North and south of the 394 Motorway from Bir Ibn Hirmas to Haql on the Gulf of Aqaba, you will find striking sandstone formations surrounded by huge sandy plains, typical of the Hirmas Desert. Just west of the town of Bir Ibn Hirmas, the colour of the sand desert becomes increasingly intense. From a typical sandy beige, the colour changes to ochre and soon after that, the sand takes on an orange hue. The closer you get to the eastern foothills of the Madyan Mountains, the more intense the colour becomes until it almost drifts into rust red.
Here, if you have a vehicle that is truly suitable for off-road driving and have sufficient experience driving in soft sand, you can leave the motorway for a short distance and drive directly into the sandy desert. Observe how plants survive in this dry and barren environment. Notice how entire slices have broken off the huge sandstone formations, some of them vertical, as if cut by a knife, and crashed to the ground.
