Abha animals and insects – Abha Region

Whilst in Abha and the surrounding areas we saw a number of interesting animals. The most common and easily seen were Hamadryas Baboons which were very common. The best site to see them was at the very top of Mount Soudah where a rubbish bin was very attractive to them. They could also be seen in various places along the roadside on the way from Abha to the top of Mount Soudah.

Good photographic opportunities were available as they were in more natural habitat than at Baha where they always seemed to be around rubbish of one type or another. Quite a few were also seen whilst going down the Raydah Escarpment but as the road was very dangerous to drive the opportunities to photograph them here were limited.

Whilst birdwatching the Mount Soudah pick-nick site area I found a butterfly on a number of occasions with a large eye on its under-wing and at the bottom of the cable car ride from Mount Soudah, which took about ten minutes and covered a distance of 5 kilometres, we saw an unidentified grasshopper as well as a number of butterflies including a very striking and confiding individual shown below.

The cable car station is open from 09:00 hrs until 19:00 hrs and costs 80 riyals per adult with young children going free and is on the right hand side of the road just before the summit of Mount Soudah if going from Abha to the summit.

A small unidentified lizard was seen at Habalah Hanging Village where it was seen basking in the sun on some steps of the old village and a brown butterfly was seen at Raydah Village at the bottom of the Raydah Escarpment. If anyone knows what any of these animals / insects are? please leave a message and let me know.

Hamadryas Baboon

Hamadryas Baboon

Hamadryas Baboon

Butterfly

Butterfly

Grasshopper

unidentified lizard

Butterfly

Jem Babbington

Jem Babbington is a keen birder and amateur photographer located in Dhahran, Eastern Saudi Arabia where he goes birding every day. Jem was born in England and is a serious local patch and local area birder who has been birding for almost forty years and has birded in more than fifty countries. Jem is learning to ring birds in Bahrain as a perfect way to learn more about the birds of the area. Saudi Arabia is a very much under-watched and under-recorded country.

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