The geo-tour was organized in February 2025 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The trip was organized as a follow-up to the publications of John Pint, which documented numerous cave discoveries and highlighted several unresolved geological and speleological features at the Volcano Jabal Al-Hil at the Harrat Kishb Volcanic field. Additionaly the group visited caves in the Harrat Rahat and in the Harrat Khaybar areas near to Medinah.
After a long preparation, in February 2025, a multi-national group of eleven participants went to Saudi Arabia with the primary objective of investigating the ‘cave question marks’ previously documented by John Pint. Many documented entrances—some as deep as 50 meters and visible as long as 90 meters—had remained unexplored due to past technical limitations. It was during the 2025 trip that these long-standing mysteries were to be finally unravelled.
The trip took place from February 15 to February 28, 2025 and the primary objective was to explore the volcanic region surrounding Jabal Al-Hil, an ash cone volcano located in the Harrat (i.e. lava field in the local terminology) Kishb. In the first days of our trip a basecamp was set up in the crater of one of the large shield volcanoes in the Harrat Al-Kishb area.
The remoteness of the area presented significant logistical challenges. Two big pickup 4 x 4 cars, Toyota Hilux, were hired, and our inventory of materials consisted of essential supplies such as 300 litres of water, canned food for 2 weeks and 10 persons, 40 litres of gasoline, 7 tents, 200 meters of rope, 2 air compressors, tire repair kits , 2 drills, dozens of anchors and karabiners, 7 Solar power kits etc. In total, two pickups were filled up with gear.
Altogether, more than eight caves were surveyed around Jabal Al-Hil. with a combined length of more than 1,3 kilometres. The deepest cave measured is 70 meters.
The northern region of the Harrat Rahat volcanic field, located just south of Medina near the first checkpoint, was the next area of focus. Several promising volcanoes situated east of the main road were examined during this stage of the visit.
The team gratefully acknowledge the support of the European Speleological Federation (FSE), Speleo Nederland, and Korda’s (Spanish rope manufacturer), without which this reconnaissance tour would not have been possible.
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