Al Wahba Crater Weekend

Some 725 KM Southwest of Riyadh (Makkah Province) 22.884353, 41.092329 you will find this natures wonder called Al Wahba Crater.

It is 820 feet | 250 meters deep & 1.3 kms in diameter large bowl-shaped hole in the ground the bottom of which is covered with white sodium phosphate crystals. Based on http://alwaba.com/, it is believed that the crater is either made by volcanic activity in the form of an underground explosion, caused by the hot lava coming into contact with underground water, this caused a massive explosion leaving the crater or it was formed by a meteorite the latter has no scientific foundation due to lack of evidences as there is no trace of Shocked Quartz or high levels of iridium in it.

Thursday 7th February 2019 10:00 PM my friends & I started moving from Al Yarmuk in Riyadh armed with excitement and took us roughly around 10 hours of land travel (only 6 hours & 37 mins as per Google map) with a couple of stops and rest in gas stations along Route 4440.

* Get on Dammam Rd/Route 40/Route 80M from Al Sahaba Rd and Dammam Branch Rd
* Follow Makkah Al Mukarramah Rd/Route 40/Route 80M to Route 4440 in Makkah Province. Exit from Makkah Al Mukarramah Rd/Route 40/Route 80M
* Continue on Route 4440. Take Route 4174 to Wahba Crater Rd

Upon reaching the site, my friends were astonished by the Al Wahba Crater. I my self got too excited too as if I haven't been to the place 5 years ago. The place surrounding the crater has changed a lot as there seems to be a mini-great wall of China as pavements has been installed at the rim of the half of the crater maybe to make sure that cars will not go beyond the perimeter or maybe to ensure that no car or person will go straight to the crater itself. Also, there is a marker now in the area along with the tourist center or pavillion.

With its natural beauty, wonder and unknown origin, AL WAHBA CRATER is indeed worth visiting!