Neom Ceros 3

Flight of the gazelles:

A very different kind of VIP makes a momentous journey to Saudi Arabia’s northern wilderness

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NEOM, best known as the site of the planned, ground-breaking city called The Line is, in fact, one of the most important wildlife reserves in Saudi Arabia. Only five per cent of its 26,500 square kilometres will be developed. That’s part of a wider plan spearheaded by the Saudi Green Initiative to rewild 30 per cent of the country by 2030.

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Find out more about the Saudi Green Initiative here: greeninitiatives.gov.sa

Several countries attending the recent summit on biodiversity in Montreal (somewhat confusingly called COP15, and not to be confused with the recent COP27 conference in Egypt) are pushing for that 30 per cent target to be adapted globally. That will in turn provide a sustainable habitat for species which face extinction due to habitat loss and hunting.

For the third part of our series looking at the regeneration of NEOM, we follow a herd of captive-bred gazelles as they travel from Riyadh to become the first of their species in generations to walk the sands of NEOM. It’s a Saturday morning in al-Thumama — a territory on the northeastern fringes of the Saudi province of Riyadh — and a herd of Arabian oryx, Arabian ibex, sand gazelles and mountain gazelles are waiting to make history.

It was just over 60 years ago on Wednesday 29 March 1961, that the front page of The New York Times reported the feared extinction of the Arabian oryx after what was believed to be the world's last surviving herd was attacked by hunters. A decade later in 1972, the species was declared extinct in the wild. Today, however, there are 1,200 of the animals thriving in the Arabian Peninsula, largely thanks to programmes like the one run by the National Centre for Wildlife.

Habitat loss was the other factor in the decline of the Arabian oryx. As well as removing the threat of hunting, NEOM Nature Reserve’s managers need to ensure that the returning animals would have plenty to feed on. As the regreening of the coastal plain and inland wadis begins and commercial grazing by goats and camels is curtailed, the vegetation they rely on will return.

The sun sets on a landmark day for the conservation of the Arabian oryx

David Chancellor

National Geographic photographer

This was a landmark: a herd of gazelles destined to be the first wildlife release in the protected wildernesses of NEOM

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To read part one and two of the wild NEOM series, click below

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A taste of freedom: a captive-bred Arabian oryx becomes one of the first of the species to walk the sands of NEOM in generations

Al-Thumama is home to the King Khalid Wildlife Research Centre. Run by the National Centre for Wildlife, it operates the world's largest captive breeding programme for threatened gazelle species. To date, the National Centre for Wildlife has carried out wildlife reintroductions in three of Saudi Arabia’s protected areas, including Sharaan, the King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve and the King Khalid Royal Reserve. The centre continues to monitor these populations while planning animal releases, the latest of which concerns this herd of gazelles destined to be the first wildlife release in NEOM’s protected Nature Reserve.

Acacia trees are a keystone species with most desert fauna depending on them, either directly or indirectly, for food and shade (David Chancellor)

Grown from seeds and cuttings, these saplings are on the final part of their journey before being returned to the nature reserver where they were harvested (David Chancellor)

Acacia gerrardii destined for the Sharaan Nature Reserve for Afforestation Project. (David Chancellor)

Photographer David Chancellor follows the herd on their 1,000 km journey from the breeding centre in Riyadh to the protected wilderness that will be their new home

To anaesthetise the animals would increase the potential risks to the herd, so the oryx are rounded up into transportation crates by a team of 35 wildlife experts. By midday, all the animals have been caught and are ready for the journey to their new home in NEOM Nature Reserve.

It’s a complicated release, mainly because of the distances involved: Riyadh to NEOM is over 1,000 km. Care of the oryx en route is made harder by the fact that only two people can join them on their charter flight — the vet and a NEOM representative.

By the time the animals arrive in NEOM, it’s 6am Sunday morning. The atmosphere is one of weariness and tension. Most of the crew have been up all night, or have slept in cars, and there’s palpable anxiety about the well-being of the oryx after the journey.

The oryx are carefully unloaded from the lorries, their crates set down in the desert and the doors finally opened. It’s good news: all the animals are healthy and ready to roam.

A very different kind of VIP makes a momentous journey to Saudi Arabia’s northern wilderness

Accompanying the herd on their journey was National Geographic photographer David Chancellor. “Everyone was exhausted but obviously very happy,” he says. “When the oryx were released, they were all fit and healthy. The released oryx just got as far away as they could from us, formed into a little group and then just stood and watched everybody.” The Arabian oryx had a ‘soft release,’ being moved into an observation pen where they can be carefully monitored and given time to acclimatise to their new home. Then, after a month, the animals are released into the larger reserve, marking the first time in a century that oryx walk the sands of NEOM. The event heralds the beginning of a new future for conservation in Saudi Arabia.