Chapter 13Saudi ArabiaThe Saudi Arabian Airlines’ plane touched down in King
Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah. I hired a Toyota Land Cruiser from the Avis
desk, and we headed north along the coast road towards Yanbu’ al Bahr, a
town dominated by its oil terminals. Spending a night in the local Holiday
Inn, we were on the road early to drive the next leg of four hundred
kilometres to Al Wajh.
According to my guide books, these coastal wetlands have
been identified as a ‘bird area of importance’ by BirdLife
International. It was mainly shallow water, comprising reef systems and a
number of small islands lying offshore. They were mostly barren, other than
a sprinkling of mangrove, salt-tolerant bushes, and large beds of sea grass.
No one lived on the islands, although there were a few f
