If that is true, no vessels of any kind would have been needed for our forebears to transition from one side to the other. There are even indications that, during something called “the Last Glacial Maximum” an estimated 18,000 years ago, the Red Sea for a brief time may have been cut off from the Indian Ocean entirely by a land bridge spanning the present site of the Farasan Islands. Researchers point to substantial evidence indicating that lower sea levels and resultant greater exposed landmasses in the Straits posed easily-surmountable obstacles to mass migration in the Pleistocene Age compared to conditions obtaining there today. Scholars maintain that it was across these same waters-what we know today as the Bab-al-Mandab Straits-from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula north of present-day Yemen, with the geological predecessors to the Farasan Islands serving as stepping stones, that the first great wave of our species emigrated from Africa tens of thousands of years ago and began populating the rest of the globe. Remnants of the key geological connection that made that exodus possible are to be found in abundance on the surface of, and in the waters surrounding, the Farasan Islands. Recent research has established that, beginning roughly 60,000 years ago, the Arabian Peninsula served as a critical path for that outward migration ages before the heyday of the spice and incense routes for which Arabia is far more noted. Adding to the complexity of the islands’ story, their natural history is closely intertwined with the history of the outward spread of human populations from their point of origin in East Africa. Like so many other astonishing aspects of this land known as the Arabian Peninsula, the Farasan Islands owe much of their unique character to the confluence of the same mighty forces that helped form such notable geological features in the region as the Red Sea, the Dammam Dome, the Al Harrah volcanic complex, and the Great Rift Valley, to name but a few. It’s fully expected that soon they will join five currently-recognized WHS sites in the Kingdom that were previously featured in the AXP series, The Seven Wonders of Arabia: Madâin Sâlih At-Turaif District in ad-Dir’iyah Historic Jeddah Rock Art in the Ha’il Region and Al-Ahsa Oasis.
For the moment, they remain on the currently active WHS Tentative List. As of this writing, a final decision on their permanent status as a WHS has not been made. In January 2019 the Farasan Islands Protected Area was formally nominated for recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We are not alone in our admiration of this magical place. We have selected these pristine jewels as the fifth member of our Seven Natural Wonders of Arabia. Their unique natural habitat, which includes mangroves, pristine beaches, coral reefs, rich and varied marine life, and much more is truly a wonder to behold. The Farasan Islands, lying 30 miles off the coast of the Red Sea near the city of Jizan, have been called “the Crown Jewels of Saudi Arabia’s travel treasures,” and with good reason. Courtesy of The Arab News via Saudi Tourism
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