Oasis

The oasis lies at the centre of the Al Ula area, in the Wadi Al Qura valley, and extends for about 20km from north to south. It is used for agricultural production and contains 2.3 million date palms, producing more than 90000 tonnes of dates per year. Other crops grown in the oasis include barley, wheat, oat, figs, olives, citrus and herbs. Due to the intensive agricultural production the water reserves have been depleted and the water level now is lower than in the past. Besides the vegetation the oasis also contains the ruins of old mud brick houses.