The word Akabat (العقبات) means obstacles, and the reason it was named Al Akabat was because before the current new modern road, the only way to cross this areas of hills was to go through some very difficult terrain that consists of huge sand dunes and large features that made the journey very difficult. Today, the edge of this areas can be seen as you drive on the paved road in relative comfort. One of the highlights in Al Akabat are the many strange shaped stones (Pyrite) which can be found littered across the white chalk exposed surfaces. There are two theories about how they were formed and geologists say there is no sure way of finding out which theory is right because the other features that would enable them to tell have long been eroded. My personal thought is that they were due to organic matter and crawling creatures getting stuck where the chalk formed and then were filled by matter, which eventually because the stone we find today. In any case, the Akabat Photos one can get on this trip make all the difficulties worthwhile.
