JEDDAH: The Al-Dahnaa Desert buzzes with life and commercial activity as it hosts the King Abdul Aziz Camel Festival, which is expected to attract around 20,000 visitors every day — especially during the holidays — between Jan. 1 and Feb. 1, 2018.
The festival includes a market for productive families, with 100 points of sale for displaying handcrafted products, the most noticeable of which are camel heritage tools and leathers.
There is another market, which includes 100 points of sale for camels, cattle, fodder, antiques, vintage toys, handicrafts, tents, food supplies, laundries, firewood and camping supplies.
Several catering companies and coffee shops will participate in the festival to provide everything campers, participants, guests and tourists may need.
The director of the project, Mohammed Al-Hasoun, said the street allocated for the market was paved this year and developed to better serve shop owners and shoppers.
“The shops’ tents were altered to look the same and have similar colors, sizes, and specifications,” he added.
The official spokesman for the festival, Sultan Al-Bokomi, said a special area was allocated for 25 food trucks to ensure a diverse food menu at a nominal subscription of SR3,000 ($800) throughout the festival, and the festival’s management will provide these trucks with electricity and any service they might need.
Al-Bokomi pointed out that there are rules and regulations governing the trucks’ work at the festival, including having a municipal license for carrying out such activity, and in case there were employees, they should be sponsored by the truck owner and must provide a health certificate.
He also confirmed that the festival’s management would control prices and ensure a safe, healthy and clean environment throughout the event’s activities.
The King Abdul Aziz Camel Festival is open for visitors between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Food trucks and camels mingle in national fair
Food trucks and camels mingle in national fair
Saudi, Pakistan defense chiefs discuss ‘measures needed to halt’ Iranian attacks on Kingdom
RIYADH: Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman and Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces Asim Munir discussed Iran’s attacks on the Kingdom, amid the escalating military conflict in the Middle East.
“We discussed Iranian attacks on the Kingdom and the measures needed to halt them within the framework of our Joint Strategic Defense Agreement,” Prince Khalid wrote on social media early on Saturday.
“We stressed that such actions undermine regional security and stability and expressed hope that the Iranian side will exercise wisdom and avoid miscalculation.”
The US and Israel began a large-scale military campaign against Iran on Feb. 28. Iran has since attacked a number of sites across the Gulf.
Tehran has also attacked US and Israeli military assets as the war as escalated, impacting lives in the peaceful Arabian Gulf peninsula and risked shaking the global economy as Iran continued restricting energy shipping along the Strait of Hormuz.
The Saudi Defense Ministry said a number of drones had been shot down that were targeting the Shayba oil field in the Empty Quarter on Saturday.
A drone attacked the US embassy in Riyadh on Tuesday causing a minor fire, but no one was hurt in the incident.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a “Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement” in September, pledging that aggression against one country would be treated as an attack on both.
Separately, Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif, the Saudi interior minister, received a call from his Pakistani counterpart Raza Naqvi, who condemned the blatant attacks targeting the Kingdom and affirmed his country’s solidarity in confronting any threats to the Kingdom’s security and stability, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday.
