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00:00...of extraordinary wonders.
00:01It's epic out here.
00:03Where ancient civilizations...
00:06There were rock inscriptions scattered all over this landscape.
00:09...meet rising modern cities.
00:13I'm Clive Standen.
00:15Time to head the ground running.
00:17And I'm embarking on a journey across the Arabian Peninsula.
00:20This place is unlike anywhere else.
00:23I'm forging far and diving deep.
00:26Isn't he amazing?
00:27Uncovering its best-kept secrets.
00:30A little gregarious.
00:31...meeting the people who call this place home.
00:34And the pioneers preserving its natural treasures.
00:37That is remarkable.
00:39I want to show you the beautiful.
00:41It's just a little untouched piece of paradise.
00:43The surprising.
00:44It's an unbelievable sight.
00:46And the heartwarming.
00:47What am I supposed to do?
00:49Exploring the secrets that make this land so captivating.
00:53I really do feel like an archaeologist.
00:56Mum, I'm never coming home.
00:59Wow.
01:00This is Arabia like you've never seen before.
01:04Come on.
01:05There's plenty more to see.
01:06My journey has led me to Saudi Arabia's remote northwest, to the desert region of Alula.
01:24Over 2,000 years ago, this was an important crossroads for a trade network dominated by great kingdoms.
01:36I've explored its historic sites and the strategically important oasis.
01:40But now I'm discovering another side of Alula, one that goes beyond history.
01:48Safeguarded within miles of new fencing, a huge area has been set aside.
01:54All part of a groundbreaking conservation project.
01:58Alula's landscapes are full of natural wonders.
02:05This is Sharan, a national park in the making, and set to reveal its wild wonders.
02:14So I'm off to see Yousef, who's a senior reintroduction specialist at Sharon Nature Reserve.
02:20He's going to introduce me to some of his team.
02:21He's going to take me to a bit of a safari today.
02:23Hey, I'm really excited because as with anything in the wild, you never know what you might see.
02:31Yousef!
02:32Hey, good morning.
02:33Great to finally meet you.
02:34Nice to meet you.
02:35Let's go.
02:36Let's get cracking.
02:36You driving?
02:37Yeah.
02:41Sharan National Park covers a 596 square mile network of valleys, canyons, deserts, and mountains.
02:49Established in 2020, the rewilding projects underway here are already showing signs of success.
03:02And what kind of wildlife are we hoping to see today?
03:05Sand gazelles and Arabian oryx.
03:08Oryx I'm excited about.
03:09And what is at the top of the food chain?
03:11What is the dream to reintroduce?
03:14Yeah, our target is reintroduce the Arabian leopard back to the wild.
03:19Just imagining having an Arabian leopard just roaming this terrain.
03:24Wow.
03:25That really would be special.
03:26Yeah.
03:29Over the past century, increases in human and camel populations and the damage caused by hunting and grazing
03:36has threatened the delicate balance of the ecosystem here.
03:40A concerted effort was needed to protect it.
03:43This is a landscape like no other.
03:46Beautiful.
03:47How does one even begin to start rewilding an area of this magnitude?
03:52The first thing is the establishment of the reserves in Al-Ula, five nature reserves.
03:56And from there, we had to come up with the plans to restore the areas by plantation
04:02and also the reintroduction of the native species in Al-Ula.
04:05So we're talking literally five years ago, there was nothing really here, very much just a desert landscape.
04:12And already, we can see all this around us.
04:14What's the dream?
04:15How long do you think it's going to take until we can really see this lush landscape back and thriving?
04:20It takes time.
04:21It takes time.
04:22Also, it's reliant on rains and also on the weather.
04:26But we are coming to a time that we can see a big change.
04:31Maybe in 10 years, you will see a big difference in Sherhaan.
04:35Since the park was fenced off, plant life has been slowly recovering.
04:40But the real success story is with the oryx, which in the 1970s was declared extinct on the Arabian Peninsula.
04:49Yousef has managed to track down a herd of this shy and elusive creature.
04:54Wow.
05:02That's a rough count.
05:03It's like, there's almost 20.
05:06Yeah, that's a good number.
05:07And they're traveling with their young as well.
05:09There's definitely a few babies there.
05:10Yeah.
05:13Seeing a herd like this, it's a good indication that these of us are going successfully in this project.
05:20The release of captive-bred oryx has seen a population of over 300 become established in Sherhaan.
05:28How does it feel to be responsible for bringing species back into the wild?
05:32You cannot imagine.
05:34Like, it's a lot bigger responsibility.
05:36Maybe in a couple of years' time, we'll be coming back and we'll be looking at Arabian leopards.
05:39Definitely.
05:40Yeah.
05:41Man, what you're doing is important work.
05:45And also, it's a pleasure to have you here.
05:50I'm a big advocate for the rewilding movement.
05:56I think it's really important.
05:58But with this, starting in such a barren landscape when there's nothing here, seems almost impossible.
06:05But it's not.
06:05They're doing it.
06:07I've seen it with my own eyes.
06:08It's working.
06:10It really is quite incredible.
06:11I'm exploring Alula in the remote northwest of Saudi Arabia in search of its best-kept secrets.
06:41Far back in the time when cargoes and precious incense were transported across the endless desert,
06:48it was the camels and those who rode them that were the lifeblood of this lucrative trade.
06:55The people who mastered this harsh environment were skilled desert nomads, known as the Bedouin.
07:08So, the last few days, I've been learning all about the history and the archaeology of the area and what life would have been like back then, all those hundreds of years ago.
07:19But I figured the only way to get a real sense of this is to go and hang out with the people who lived and breathed this desert, the Bedouin.
07:26In the modern world, the Bedouin no longer have to endure the hardships of their old desert lifestyle.
07:34But I've been given a special invitation to sample their traditional hospitality.
07:39What is a daily activity for you?
07:50How do you start your day?
07:52I would love to see your camels and maybe if you could teach me how to ride them.
08:04I would like that very much. Thank you. It would be my honor to ride a camel.
08:13First domesticated around 1000 BCE, camels were well adapted for transporting goods across the desert.
08:23They can travel long distances, go without water for 15 days and carry loads weighing well over 300 pounds.
08:34It takes a lot of skill to ride a camel, acquired over a lifetime, skill that I don't have.
08:44What could possibly go wrong?
08:46Hold it, hold it.
08:51Starting to regret asking for this ride.
08:55But at least I'm amusing my hosts.
08:58I think it's safe to say that camel riding isn't for me.
09:08Now how do you park this thing?
09:10Let's see if I can get him to go down.
09:13Ready?
09:16Oh, I know you've had better riders.
09:28Shukran, my friend.
09:29Thank you so much.
09:30Thank you, my friend.
09:30Thank you, my friend.
09:30Thank you, my friend.
09:35The Bedouin are famous for their hospitality, and as the night draws in, it's time to cosy up by the fireside.
09:46I'm keen to sample one of the celebrated keystones of this incredible culture, traditional Saudi coffee.
09:53Here, coffee is more than just a drink.
09:57It's a symbol of hospitality and goodwill.
10:01And now the crowd is starting to get warmed up.
10:04This is how you really make coffee.
10:20Coffee brewed, everyone is relaxed, and I get to enjoy the warmth of the fire as I socialize with my new friends.
10:28The Bedouin enjoy sharing stories and poems with their guests.
10:36They ask me if I had anything to contribute.
10:39And for better or worse, the thirst thing that pops into my head is...
10:44So I'd like to share a poem, it's a British poem by Lewis Carroll.
10:48It's called The Jabberwocky.
10:51Beware the jabberwock, my son, the claws that catch the jaws that bite.
10:56Beware the jub-jub bird, and shun the fructious bandy snatch.
11:01I suspect it's a little bit lost in translation, but there's no turning back now.
11:07So rested he.
11:08And hast thou slain the jabberwock?
11:10Oh, come to my arms, my beamish boy!
11:13Oh, fructious day!
11:15Caloo, calay!
11:17He chortled in his joy.
11:19With the sights and sounds of my night with the Bedouin filling all my senses,
11:34it's time to head off to bed.
11:36I've got something big planned for tomorrow.
11:44Arabia's Best Kept Secrets, presented by Gulf Air.
11:50Arabia's Best Kept Secrets, presented by Gulf Air.
12:03I'm exploring Alula in northwest Saudi Arabia,
12:07a region steeped in ancient history and rich with stories of the past.
12:13It's an early start out in the desert.
12:15But you might say, I've saved the best till last.
12:32Got up at the crack of dawn to be here, floating up in the sky towards Hegra.
12:38Hegra is the jewel in Alula's crown.
12:45It's a designated world heritage site spread over six square miles.
12:51By around 50 BCE, this was a powerful city belonging to the kingdom of the Nabataeans.
12:56Echoes of Alula's long and mysterious past are everywhere to be seen.
13:04There is burial mounds, there are tombs, there are rock inscriptions scattered all over this landscape.
13:10Just look at this.
13:24Hegra contains over 130 monumental tombs, dating back over 2,000 years.
13:36Most of the tombs lie outside the city's central hub.
13:40There are façades hewn out of the surrounding sandstone rock that dominates the landscape.
13:50I'm meeting Atif al-Balawi, a local Rawi and expert, who's going to help bring this place to life for me.
13:58The Nabataeans believed of the other life, and for that journey, they have carved those tombs, which is inside of the mountains, to help them for that journey.
14:09And I can see that these stairs at the top there, that they have any significance other than to perch on, to carve away.
14:16It's believed it's a steps to heaven, like Led Zeppelin say, because it's one of their beliefs, their steps to the sky.
14:23I'd imagine this would have been a really big, hustling, bustling, Nabataean market square.
14:29Yeah.
14:29I can see the picture here, that it's full with people going all around with caravans, horses and camels, full with a lot of product also.
14:39A person who's shouting, here's the caravans coming, prepare the markets.
14:45You're such a great story, Zele.
14:46I can almost imagine what it would have been like, but what I can't imagine until I see it is what it would have looked like inside one of these tombs.
14:53Do you think we might be lucky enough to see inside one of these tombs?
14:56Yes, I do.
14:57I'm so excited.
14:58I feel like all my childhood Indiana Jones dreams are coming true.
15:08It's like stonemasons markings everywhere.
15:12Yeah, the Nabataean actually, till today, you can see the mark of their work on the tombs inside.
15:19These are obviously the graves on the walls, but they're all different sizes.
15:22It's almost like the undertaker, so to speak, would measure you up before your tomb is ready and make sure that the right size for your height.
15:30And these graves here, would they have been sealed once the body was encapsulated in it?
15:35It will be sealed with a plaster on the edge of the grave.
15:40Is that the remnants we can see right there around them, this little white line?
15:43Yes, the ones on the edge, all of them, are an evidence of this has been a body inside, definitely.
15:51How many bodies would fit into the average size tomb here?
15:56Uh, actually, one of the latest discovery was in 2013.
16:00We found 80 skeletons inside, and the grave was owned for a female.
16:06The most expensive tombs there, owned by women's tomb.
16:11Wow.
16:12That's definitely what was telling us a lot that women's was having more money.
16:15Girl power, hey?
16:16Yeah, you see?
16:17Yeah, we're on the spice route.
16:18She was the original spice girl.
16:19Yeah, yeah, definitely.
16:20Arabia's Best Kept Secrets, presented by Gulf Air.
16:32Arabia's Best Kept Secrets, presented by Gulf Air.
16:43I'm in Alula in northwest Saudi Arabia, exploring the ruins of Hegra,
16:48a lost city of the Nabataeans.
16:52Theirs was a kingdom born from the riches of ancient incense trade.
16:57But the sun eventually set on their empire.
17:00The Romans took over in 106 CE,
17:03and new maritime trade routes through the Red Sea proved more profitable.
17:08Use of land routes declined, and in time, Hegra was abandoned.
17:13As darkness falls, silence stretches out across the landscape.
17:20And before I leave, I'm going to be given the rare honor of a night tour.
17:30This one has an eerie feel to it.
17:32And that would be why Medusa.
17:41Medusa.
17:42Arab always uses snakes, since the Lhya night, the Adonite, all of them use it as a curse.
17:47So Medusa, since it has the snake, simple,
17:49probably that's why it was taken from the Greek as an influence,
17:53and used here to be a cursing part for the stone.
17:56Well, it's an effective deterrent, that's for sure.
17:59It's like an ancient CCTV camera.
18:01Step in here at your own risk.
18:04Yeah.
18:04I don't fancy a turning to stone.
18:09There's some inscriptions up there.
18:12Nabataean made sure to write their inscriptions in their tomb.
18:17The name will ensure that it will go to the kids.
18:21So you can consider it as a document paper for the ownership.
18:26So this is the one we are allowed to enter.
18:33Really?
18:34Yeah, you can enter this one.
18:35It's our secret.
18:41Wow.
18:46Now I really do feel like an archaeologist.
18:52These tombs now stand empty.
18:54Perhaps looted thousands of years ago.
18:59But now, in the quiet of this tomb,
19:03it's easy to imagine standing in the presence of the people who made this place.
19:08Like echoes reaching out across time.
19:12How do you feel exploring these tombs?
19:15Do you feel a strong connection to your ancestors here?
19:17I grew up as a shepherd walking with the goats and sheeps.
19:22This gave us more valuable.
19:25We learned more valuable things from our elders.
19:28So when I go around and I see their tombs and how they carved them,
19:31it's so amazing that they actually passed the life of desert to the life of cities.
19:37And then they just created their kingdom.
19:41They knew a good thing when they saw it and they settled here.
19:44And this is all telling you that this is a land full with potentials.
19:48As I come to the end of my Saudi Arabian adventure,
19:57I've been surprised to find such a rich past.
20:00It's almost been like riding a camel through time.
20:04As a storyteller myself,
20:06the story I'd like to share
20:07is of warm and welcoming people
20:09who want to preserve their culture
20:12while embracing change.
20:16Since opening its doors just a few years ago,
20:20Saudi Arabia is now championing its bedrock of history.
20:24Its ancient treasures finally emerging
20:27to be shared with the world.
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