Explorer Levison Wood's guide to the AlUla, Saudi Arabia's ancient secret

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For me, as an explorer, I've been fortunate

to travel in every environment all around the world.

There are very few places left

that you can actually be one

of the first pioneers to explore a country.

Saudi Arabia is one of those places and I'm here in AlUla,

to really see what is on offer to the adventure traveler.

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Even when you came again and again to AlUla,

you will never get bored, because every time you come,

you will see something different.

Archeologists are still excavating here in AlUla.

It's only a small fraction of the region's

been excavated. Yeah.

There's so much more

[Sulaiman] to discover. Yeah.

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Here in Saudi Arabia, what's really special

is this amazing history going back to the Dadanites,

the Lihyanites, the Nabataeans, of course

and seeing thousands and thousands of years of history

virtually untouched and virtually unexplored.

So what do you think it was about this place

that brought the Nabataeans here?

[Sulaiman] Actually, they came here

because of the trading road.

Also, they were excellent at irrigations.

So they carved these huge canals around the mountains,

and tanks when it's raining

[Levison] 'til today-- To collect water.

To collect rain water. Wow.

[Levison] Hegra is the site that everyone thinks of.

That's the iconic piece of archeology.

It really is a masterpiece

of Nabataean architecture and design.

You can see the incredible sense

of engineering that goes into making a tomb like that.

[Sulaiman] This is the main tomb.

We call it the Tomb of Lihyan Dan Kuza.

[Levison] This is the iconic one of the region, isn't it?

Iconic one for AlUla and we are proud of it

because for 2,000 years,

no one knows about it. Yeah.

[Sulaiman] This place we call it

Girls Mountain, Jabal AlBanat.

We call it Jabal AlBanat because

like the majority-- Yeah.

It was owned by woman.

So how many people would be buried in a tomb like this?

We found evidence of 80. 80?

Yeah. So this would be generations

of people-- Generations.

All buried in the same tomb.

Yeah, just like a family tomb, your grandfather

and your grandfather buried in the same place.

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Wherever you look in Saudi Arabia

you get these beautiful cliff faces, these big monoliths

and one of the cool things you can do here is to go

on the rock art trail at night and to explore

a place like that at night-time

guided only by the starlight and the moon.

It was really special, 'cause it's very peaceful,

very serene and you get the whole place to yourself.

Rock art dates back almost to the Nabataeans

and much older than the Nabataeans.

And we do it in the night to experience Hegra at night.

Wow. Look at that.

It's very similar to the facades that we saw

in Hegra and some of the other tombs, isn't it?

As an Explorer with a passion for history,

coming here, especially at night is an absolute dream,

because I just love looking around places like this.

Wherever you go in the desert,

there's these ancient sites from the Nabataean period,

the Tulmudic era and way back into ancient prehistory.

So incredible place to come.

And this is definitely one not to be missed.

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So the Old Town is actually back

to 800 years ago from now.

It's beautiful, isn't it? Yeah.

So I think hospitality is really core

to the Arabian culture.

There's a long legacy and a history

of storytelling in this part of the region.

You meet people who are very proud of their heritage,

proud of their culture, and they

wanna share it with visitors.

So Leyal was great.

She is one of Saudi Arabia's foremost Rawis, a storyteller.

She took me around the Old Town

and her family used to live in the Old Town

before it was abandoned.

So there is that legacy of generations of hospitality here.

And to see the Old Town from that perspective

was really fantastic.

Now we are in front the most famous building.

They was used it as a sundial

to know the agriculture seasons,

and they know the winter when it came in AlUla.

It's very clever, isn't it? Sure, Yeah.

And now we are in the top of AlUla,

which is in the AlUla Fort.

We climbed for 189 steps. I can feel it.

[laughing] Yeah. And we're gonna see

AlUla and the Old Town from the top.

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Wow, what a view.

So as you see, it's look like in a maze.

And this is the way that they build it to protect the area.

The job that they've done is fantastic

to restore this ancient town, to its former glory

and to see people coming here, eating in restaurants,

shopping and wandering around this ancient maze

is absolutely fantastic.

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So a lot of the places here in AlUla

it's obviously better to go with a guide,

somebody who knows the area and can show you around.

But sometimes it's nice to just go and explore on your own.

So I'm here now in the AlUla old Oasis Heritage Trail,

which is going all the way through the farmlands.

So I'm gonna go have a look around.

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So walking through this old farm area

of palm dates and citrus trees is really magnificent.

This farm and this Oasis goes all the way

from AlUla Old Town to the even older town of Dadan.

You know, it's amazing that this has been rejuvenated,

allowing visitors to walk through

this living, breathing museum.

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We're headed into the Sharaan Nature Reserve

and into this amazing canyon area here.

And let me tell you what, you know you going on

an adventure when just the road in is this bumpy.

For me the Sharaan Nature Reserve was one

of the highlights of the whole trip,

because it's this remarkable, huge, vast, natural park.

It was fascinating to meet some of the archeologists

who are working on the digs there.

But what they were saying is that only a fraction

of a percent has actually been excavated and uncovered.

So I'm really, really happy to see

that this area has been protected

and preserved for generations to come.

[Hugh] I think what we have here is

absolutely amazingly well-preserved archeology.

You can go up to some of these tombs

and the walls are still preserved to the same height

they were 5,000 years ago when they were built.

And to have that as an archeologist is just astounding.

[Levison] I think it goes to show

just what a living museum this whole area is.

To be able to come and help out

with an archeological dig and actually find something

in this case, you know, a fragment of somebody's tooth

which dates back thousands of years is quite extraordinary.

What an amazing experience.

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There's obviously these amazing rock formations

everywhere you look in AlUla.

So it's quite natural, if you're into adventure sports

if you want to go and see some of the wild,

you've gotta go and explore this.

And there's an amazing opportunity to go canyoning

and you can actually weave your way through.

I tell you what, it gets a good sweat on, but it's worth it.

So this is the beginning of the Twisted Maze.

[Levison] Okay.

[Hussein] It's a challenging place

because as you can see very small, but you'll make it.

No worries. It's a climber's paradise,

isn't it, down here? Yeah.

[Hussein] Amazing. Exactly, yeah.

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So what an incredible place!

This is called Maraya.

It's the largest mirror building in the world

right here in the middle of desert.

And what a way to explore it.

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What's it used for?

It's a concert hall.

There's actually a restaurant on top called Maraya Social.

It's amazing how it just almost disappears

into the desert, doesn't it?

As I drove over the crest of the hill

and I saw it for the first time,

I was genuinely blown away.

Right there in the middle of the desert

the world's biggest mirrored building.

And it's almost invisible and it really did

take my breath away and to be able to go

and explore around that valley

on horseback was just really special.

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This is Elephant Rock behind me and what a way to arrive

and now I'm gonna enjoy some Arabian hospitality.

So I'd visited Elephant Rock before.

It is really one of the iconic sites to see here.

So I was very excited to go back and see it again.

I managed to get a camel ride all the way from Jar Rock

and then to come down into the valley

across the planes and approach Elephant Rock right

in time for sunset was spectacular.

So after just a few days here

I've got to experience some extraordinary things

and I've really loved coming back to Saudi Arabia.

And to see the natural beauty, the culture, the traditions

all of these things that are being kept alive.

I've had a pretty whirlwind trip.

But I'd really encourage the visitors to come

and spend as much time here, to really immerse themselves

in this beautiful natural landscape

and enjoy the hospitality of the people

of the region of AlUla.

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