Red sand across three regions
Al-Nufud al-Kabir, the Great Nafud, covers 65,000 km² of northern Saudi Arabia across Hail, al-Jouf and Tabuk, the Kingdom's second-largest sand accumulation after the Empty Quarter. Its sands reach from al-Zulfi in Riyadh Region to the northern border with Jordan.
The red comes from iron oxide. Strong winds have built crescent dunes, some up to 200 m high, alongside longitudinal, transverse and pyramidal forms, and they carry sand on to feed the ad-Dahna desert, which links the Nafud to the Empty Quarter.
Life at the edges
Vegetation is scarce despite intermittent rain, but protected areas support acacia, Lycium shawii, tamarisk and arta. The Arabian wolf, Arabian sand gazelle, striped hyena, red fox, gerbils and hares all live here. In 2018 its reserves at Harrat al-Harrah, at-Tubayq and al-Khunfah were folded into the King Salman bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve.
On its southern edge lies Jubbah, one of the Kingdom's earliest rock-art sites. UNESCO added it to the World Heritage List in 2015, the fourth Saudi site to be inscribed.