A mountain apart
Jabal Shada Al-A'la rises from the Tihama plain about 20 km north-west of Al-Makhwah governorate, running almost parallel to the Sarawat Mountains. Its highest point, Mussala Ibrahim, reaches about 2,200 m, and the slope falls to about 500 m at Wadi Malil.
It became a nature reserve in 2001 and covers about 69 km², the only reserve in Al-Baha region. It is divided into two zones, one for wild animals and one for the environment and trees.
Leopards and juniper
More than 500 plant species are recorded here, juniper and wild olive chief among them, with figs, tamarind and basil. The Arabian leopard, Arabian wolf, striped hyena, caracal, foxes, hyrax and baboons live on its slopes, and eagles, buzzards and kestrels circle above.
Coffee on the terraces
About ten villages, home to around 2,500 people, cling to the mountain, and its caves carry Thamudic inscriptions and drawings. Shada is also known for coffee: the Ministry's Al-Baha branch counts about 130 farms and 30,000 coffee trees on Shada Al-A'la, watered with rain stored in hollows of the rock, and some coffee trees on the Shada mountains are more than 150 years old.