The cliff
Hanging houses.
Wajahatmr — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Aiman titi — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wajahatmr — CC BY-SA 3.0
Habala is a small mountain village in the Asir Region of southwest Saudi Arabia, set in a valley about 300 metres below the top of the front mountain, about 42 km southeast of Abha in a straight line and about an hour by car. It was once home to a tribal community known as the «flower men», for their custom of wearing garlands of dried herbs and flowers in their hair. In the past the village could be reached only by a rope ladder, and its name comes from the Arabic word for rope. In the 1990s a cable car was built to make it easier for visitors to reach. The village's old stone houses cling to the edge of a sheer rock cliff above a deep valley ringed by the jagged peaks of the Sarawat mountains. From the clifftop the village seems to hang in mid-air, with bare mountains and valleys stretching to the horizon. Visitors ride the cable car down from the clifftop to the village, wander among the stone houses and take in the view over the valley. Further north along the escarpment is another spot where huge rock pillars stand away from the cliff edge.
Hanging houses.
Down to the village.
Wide views.
Habala, Asir Region, Saudi Arabia
By car from Abha, then the cable car.
Summer.