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The information below is provided by The Expatriates Saudi readers and is not verified by the webmaster. For the official lowdown, contact your nearest embassy.
Saudi
Arabia
About 2.2 million sq km (0.85 million sq mi) in size, Saudi Arabia is mostly desert. It's bordered to the south-east by Oman, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, to the north by Iraq and Kuwait, and to the west by Jordan. Western Saudi Arabia is dominated by a mountain chain which runs the entire length of the country, getting higher and wider to the south. About half the country (an area the size of France) is taken up by the Rub' al-Khali, or Empty Quarter, the largest sand desert in the world. A second great sand desert, the Nafud, stretches its way across the north-west of the country, while the centre and north of Saudi Arabia is mostly gravelly plains. The east is flat and low-lying, an area of sabkhas (or salt flats). Its main geographical feature is the gigantic Al-Hasa oasis.
Unsurprisingly, considering all that desert, there's not much in the way of flora and fauna in Saudi Arabia. There are a number of scrub species, as well as tamarinds growing in some deserts and evergreens in the forested regions of Asir. If it's fauna you're after, you'd better like camels. They're Saudi Arabia's most visible wildlife, although there are also nocturnal hedgehogs and sand cats in some areas, and Hamadryas baboons in Asir.
Saudi Arabia's deserts have extreme climates. From mid-April to mid-October, expect daytime temperatures of 45°C (113°F) or higher throughout the country. In the dead of winter (December to January) things cool down in the cities: it's only around 15°C (59°F) during the day, and can be colder in the central deserts overnight. In the coastal areas it rains regularly, with high humidity in the summer, but there's very little rainfall in the capital Riyadh.