khali difficult, the caravans of the frankincense trade crossed now virtually impassable stretches of land, until about 300 AD. It has been suggested that Ubar or Iram, a lost city, region, or people, depended on such trade. The archaeological remains of Iram include a fortification/administration building, walls, and bases of circular pillars. The traces of camel tracks, unidentifiable on the ground, appear in satellite images.

Expeditions

The first documented journeys by non-resident explorers were made by British explorers Bertram Thomas and St John Philby in the early 1930s. Between 1946 and 1950, Wilfred Thesiger crossed the area several times and mapped large parts of the Empty Quarter including the mountains of Oman, as described in his 1959 book Arabian Sands.

thumb|Sand dunes of the desert in [[Hadhramaut, Yemen]]

In June 1950, a US Air Force expedition crossed the Rub' al Khali from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, to central Yemen and back in trucks to collect specimens for the Smithsonian Institution and to test desert survival procedures.

In 1999, Jamie Clarke became the first Westerner to cross the Empty Quarter of Arabia in fifty years. His team of six, guided by three Bedouins, spent 40 days crossing the desert with a caravan of 13 camels.

On 25 February 2006, a scientific excursion organized by the Saudi Geological Survey began to explore the Empty Quarter. The expedition consisted of 89 environmentalists, geologists, and scientists from Saudi Arabia and abroad. Various types of fossilized creatures as well as meteorites were discovered in the desert. The expedition discovered 31 new plant species and plant varieties, as well as 24 species of birds that inhabit the region, which fascinated scientists as to how they have survived under the harsh conditions of the Empty Quarter.

In February 2013, a South African team including Alex Harris, Marco Broccardo, and David Joyce became the first people to cross the border close to Oman of the Empty Quarter unsupported and on foot, in a journey which started in Salalah and lasted 40 days, ending in Dubai. The team only made use of three water stops along the journey and pulled a specially designed cart that housed all the supplies necessary for the entire expedition.

In 2013, British adventurer Alistair Humphreys released his first documentary film, Into the Empty Quarter, documenting his walk through the Empty Quarter desert with Leon McCarron.

In 2013, from 18 February to 28 March, South Korean explorer Young-Ho Nam led a team (Agustin Arroyo Bezanilla, Si-Woo Lee) on a crossing through the Empty Quarter on foot from Salalah, Oman, to Liwa Oasis in the UAE Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The crossing was performed with permission from the governments of Oman and the UAE. Dewan Ruler's Representative for Western Region, Emirate of Abu Dhabi recognized it as the world's first on-foot crossing of the Empty Quarter following the border of Oman and ending in UAE.

In 2018, the first all-female walking expedition, named "Her Faces of Change", led by Briton Janey McGill, who was accompanied by the first Omani women in modern times to walk the Oman Empty Quarter, Baida Al Zadjali and Atheer Al Sabri, set off on 22 December 2018 after receiving formal approval from the government of Oman. The team was supported by two cars for supplies driven by Tariq Al Zadjali (Omani) and Mark Vause-Jones (British) and filmmaker Matthew Milan from the United States. The expedition started from Al Hashman in the Dohafar Governate of Oman crossing through Burkana, Maqshin, and Al Sahma in Al Wusta Region, continued through Abu Al Tabool and Um Al Sameem, and ended at Ibri fort in the Al Dhahira region of Oman. The total distance walked by the team was in 28 days, ending the expedition on 18 January 2019. This was the first known crossing within Saudi Arabia from south to north on foot through the highest sand dunes of the Rub Al' Khali. The pair crossed in 9 days, 12 hours, and 59 minutes.

In 2020, Italian extreme desert explorer Max Calderan completed a Rub' al Khali exploration on foot for the first time ever from west to east. He crossed in 18 days, crossing the widest area of Rub' al Khali.

right|thumb|Route of Austrian-German expedition

In 2023, an Austrian-German expedition completed a southwest-to-northeast crossing of the Rub-al-Khali region on the Saudi Arabian side. The route was planned by Austrian Thomas Brandl-Ruttner, leading a team of eight experts in navigation, expedition logistics, and engineering. The team included geo-archaeologist Rudolf Dellmour, who was responsible for scientific documentation. Covering a route through largely unexplored terrain, the team gathered and documented new geological and archaeological findings. Locations that had previously only been studied via satellite imagery were explored on-site for the first time.

In 2024, Richard Midwinter walked alone from Salalah, aiming to cross via Muqshin to Al Ain and on to Dubai, to raise awareness for women missed by the NHS breast cancer screening programme. He was carrying a rucksack and had no supply caches or support team. He was detained by Royal Oman Police at Abutubul, south of the Umm al Samim and interrogated under suspicion of espionage by the Internal Security Service, removed from the Rub al Khali, and left to continue his journey from Qarn al Alam. He walked under observation for two more days before deciding to hitchhike out, having walked about in 29 days.

In 2025, Gavin Booth MBE and Adam Wilton MBE completed the first self-sufficient foot crossing of the Rub' al Khali, travelling circa from As Sulayyil to Haradh via Ash Shalfa in 22 days. They hauled all their food, supplies, and water necessary for the journey in self-built carts, without any support or resupply caches.

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File:Ar Rub’ al Khali Sand Sea, Arabian Peninsula.JPG|Astronaut photograph highlighting a part of Ar-Rub' al-Khali near its south-eastern margin, in the Wusta Governorate of Oman

File:Rub al khali sunset Nov 2007.jpg|Sunset in Saudi Arabia

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See also

  • Ad-Dahna Desert
  • Ramlat Khaliya
  • Rub' al Khali Basin
  • Sharqiya Sands in Oman

Notes

References

  • Rub' al-Khali in Encyclopædia Britannica
  • Lost city under the Rub' Al-Khali, Saudi Life (archived)
  • Empty Quarter: Exploring Arabia's Sea of Sand, National Geographic (archived)