Saudi photographer Khaled Al Enazi has spotted a giant rock in the desert of Saudi Arabia. While recording the archaeological treasures of Al-Ula, he came across a structure shaped like a huge fish. “While I was documenting the area in search of archaeological records, the sight of a mountain surprised me, with its shape suggesting a fish in the heart of the desert,” Al Enazi told CNN International.
Al Enazi took the images last June while documenting the archaeological treasures of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ula County, which rivals Jordan’s Pink City of Petra for its ancient structures. He told CNN Travel via an email interview that he was photographing the area when the sight of a small mountain appeared before him. A video shared in a tweet in July has collected more than 30,000 views
A photographer’s eye sees what people do not see.
Khaled Al Enazi, photographer
The photographer named the gigantic rock “Desert Fish” because of the appearance the rock formation has of an aquatic being. He believes that the rock has probably been seen by other people before, but that he was the first to be able to photograph it from above with the help of a drone.
According to Al Enazi, after sharing the records online, some internet users even suggested that the rock could be the remains of some prehistoric marine animal, “fossilized millions of years ago”, but he was keen to state that this is not the case. “”It is sandstone formed by many factors,” he stated.
The Al-Ula region of Saudi Arabia is the site that served as a shelter for the ancient Nabateans, a Semitic people, ancestors of the Arabs, who lived in northern Arabia and southern Jordan.
Al-Ula offers stunning views of the desert covered by nearly 22,500 square kilometers of sandstone. Lihyan, the ancient Nabatean city in the south, was established in this area. At Mada’in Saleh, north of the Al-Ula Valley, they carved spectacular tombs into the rocky outcrops. These have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
According to CNN, Al Enazi is setting up his own YouTube channel dedicated to showing the marvelous and surprising landscape of the Al-Ula region.
