Arabic phrasebook for beginners. Road to hell

The Rub al-Khali desert occupies about a third of the Arabian Peninsula in the south, but is called “empty quarter” in Arabic. Initially, it was just "desert, empty land." But since the words “slave” (land, territory) and “rub” (quarter) do not differ in the letter, and the second is much more often used in speech, such a strange substitution took place. Still, a third is not a quarter. However, since this desert began to form about two million years ago, it has been constantly expanding its borders. The sandy desert is generally such an ominous "creature" that can grow, attack, devour without a trace houses, oases and entire cities ...
Only a strong state capable of organizing the construction and maintenance of hydraulic structures, planting a strip of green spaces (the “green wall”), etc., could resist the advance of the desert. This was possible for the kingdoms of “Happy (South) Arabia” during their heyday.
In many pre-Islamic sources, Ubar (aka “Iram many-columned”) is mentioned - a magnificent rich city with rainbow towers built of metal and precious stones. It is written in the Qur'an that the city of the Adites (the indigenous inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula) was wiped off the face of the earth at the behest of Allah “by the wind noisy, violent” because its inhabitants were arrogant and did not heed the appeals of their fellow countryman - the Prophet Hood (c. 2300 g . BC.). A sandstorm raged for seven nights and eight days, there was no trace of the city. “These are now these once fertile lands where the people of Hud used to live, represent a desert. But in those days, these places were fertile, forests softened the harsh climate of the region and made it favorable for life. There was a desert, but it did not occupy such a space as it is now. But, despite this mercy of Allah, the people of Khud were not grateful to their Lord for the bounties they had, but, on the contrary, persisted in their godlessness and profligacy. ” For a long time, Ubar was considered simply a legend, but in 1990, traces of it were discovered by the Americans due to filming from space. The pictures show how ancient caravan routes converge to the “sandy Atlantis” in the southwestern sector of the Rub el Khali desert in Oman.
The Qur'an also mentions that the symbol of the whole of “Happy (South) Arabia” - the Mariban dam - collapsed during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (571-632). This is symbolic in its own way: with the Arab conquest of South Arabia in 628, a new era began here, farmers were replaced by Bedouin nomads. The cultivated irrigated lands gradually turned back into a barren desert.
The dam on Wadi Dhana (600 m long, over 15 m high) was erected by the Sabaeans near Marib, the capital of the legendary Sabean kingdom, in VII. in. BC e. Probably, the Mariba dam was the most ambitious and significant hydraulic structure of antiquity - a gigantic complex that required constant maintenance. It allowed residents to engage in not only nomadic cattle breeding (camel husbandry from 1300 BC, sheep breeding) and the collection of spices and incense, but also to grow date palms, orchards, wheat, spelled, barley, legumes and vegetables in irrigated fields spanning several kilometers around the city. The dam served for thirteen centuries and began to gradually collapse when the South Arabian kingdoms fell into decay, including due to the replacement of caravan trade routes, naval wars, changes in the domestic and foreign political situation, and also due to significant changes in the climate.
Rub al-Khali, a wide sandy strip stretching in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, is one of the largest deserts in the world. The surface rises from east to west from an average of 100-200 m above sea level. m. up to 500-1000 m above sea level. m. Under the sands - gypsum and limestone, on the outskirts - rare oases, in the east - extensive salt marshes.
The administrative division of the desert is a pure formality. This is a gigantic neutral territory on the border of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Dunes with a height of 150-200 m, covering 80% of almost 650 km 2 of the “Empty Quarter”, are practically uninhabited. The biodiversity of the hyper-arid and exceptionally hot desert is represented by an extremely limited number of species: from animals it is mainly arachnids and rodents, from plants in the depressions between the dunes - camel thorn and hodgepodge. Only the dromedaries (the one-humped camels are able to lose more than a quarter of their weight without dying from thirst or hunger) can withstand the heat of the day with sand temperature of 70 ° C in the sun. The Bedouins, who somehow adapted to life in such harsh conditions, let them go in the afternoon to look for pasture, and the Aces wait in the shade. European tourists who even get here thanks to the invention of four-wheel drive cars and an air conditioner take about a minute and a half - only to have time to take a picture from the outside against the backdrop of a fantastic landscape. One of the first Europeans to penetrate into the depths of Rub al-Khali and map it, was a British citizen Wilfried Tesiger in 1946-1950. He was able to appreciate this beauty: “In this cruel land you can see such wonderful paintings that they will not find equal in our climate.”
It seemed that it would always be like this: sand dunes, tents of wild nomads, camels ... From the cities of "Happy Arabia" there were only ruins, and from some, like from Ubar, there was no trace. From time to time, the Bedouins accidentally found the ruins of the Sabaean and Minean cities in the sand, brought fragments of bas-reliefs and statues with them, and sold them for nothing to tourists. As a result, the culture of ancient Arabia was better represented in European museums than on the peninsula itself. The Yemeni authorities did not show much interest in pre-Islamic culture, so the most valuable monuments of the ancient South Arabian kingdoms either lay, gradually leaving in the sand, or were pulled away for souvenirs.
The sad paradox is that the heir to the ancient Sabei civilization of Yemen has one of the lowest human development indices in the Arab world. Half of the Yemenis live below the poverty line, a third are starving. Until recently, Bedouins from neighboring states, partly occupied by the sands of Rub al-Khali, were in a similar situation. Until the discovery of the richest oil and gas deposits under the sands in the east of Rub al-Khali in the second half of the 20th century. rapid and dramatic changes in the life of former nomads. The fabulous revenues from the sale of hydrocarbons have suddenly turned the wild desert into more than civilized. So, in the emirates and Dubai, caravan tracks replaced the eight-lane highways, like mirages in the desert, skyscrapers, hotels and business centers grew. Literally in one generation, part of the Arabs changed their way of life, having turned from cameleers to large entrepreneurs and engineers.

general information

Type: sand desert.

Oases: Al Ain, Al Jiva, Liva, etc.
The largest city: Dubai.

Nearest airport: international airports in Abu Dhabi, Dubai.

Figures

Length: approx. 1200 km.

Width: up to 500 km.
About 80% of the territory is occupied by sand.
Average height: in the east - 100-200 m above sea level. m., in the west - 500-1000 m above sea level. m
Dunes height: 150-200 m, up to 300 m.

Climate and weather

Extremely arid hot climate.

Sand storms.

The average daily maximum in July: + 47 ° C.

January average temperature: + 25-30 ° С.

Average annual rainfall: 35 mm.

Economy

Agriculture: oasis farming, nomadic cattle breeding (camels, sheep).
Traditional crafts and crafts.

Services: tourism, trade, transport.

sights

■ Natural: sand dunes 150-200 m high, including one of the largest dunes of the world, Morib, 300 m high and 1600 m wide; “Desert roses” from plaster crystals; "Desert Park" (in the emirate of Sharjah, UAE), where about one hundred representatives of the entire animal world inhabiting Rub al-Khali, including the base antelope, are gathered in one place.

■ Cultural Historical Ancient: the city of Ubar (aka Iram is multi-columned, probably founded in the 2nd millennium BC) - under the sand, discovered due to satellite imagery in 1990; Old Marib (from the 9th c.): The ruins of the Marib dam (built 2,700 years ago); Avvam Temple; Marib fortress with a collection of cultural objects of ancient Arabia (reliefs, bas-reliefs, etc.); the ruins of the Menean and Sabaean cities in the northeastern sector of Rub al-Khali - known from the reports of Bedouins who accidentally came upon them, have not yet been investigated.

■ Modern: Dubai's ultra-modern architecture.

Curious facts

■ Well-known race car driver Vadim Nesterchuk died tragically in the Rub al-Khali desert in the United Arab Emirates on June 24 when he and his partner were preparing for the Silk Road 2013 rally.

■ The once-blooming Marib, with a four-thousand-year history, today is a provincial Yemeni town with a population of less than 20,000 people.

■ South Arabian Sabean civilization - one of the oldest in the Middle East - developed at the end of II millennium BC. e. The advance of the Sabeans (and their rivals Mains, who founded the kingdom absorbed by the Sabaeans in the 7th century BC) from the north-west to south-west of Arabia was directly related to the formation of the trans-Arabian Incense path (or the Incense path), along which the Sabeyans Traded with many countries of the ancient and ancient world.

■ Huge organized caravans of hundreds of camels moved once or twice a year from the port of Aden, later because of the Romans from Cana, to Shabwa, then through Marib, Najran, Mecca, Jeddah, Yasrib Medina and Petra to Gaza to the Mediterranean Sea. On this route, which also passed through the desert, there were dozens of hydraulic systems (fortified and protected wells) and cities. Caravan traders always followed the same caravan paths: for deviating from the route, they could pay with their lives - for trying to smuggle.

■ According to a study by the English geologist McClure, published in 1984, in the middle of the desert at least twice, between 37 and 17 thousand years ago, and then again between 10 and 5 thousand years ago, a network of small lakes formed, lasting from several dozen up to several hundred years. The researcher claims that the lakes were inhabited by hippos, water buffalo and other cattle.

■ In the place of Dubai, there were mangrove swamps 7,000 years ago, which were covered with sand about 5,000 years ago after climate change.

■ One of the local wonders is the so-called "desert roses." Nomads believed that these "roses" grow from the urine of a camel. In fact, they are formed in the thickness of sand after rain by crystallization of gypsum, then due to weathering they appear on the surface.

The translation of the name of these desert territories located on the Arabian Peninsula sounds like an “empty quarter”. In fact, given the moment that the Rub al-Khali desert already occupies the third part of the peninsula, the question arises of changing the toponym in order to reflect the real situation.

From a political point of view, the desert "captured" the territory of four states, including, and. The only question is how to determine the real border within the desert. The interest of the states is understandable, the largest oil deposits in the world have been discovered in the desert, no one wants to miss their tidbit of the oil pie.

Features of the Rub Al Khali Desert

It is one of the largest in the world, one of the top five. The second point that deserves attention, the Rub al-Khali desert is considered one of the hottest places on the planet. The column of the thermometer in July and August reaches a maximum mark of + 50 ° C and above, and the average level of this month is in the region of + 47 ° C.

The third caveat is related to the amount of precipitation that falls here throughout the year. And here are also record numbers, however, this time the minimum. The Rub al-Khali desert in the ranking of the driest places is again in the first positions, there are years when the amount of precipitation was only 35 mm.

Geological structure of the area

The desert is a large basin, it is stretched from north-east to south-west, passes through the Arabian shelf. In the lower layers of gravel and gypsum deposits, in the upper sand. It consists mainly of silicates, with quartz taking up the lion's share as a percentage - up to 90%.

Interestingly, feldspar, which accounts for only 10% of the mass of sand, gives the desert a fantastic color. The feldspar grains on top are coated with iron oxide, so they are painted in red or orange-brick colors. Accordingly, the view of the desert in a photo or video resembles, according to the views of people, Martian red landscapes.

Massifs consisting of white quicksand were found in the southeastern half of the desert. The dunes are so huge that they are charged up to 250 meters. People find salvation in one of two oases - El Eine or Liva.

Road to hell

Many tourists who come to rest in the UAE and nearby countries dream of seeing with their own eyes this miracle of nature, feeling the hot breath of the desert. There are three ways to get to Rub al-Khali: through to the oasis of Liva via a luxurious six-lane highway; via Abu Dhabi and Hamim to the Liva Oasis on the smaller motorway (two-lane).

The third option is the most original, it involves a journey along the border strip with Oman, then also, but along the border with Saudi Arabia. Tourists pass El Ain and the desert along the way, by the way, guests of the Arabian Peninsula are often deceived - they are actually taken out to the suburbs, where you can see the dunes that pass as the desert. But real desert adventures await on a safari in Rub al-Khali.

Unusual local landscapes are recorded not only in documentary films, but also in many science fiction films, literature and even computer games.

Who lives in the desert of Rub al-Khali

At first glance, it seems that in this hell no living creature has a chance to survive. But this is not entirely true, occasionally you can meet ungulates and predators. At night, when it gets cooler, the active life of representatives of the desert fauna begins, you can see rodents and lizards. Rare vegetation in the form of a camel thorn, tribulus and hodgepodge is the main food of these animals.

Scientists claim that once upon a time there was a network of lakes in the desert, which were the home of mammals, amphibians and reptiles, including hippos and buffaloes. Yes, and a reasonable person left traces of his stay. Among the artifacts identified in this area are tools, the age of which is from 5000 to 10000 years, however, the remains of the person himself could not be found.

Desert entertainment

Despite the high temperatures that hold all year round, there are enough tourists who want to not only see the desert, but also participate in some kind of active activities. Accordingly, the local population has to get out and come up with activities.

The most popular and simple at the same time is off-road driving, the rest of the cars have nothing to do here. Only ATVs capable of overcoming tall dunes create competition for them. Among the exotic entertainment - skiing (!), True, specially designed for the desert, and on the same special boards. Women prefer less extreme entertainment in the desert, especially for them, trips to the Bedouin camp are organized, where you can get acquainted with the life of the ancient inhabitants of these lands.

Video

This is an incredibly necessary thing if you are going to travel to the resorts and cities of the Arab countries. Of course, in many resorts in the world you need enough knowledge of the English language, and sometimes only Russian, but this does not apply to the resorts that we are talking about. In many Arabian resorts, only the Arabic language is familiar and common, therefore this phrasebook will be an indispensable assistant for you.

It contains the most common topics for conversation and all sorts of frequently asked questions.

Appeals

Common phrases

At customs

At the station

Walk around the city

In transport

Numerals

At the hotel

In the shop

In a cafe, restaurant

Emergencies

Dates & Time

Greetings - This topic includes a list of phrases needed to greet and start a conversation.

Standard phrases - a list of the most common words and questions that are most often used in a conversation.

Station - so that you do not feel discomfort while being at the station in a foreign country, which is associated with a language barrier, use this phrasebook topic.

Passport control - passing control at the airport you need to know a number of phrases and answers to questions translated into Arabic, these phrases are presented here.

Orientation in the city - in Arab cities there are a lot of people and intersecting streets, in order not to get lost, you will need to clarify the route to your destination with passers-by. This topic will contribute to this.

Transport - so that you do not have problems with public transport and taxi, use this topic.

Hotel - checking into a hotel, be prepared for the fact that you have to answer some questions, their translation and the translation of other necessary phrases can be found in this section.

Emergencies - in a foreign country, anything can happen, to be safe, use this topic from the Russian-Arabic phrasebook. Using the words and phrases from this topic you can call for help, call the police or ask passersby to inform the ambulance that you feel bad.

Dates and time - translation of words indicating the date and time.

Shopping - using this section, you can make any purchases anywhere, whether it is a market or an expensive jewelry salon. Here are collected all the necessary questions and phrases for this.

Restaurant - to call a waiter, make an order, find out what a particular dish includes, you need to know the Arabic language or just use the words from this topic.

Numbers and numbers - every tourist should know how to pronounce this or that number in the language of the country in which he is resting. Just a translation of these numbers and numbers is collected in this section.

Rub al-Khali is a large desert on the Arabian Peninsula. It is one of the five largest deserts in the world, covering an area of \u200b\u200b650 thousand square meters. km The Rub al-Khali desert is easy to find on the map - it is located in 4 countries: Oman, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, but it is considered to be a landmark of the UAE, since it occupies most of this state.

General information

Rub al-Khali is not only one of the largest on the planet, it also:

• the largest of sand deserts;
• one of the hottest; in July-August, the air temperature here often exceeds + 50 ° С, the average maximum in these months is + 47 ° С, and sand on hot days heats up to + 70 ° С;
• one of the driest - the annual rainfall barely reaches 35 mm, while the evaporation exceeds 2000 mm;
• according to LifeGlobe, Rub al-Khali is the most beautiful desert in the world.

Previously, the desert was called Fej al-Hadley, which translates as "empty valley." It is under this name that she is mentioned in manuscripts of the 15th century. Later it became known as Rab el Khali - “empty territory”, “empty land”, even later “slave” was transformed into “rub”; the modern name can be translated as "empty quarter." By the way, in English Rub-el-Khali is called - Empty quarter. However, in fact, the desert occupies much more than 1/4 of the Arabian Peninsula - almost a third.

From a height, the desert seems almost flat, but in some places the height of its dunes reaches 300 m. Moreover, due to the monsoon south-westerly winds (they are called “kharif” here), dunes in the form of a crescent form on the tops of the dunes.

The sand here is mostly silicate, in which about 90% is quartz, and 10% is feldspar. It has an orange-red color due to iron oxide covering feldspar grains.

Desert dwellers

Despite the climatic conditions in which it would seem impossible to survive, the desert is inhabited. Not only scorpions, snakes and lizards are found here, as one might assume, but also rodents, and even larger animals, in particular, the Baz antelope, whose weight can reach hundreds of kilograms.

Population

Rub al-Khali was once inhabited: scientists believe that about 5 thousand years ago on its territory there were several large cities, including Ubar, which Herodotus and Ptolemy wrote about and which are called the “City of a Thousand Pillars” and “ Atlantis of the Sands. "

People live in the desert even now: on its territory there are several oases, the most famous of which are, and El Jiva. The oasis population is engaged in agriculture and traditional crafts, as well as nomadic cattle breeding - not only camels, but also sheep are bred here.

In the east of Rub al-Khali in the second half of the 20th century, large deposits of oil and gas were discovered; mining of these minerals is ongoing here and now.

Entertainment

Tourists love to ride in the dunes on off-road vehicles - such entertainment is called here. Staying in one of the oases, you can find other entertainment. For example, ride on the dunes on special boards resembling surfboards, or ski. Guests are also offered ATV racing. You can visit the stylized Bedouin camp.

By the way, during such walks you can meet many abandoned cars, including SUVs and water-carrier trucks, which in the Rub al-Khali desert deliver water to where it is needed. Such landscapes resemble movie sets in the style of cyberpunk.

How to visit the desert?

There are many ways to see the desert - both completely "civilized" and even comfortable, and those that not every extreme player will decide on. For example, a beautiful six-lane motorway leads from to the oasis of Liva.

You can go from Abu Dhabi to Liva and through Hamim - there is a two-lane road, also very high quality. You can look at the desert by driving along the border with Oman and Saudi Arabia. And the most daring can order a safari in Rub al-Khali. It is better to visit the desert in winter - at this time the temperature here is quite comfortable (about + 35 ° C).