PHOTOS: Gharameel, the remains of a huge mountain in northern Saudi Arabia

Gharameel are dark-colored straight pillars that are actually part of the remains of a huge mountain that existed in Hail, south of Al-Ula in North Saudi Arabia.

According to Al-Sahra desert team, a group of Saudis who operate a website on Saudi lands, the land, deserts and mountains, where these remains exist are astonishingly beautiful.

“You feel like you are on a different planet. They are dark rocks that stand high like palm branches or like pillars. They resemble ruins, much like a sad scene that’s also very beautiful,” the desert team said.

Dr. Abdulaziz bin Laaboun, a geology professor at King Saud University, told Al-Arabiya that the word “Gharameel” means a big mountain that is fragmented into thin pillars which contain iron oxides.

According to Laaboun, these iron oxides make the pillars resistant to changes in the atmosphere. He noted, however, that some of these pillars have been collapsing for thousands of years because their lower layers are soft.

English poet and traveler Charles Montagu Doughty who traveled to that area more than 140 years ago and who wrote the book “Travels in Arabia Deserta,” described the scene of these pillars saying: “Little pieces of quartz were scattered in that land. To the East, there were pillars made of sandstone. They looked like towers of an ancient city.”

According to author Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar, these pillars resemble “mountains that are separate from one another and that have different sizes and shapes.”

Although the scenery looks suitable for camping, it’s dangerous to sleep in these rugged areas because of wolves. Travelers thus have to stay in safe tents that are far from these mountainous sites.