Hi folks. SW I’m a little older, 42, the first time I went to the ME was to Turkey down on the SE Border with the Kurds in 1984 since then I’ve been to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Egypt ( Sahara, Sinai Peninsula) Israel and Jordan for about an hour. The Kurds, in turkey, were the most primitive for lots of reasons. I haven’t had the opportunity to return and compare them to today, but so far I don’t think that they’ve drilled any holes in the ground that spew out self destruction and holocaust, so they’re probably still broke enough to keep the old way for reasons other then esthetics. Saudi Arabia in 2000 was strange; you see tents hearth brick hearths, AC units and diesel generators 2 sand dunes over. Once you leave the populated zones though you get out in what I think are some of the best preserved tribal cultures in the world. On a side note Riyadh is the absolute best possible place to go shopping for stuff you would love to have if you were living wild. From there to the Sinai I have these great photos of families just off the ferry from Jordan in Nuweiba with there flocks headed out into the open desert, Awesome!!! Money from tourism has been a great appeal to many but the war in Iraq has killed a big portion of the tourist trade forcing many to become more self sufficient. I’m sure that many feel like a great weight has been lifted off there shoulders. I know that I could live in the Sinai with the Bedouins for the rest of my life know problem. I’m hoping to send my 16 year old son to Egypt this summer with my Egyptian friends who live down the street. I figure all you can do is expose them, give them the tools they need to teach themselves and answer questions until they see for themselves. They pick up a lot more then they let on but you can’t force it you just have to maximize your opportunities.
Awesome Puuku! , I’m glad another re-wilder from this board has been there and seen it for themselves.
Once you leave the populated zones though you get out in what I think are some of the best preserved tribal cultures in the world
Definitely! I couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s hard trying to explain this to people who have never been there. In fact that is probably the #1 reason I keep going back there, the very primitiveness and tribal life that is possible there, even in these modern times. It’s like a whole other world, like stepping back into the past. Even the parts of Africa I visited this year seem more “modernized” than rural Arabia. Colonization and apartheid is still very evident in Namibia and RSA, for example and I met some Bushmen from the Kalahari who were totally displaced hundreds of miles away from their homeland, it was sad to see but it’s the reality of what is happening to them.
Most countries around the world have some history of colonization by a western or foreign power, whereas 90 percent of the land mass of the Arabian peninsula has no history of colonization, other than the few cities and coastal ports on the peripheries of the desert which have seen intermittent colonization (and civilizations in the Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Egypt) rise and fall over thousands of years. Yet this never reached farther inland to the native lands of the Bedouin and as a result many in the rural areas have kept their traditional way of life up to the present day with few significant changes.
I think that many people are not aware of the history of the Saud’s and the social situation in that part of the world (maybe that’s a good thing as it keeps most foreigners out of the rural areas, I’m actually glad that KSA is not open to the tourist industry outside of Mecca, Medina, Jedda, Riyadh, etc) and how the history of the place has preserved the tribal culture compared to other parts of the world. I feel a great sense of kinship with many Bedouin there, they are just like blood family to me, much more than friends. I always miss those close tribal relations whenever I’m away from the peninsula. I am glad you had a chance to see these places 
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From there to the Sinai I have these great photos of families just off the ferry from Jordan in Nuweiba with there flocks headed out into the open desert, Awesome!!! I know that I could live in the Sinai with the Bedouins for the rest of my life know problem.
Awesome, ditto man…you should come to S. Jordan sometime if it interests you. Have you been to Yemen/Oman? Which rural areas in KSA have you been to?
Money from tourism has been a great appeal to many but the war in Iraq has killed a big portion of the tourist trade forcing many to become more self sufficient.
That’s an interesting observation. In 2005 there was a bombing in Amman while I was in the desert. Right after that happened the flow of tourists slowed quite considerably, it was interesting to watch , those who rely on tourism were worried for a while there, but those who don’t have anything to do with them didn’t even notice it. Even the young Bedouin who live in the villages have told me that they know the tourism business won’t last forever (like the oil glitch) and they naturally assume they will go back to the desert life full time like the nomadic families.
I'm hoping to send my 16 year old son to Egypt this summer with my Egyptian friends who live down the street. I figure all you can do is expose them, give them the tools they need to teach themselves and answer questions until they see for themselves. They pick up a lot more then they let on but you can’t force it you just have to maximize your opportunities.
Wow, that is great. I think that would be a great educational and learning, figuring-things-out experience, you learn things there that no college course can teach, that is for sure.
I’d be interested in hearing more about your experiences.
I can think of no better walkabout anymore for a teenager!!!
I know so many late-teens/early twenties who travel to europe, etc., essentially to sample all the different flavors of domesticated life, exotic or familiar, but really not learn much.
To travel to get a taste of a whole 'nother way of living redeems the whole need for a walkabout, in my mind.
In his early thirties, even, a good friend of mine went to Nicaraugua, to a rural village on the island of Ometepe, to do some third-world doctoring for two years, and it RUINED him for civilization. He came back to Portland, forever unable to work in a hospital or do any normal medical career track…he sewed up so many machete wounds in such varied settings (not sterile paper covered hospital rooms) that he can do anything anywhere now, medically speaking.
I feel glad that some tribes exist that can help the next generation find new ways of living and bring them home to their families and communities, and save all our asses from domesticated urbanity.