Photo shoot at Mutla Ridge, Kuwait

Mutla Ridge is the highest point in Kuwait, even though it’s almost around 500 feet in elevation. It is located just north and west of Kuwait city and is part of Al Jahra Governorate. The Ridge has an historical reference during the 1991 war, when Kuwait was invaded by Iraq. In February 1991, during operation Desert Storm, U.S. forces managed to capture Mutla Ridge in a lopsided battle and cut off Iraqi forces fleeing to Iraq. A massive convoy of Iraqi vehicle was trapped on the highway leading to Mutla Ridge and was devastated by coalition aircraft, as well as by U.S. ground forces. The scene of the destruction became known as the “Highway of Death.” (historical reference as documented by award winning editor Spencer C. Tucker in his book “The Encyclopedia of Middle East Wars”)

ShutterXpose members had an early Friday morning (08th June,2012) trip to explore Mutla Ridge. The team was well in time for Sunrise (04:48 am), the weather was not good for photography as there was still a layer of dust in the air, but it wasn’t quite bad either. Generally any drastic change in wind current is good enough to blow enough sand in the desert and make the visibility bad. Mutla Ridge definitely gave us a breathtaking relief from the usual crowd and concrete jungles, the utter silence and freshness in the air, ripple sand pattern along with the mild sand blowing on to our face welcomed us in its rather unusual pleasant way.

After the long drive, we had the usual pleasantry greeting among members before dispersing in every direction to capture and explore this beautiful place, few of us stepped quite far behind trails left by desert lizard in the hope of finding one, but none were lucky. After couple of exploration and taking plenty of photographs, the group decided to look around for the herd of camels which we saw on the way to the ridge. To our surprise we found almost all gone for their morning walk, we then drove to a shack and met a Sudanese caretaker who was quite happy to find some new faces other than usual crowd. He informed us there are 60-70 camels, these camels are used for races and they are sold quite expensive. He directed the path where the camels moved at the same time asking us to refrain from getting close to them. We finally found them after a good half an hour drive in the desert. It was quite a magic moment to see them together and giving a pose to the delight of us photographers, though we stayed away at distance. In whole the entire trip was quite fun, the members were quite thrilled and all excited to meet again at a different location for photo shoot.

To reach here, use the GPS Coordinate  29°25’14.64″N,  47°41’6.83″E

Word of Caution: Use a 4×4 wheel drive vehicle while travelling on desert. Carry plenty of water and food stuff if spending long hours. Wear cap or head gears, the summer heat can get you dehydrated real soon. Don’t honk and create unnecessary sound while close to the herd of camels and be cautious.