Rubʿ al-Khali in english is “Empty Quarter” also spelled Al-Rabʿ al-Khali, vast desert region in the southern Arabian Peninsula, constituting the largest portion of the Arabian Desert. It covers an area of about 250,000 square miles (650,000 square km) in a structural basin lying mainly in southeastern Saudi Arabia, with lesser portions in Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.
‘One who can exit it, must be born again, while those inside, remain missing,’ the ancients used to say of this mythical desert, in line with tales of the “Lost City”. These are some of the mythical stories behind the Empty Quarter.
The dunes are known to move up to 30m a year and are home to a surprising amount of wildlife. This includes the Arabian wolf, sand cat, red fox, desert lynx, cape hare and spiny tailed lizard. Seeing any of these, however, is extremely rare. It is a must see place.
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