Comments on: Nefud Al-Kebir https://stage.saudiarabiatourismguide.com/nefud-al-kebir/ Sat, 01 Dec 2018 15:18:42 +0000 hourly 1 By: Florent Egal https://stage.saudiarabiatourismguide.com/nefud-al-kebir/#comment-1741 Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:08:17 +0000 http://www.saudiarabiatourismguide.com/?p=5164#comment-1741 In reply to Theresa Jenkins-Teague.

Hello Theresa. Thank you for sharing your insights about the journey of T E Lawrence. Do you know from where he started the crossing of the Nefud Al-Kebir? Or which city was he leaving from?
Actually wherever your starting point is you need to do only a (very) limited detour to avoid the Nefud Al-Kebir, reason why I have serious doubts they really crossed it from one side to the other.
Then I explored recently the southern part of the Nefud Al-Kebir and this area is still today very remote and desert. I strongly doubt that the Turks roamed around there, so there was no need to enter the dunes area to be hidden.
Also there are still 300 km between the edge of the Nefud Al-Kebir and Aqaba so they had anyway to travel long distance without dunes.

]]> By: Theresa Jenkins-Teague https://stage.saudiarabiatourismguide.com/nefud-al-kebir/#comment-1689 Wed, 18 Apr 2018 00:24:58 +0000 http://www.saudiarabiatourismguide.com/?p=5164#comment-1689 Hello Florent. I hope you do not mind my comment regarding the T E Lawrence reference of ‘inconsistency ‘ to the crossing of the Nefud, but I think maybe that historical context is missing from consideration of what entailed in the journey and why route was taken. Hostile territory and Turkish Troops as well as some potentially hostile tribes of wavering affiliation meant avoidance of contact if possible or concealment of identity and strength of raiding party were vital in withholding the direction of attack and element of surprise.
I have been fortunate to visit KSA many times and to areas around Al Ula and parts of the former Hejaz railway. I also occasionally reside in Riyadh. Kind regards, Theresa JT.

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