كهف وادي نقب

Wadi Naqab Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Wadi Tabara - Ras Al Khaimah. (25.717796, 56.122731)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Wadi Naqab Cave, Wadi Tabara - Ras Al Khaimah, Tel: +971-50-500-1112.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

2021	cave cleaned.
09-DEC-2023	Wadi Naqab Stairs Hiking Trail opened to the public.

Description

The كهف وادي نقب (Wadi Naqab Cave) is a bat cave, numerous bats live in the cave. But also other cave animals were found like non-venomous cave spiders. The cave was developed with a trail and long staircase from the gravel road in the wadi up to the cave entrance. It was also cleaned, and cave sediments were removed, but how this worked is not explained. One would expect an excavation and the scientific exploration of both human and palaeontological remains, but as far as we know the material was just removed to make the cave accessible. There is even electric light in the cave, but we were not able to find out when it is on. This is not real cave lighting, but rather Christmas lighting, a chain of LED candles that runs through the length of the cave. It is powered by solar cells.

As far as we understand, it was developed by an adventure club named Hazza Fazza, who also erected explanatory signs. The association was founded in 2018, and its 20 members are fans of mountaineering sports, hiking, adventures and exploration trips. It seems they organize hiking tours through the wadis, and the cave is one of the highlights. They also visit narrow gorges with Geology potholes, several other caves, and there is even a sort of trail in the middle of a vertical wall. It is formed by a ledge which is the result of a softer layer of rock which eroded faster than the surrounding rock. They even built a new road, though it is only a gravel road, to the cave, which seems to be the starting point for the offered hikes.

The cave is a single passage which is rather short and has no speleothems. The portal and the passage behind have a triangular shape. The passage goes up and there is a 90° turn to the left at the end. It’s evident that the cave sediment is transported when the cave is reactivated during the wet season, and a cave river flows through the passage. The gravel which is flooded out of the cave forms a slope, a debris fan in front of the cave. This is quite spectacular. The staircase was built on the right side, right outside the debris on massive limestone rock.

Wadi Naqab is a popular hiking area. The walls are very steep and so a hiking trail was built into the almost vertical rock face for the hikers. It is named Wadi Naqab Stairs Hiking Trail and is actually a series of staircases which starts on the right side of the cave portal. In many subsequent staircases it leads up in serpentines to the summit of Derat Al Baaiba mountain. On the mountain is a group of buildings, probably historic buildings, which were renovated and are now used by the hikers. This development was supported by H.H. Sheik Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, the ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, one of the emirates which make the UAE: