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Saudi Arabia


Saudi Arabia has several karst areas with interesting caves, also some volcanic zones with lava tubes. So far no cave has been developed as a show cave, there is only one cave which is open to the public and generally considered a show cave named Jebal Al Qarah. However, it is actually a labyrinth of tectonic cracks with erosional forms, which form some small caves.

In the last years the interest in caves increased both in the public and the government. There are several local caving clubs which have explored and surveyed numerous caves. Some of the results have been published in the country. The government has even invited Prof. Forti, the leading researcher on tourist caves to review some of them. He published various potential show caves in 2003. Unfortunately both the missing infrastructure and the ongoing wars in the area prevented any development so far.

In the 2020s Saudi Arabia is vigorously promoting cave tourism as a safe and enjoyable source of adventure(?). It is part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 tourism initiative. The actual show caves are still a little special.