French school to train aspiring chefs from Al-Ula/node/1519141/saudi-arabia
French school to train aspiring chefs from Al-Ula
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This photo taken on January 4, 2019 shows a view of the facade of the new purpose-built Maraya (Arabic for "Mirror") concert hall hosting the first "Winter at Tantora" music carnival in the ruins of Al-Ula, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northwestern Saudi Arabia. (AFP)
Initiative is aimed to develop KSA’s tourism jewel
Updated 02 July 2019
SPA
AL-ULA: The Royal Commission for Al-Ula (RCU) has announced a partnership with FERRANDI Paris, France’s leading school of culinary arts and hospitality management.
The partnership will see the development of a world-class training program in gastronomy, which will take young and aspiring chefs from Al-Ula to study in the French capital.
During the first phase of the program, 24 chefs from Al-Ula will be chosen to take part in a specially curated four-month course at the school. Senior experts from FERRANDI will visit Al-Ula to interview applicants and select 24 participants.
After their return to Al-Ula, the newly trained chefs will have the chance to work under the supervision of 10 Michelin-starred chefs to craft locally inspired “Taste of Al-Ula” menus to be served to VIP guests attending the second season of Winter at Tantora, held annually in Al-Ula.
RCU’s CEO Amr Al-Madani said the initiative represented another key program in a series that the RCU is offering to Al-Ula citizens, to deliver innovative employment opportunities based in personal and professional development.
“This partnership with FERRANDI Paris will equip a new generation of talented Al-Ula men and women with the tools necessary to become the leading chefs and culinary entrepreneurs,” he said.
FERRANDI Paris CEO Bruno de Monte expressed his pleasure in welcoming the youth of Al-Ula to Paris and the school. “We have built a program especially for them, the future culinary greats of Saudi Arabian gastronomy,” he said.
Gerard Mestrallet, executive president of the French Agency for Al-Ula Development (AFALULA), said: “As a partner of RCU in the development of Al-Ula, AFALULA is very proud of this partnership with FERRANDI. It will allow the new generations of Al-Ula young chefs to capitalize on French excellence in the field of culinary art and hospitality management.”
RCU’s partnership with FERRANDI Paris, developed under the leadership of Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammad bin Farhan Al-Saud, comes under the efforts exerted by RCU to build and develop Al-Ula youths’ potential through global cultural exchanges and dedication to international best practice.
HIGHLIGHTS
• The Royal Commission for Al-Ula has announced partnership with FERRANDI Paris.
• Selected candidates from Al-Ula will be sent to Paris for training.
• Newly trained chefs will get an opportunity to work under 10 Michelin-starred chefs in the Kingdom.
To be considered for the program, candidates must be between 21 and 35 years old, graduates of Al-Ula high schools and have an intermediate knowledge of English.
The application period will be between July 5 and July 9. Candidates can submit applications online at https://www.ferrandi-paris.com/alula-special-program.
The names of 24 successful applicants will be announced on July 26 following interviews by FERRANDI Paris tutors in Al-Ula, and training will begin by the end of August.
The culinary initiative is in line with the objectives of RCU’s charter to help create and inspire new and diverse economic sectors in Al-Ula while involving the local community. The initiative is the latest component of a plan to develop Al-Ula and its natural wonders and ancient cultural sites into one of the world’s leading tourism destinations.
FERRANDI Paris was founded in 1920 by the CCI Paris Ile-de-France, offering an array of programs up to master’s degrees, all of which prepare students for a career in gastronomy or hotel management. FERRANDI Paris is the only school in the hotel and restaurant sector in France whose bachelor diplomas are recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education and Innovation.
FERRANDI teaches 2,500 students and 2,000 professionals and individuals seeking a career change from France and abroad.
Some pilgrims arrive early to take advantage of the relatively cool morning
Authorities have mobilized more than 40 government agencies and 250,000 officials
Updated 24 min 30 sec ago
AFP
MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia: Muslim pilgrims prayed atop Mount Arafat on Thursday during the high point of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, as Saudi officials called on participants to refrain from being outside during the hottest hours of the day.
Thousands of pilgrims began to gather before dawn around the hill and the surrounding plain where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his last sermon.
While some arrived early to take advantage of the relatively cool morning, carrying colorful umbrellas, many pilgrims will remain for hours of prayers and Qur’an recitals until the evening in the most arduous portion of the Hajj.
After sunset they will head to Muzdalifah, halfway between Arafat and the sprawling tent city of Mina, where they will gather pebbles so they can perform the symbolic “stoning of the devil.”
“This is something that I used to see every year on the TV screen during Hajj and I always thought: ‘I wish I could be here’,” said 33-year-old Ali from Pakistan, one of 1.5 million pilgrims who had arrived in Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage.
“I’ve been trying to get here... for the past 3 years,” he added as he gazed at the mount. “I feel very blessed.”
Hundreds of pilgrims dressed in white dotted the mount itself, with many more at its foot praying or taking pictures.
Earlier this week, Saudi authorities called on pilgrims to stay inside their tents between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, when the desert sun is at its harshest.
Fans spraying mist and providing cool air were dispersed at the foot of the mount.
Temperatures this year have already exceeded 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit) as one of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings, bringing together devotees from around the globe, kicked off earlier this week.
“I came here early to (avoid) the sun and later I will pray inside my tent,” said 54-year-old Adel Ismail, from Syria.
To make this year’s pilgrimage safer, authorities have expanded infrastructure, deployed thousands of extra personnel and relied on an arsenal of high-tech tools to help better manage crowds.
Authorities have mobilized more than 40 government agencies and 250,000 officials, doubling their efforts against heat-related illness.
Shaded areas have been expanded by 50,000 square meters (12 acres), thousands more medics will be on standby, and more than 400 cooling units will be deployed, the Hajj minister has said.
Through tears of joy, Iman Abdel Khaleq said she had wanted to perform the Hajj for 10 years and was overwhelmed with emotion as she arrived at Arafat.
“It’s a big dream for me that I had almost given hope up of realizing,” the woman in her fifties said from the foot of the mount.
CAIRO: The Egyptian Hajj Road is recognized by historians and travelers as one of the most important pilgrimage and trade arteries connecting the Islamic world to the Arabian Peninsula.
Used by pilgrims since the dawn of Islam, this route transcends mere religious significance, embodying a rich cultural, civilizational, and archaeological legacy, the Saudi Press Agency reported recently.
Its importance has earned it a place on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, which is a precursor to the World Heritage List.
Saudi Arabia made its submission in 2015, in which it outlined the route linking Egypt to Makkah and Madinah.
Map showing land and sea routes of the Hajj in the early 20th century. (Courtesy of AramcoWorld)
The document states that the route “benefited pilgrims coming from Egypt, Sudan, Central Africa, Morocco, Andalusia and Sicily, as they meet in Egypt, then travel through Sinai to Aqaba then march across two trails.”
The road starts from the town of Haqel on the Gulf of Aqaba and ends in Makkah.
Several Muslim rulers over the centuries established structures on the road including pools, canals, wells, barricades, bridges, castles, forts and mosques, the document stated.
And “on the road near the camps are numerous Islamic inscriptions and commemorative writings, engraved by pilgrims as they passed through the road.”
It also noted that rulers and wealthy patrons built caravanserais, supplied water and provided protection along these roads to Makkah and Madinah to ease the pilgrims’ journey.
“Individual Muslims, in the name of charity, helped others to make the journey,” it added.
Historians have divided the ancient Egyptian Hajj Road into four chronological periods.
The first period from about the year 1150 featured both overland and coastal routes to the Arabian Peninsula.
The second from 1042 to 1268 had the North Sinai passageway ended and pilgrims opting for sea travel from Egypt to Jeddah.
The third from 1269 to 1884 had pilgrims reverting to using the coastal overland route.
The fourth period, from 1884 to contemporary times, marked the discontinuation of the overland route, replaced first by sea travel from Suez, and subsequently by air travel to Jeddah.
Used by pilgrims since the dawn of Islam, this route transcends mere religious significance, embodying a rich cultural, civilizational, and archaeological legacy. (SPA)
The route’s importance for pilgrims from Africa and the Maghreb is particularly notable.
Caravans from Moroccan cities including Marrakech, Fez and Sale, sometimes including pilgrims from Senegal, would travel either by land along the Mediterranean or by sea.
These caravans would then converge with pilgrims from Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, passing through cities including Mahdia, Sfax, Sousse, Tripoli, Barqa and Tobruk.
They would then cross Egyptian land, often along the coast, to reach Alexandria and Rashid.
From there, pilgrims would take Nile boats to Cairo, joining the Egyptian Hajj caravan at modern-day Al-Baraka. The combined caravans would then continue by land to Suez.
From Suez, pilgrims either continued the land route through Sinai and along the Red Sea to Jeddah, or sailed across the Red Sea to Jeddah, then proceeded by land to Madinah and Makkah.
Saudi interior minister inspects Hajj preparedness at holy sites
Updated 05 June 2025
Arab News
RIYADH: Saudi interior minister conducted a field tour on Wednesday to inspect the readiness of the Al-Mashaaer Al-Mugaddassah (Holy Sites) Metro Line as pilgrims move to the holy site of Arafat.
Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud, who also heads the Supreme Hajj Committee, was briefed on the mechanisms of dispatching and scheduling train trips, in full integration with the relevant security and regulatory authorities, ensuring smooth operations and the safety of pilgrims the Saudi Press Agency said.
The minister boarded a train ride to the Mina 3 (Jamarat) Station, where he inspected the station’s readiness and facilities to receive pilgrims.
The metro line is a high-capacity rail system in Makkah that operates for only seven days a year, during Hajj, as a shuttle service to take pilgrims to and from holy sites. It has a capacity of up to 72,000 passengers per hour.
Prince Abdulaziz also visited the Facilities Security Forces, who regulate pedestrian movement and crowd management in the areas surrounding the metro stations, and was briefed on the forces’ plans and role in supporting and assisting the Hajj Security Forces.
Saudi Press Agency launches Saudi Photo Platform to expand global access to visual archive
Was unveiled during second edition of the Hajj Media Forum
Updated 04 June 2025
Arab News
MAKKAH: Saudi Arabia’s minister of media and chairman of the Saudi Press Agency, Salman bin Yousef Al-Dosari, on Wednesday launched the Saudi Photo Platform, a new digital initiative designed to offer free access to SPA’s vast archive of authenticated images.
Unveiled during the second edition of the Hajj Media Forum at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Exhibition and Events Center, the platform will allow users worldwide to browse, use, and share images under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.
The forum was attended by local and international media representatives.
Acting SPA President Ali bin Abdullah Al-Zaid said the platform reflected its strategy to make its visual archive more widely available to content creators around the globe, while preserving intellectual property rights and promoting creativity in a regulated digital environment.
He added that launching the platform from Makkah held symbolic significance, reinforcing the city’s historic role in conveying Saudi Arabia’s message to the world, and said it marked an important step toward enhancing the Kingdom’s visual presence in the digital space.
The Saudi Photo Platform, which can be reached on cc.spa.gov.sa, features high-resolution images, sorted by category and accompanied by detailed metadata, including event descriptions and publication dates.
The archive is continuously updated to document key national and international events, and the site is fully supported in both Arabic and English.
The initiative is part of SPA’s broader digital transformation agenda, aimed at modernizing publishing tools and fostering new partnerships with media outlets and online users worldwide, it said.
How NEOM is rewilding Saudi Arabia and reviving ancient falconry traditions
NEOM is combining heritage and science to protect biodiversity in one of Saudi Arabia’s most diverse landscapes
Falcons are returning to the wild thanks to efforts to revive their natural habitat and bolster their numbers
Updated 05 June 2025
Haifa Alshammari
RIYADH: As the world marks World Environment Day, a global celebration of nature and a call to protect our planet, attention turns to an ecological transformation taking place in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
NEOM, the Kingdom’s futuristic megacity project, is rapidly becoming a haven for biodiversity — and at the heart of this effort is a renewed commitment to falcon conservation.
Under the banner of the Hadad Program, NEOM is working in partnership with the Saudi Falcons Club and other national entities to reintroduce native falcon species to the Arabian Peninsula, rebuild local ecosystems, and revive an ancient cultural tradition.
Under the Hadad program, NEOM, the Saudi Falcons Club have successfully released eight pairs of the very rare barbary falcon in NEOM's Nature Reserce. (Supplied)
The work being done in NEOM is about more than saving birds; it is about restoring balance to a landscape often misunderstood as barren and bringing nature back to the center of modern development.
Since 1973, June 5 has been observed as World Environment Day. Led by the UN Environment Programme, it serves as a platform to raise awareness and prompt action on pressing environmental issues from climate change and pollution to biodiversity loss.
Announced in 2017 as part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reform agenda, NEOM is a $500 billion mega-project designed to reshape the future of urban living, sustainability and technology.
FASTFACT
• World Environment Day, held on June 5 since 1973, raises awareness on global issues like climate change and biodiversity loss.
Encompassing 26,500 square kilometers of mountains, desert, and coastline along the Red Sea, NEOM’s planners aim to build a zero-emission, high-tech region powered entirely by renewable energy.
Yet beyond the cities of the future lies a growing commitment to the past — particularly in preserving and restoring the Kingdom’s natural heritage.
This photo taken on April 19, 2024 shows Tarek Qaddumi (R), executive director of the Saudi Arabia mega-project NEOM, giving a briefing on NEOM sites at a visual culture exhibition in Hong Kong. (AFP/File)
“People tend to assume that this part of the world is an empty desert, but NEOM is stunning for its habitat diversity,” Paul Marshall, head of nature conservation at NEOM, told Arab News.
Indeed, NEOM’s terrain is anything but barren, from mountain peaks reaching 2,600 meters above sea level to oceanic depths plummeting 1.5 kilometers. In between are red sand deserts, canyons and caves, and spectacular shores with crystal-clear waters and coral reefs.
This biologically rich region is home to creatures great and small: from hyrax, ibex and oryx to hedgehogs, gazelles and a wide variety of birds and insects.
“From those plants we have insects and mammals. Then, we have the large mammals, of course,” Marshall said.
Paul Marshall, head of nature conservation at NEOM. (Supplied)
Before human encroachment, the region was even home to apex predators such as cheetahs, lynx and leopards. Now, through conservation, NEOM is seeking to recreate conditions that allow such species to return.
“For all of our biodiversity, it is still a fundamentally arid ecosystem,” he said. “The species here have adapted to survive with very low rainfall and because of that, they are able to thrive despite the conditions.”
The Hadad Program supports NEOM’s rewilding strategy by reintroducing native falcon species, most notably the lanner and barbary falcons. “This is a really exciting program,” Marshall said. “It is one of many programs we are doing to restore the full ecosystem in the NEOM area.”
NEOM and the Saudi Falcons Club signed a strategic partnership to enhance falcon habitats within NEOM's Nature Reserve during the Hadad Annual Meeting in November 2024. (SPA/File)
Despite the climatic conditions, several types of plants were able to grow and uniquely adapt to different parts of NEOM’s ecosystem.
“From those plants we have insects and mammals. Then, we have the large mammals, of course,” he said.
He added: “This is a really exciting program. It is one of many programs we are doing to restore the full ecosystem in the NEOM area.”
Falcons used to be widespread throughout the whole of the Arabian Peninsula. But, through a combination of hunting and capturing for sports, in many places, Marshall said, that these animals are hard to find. Today, efforts are underway to bring them back.
Under a partnership between NEOM and the Saudi Falcons, authorities hope to see native falcon species throughout the whole of the Arabian Peninsula. (NEOM photo)
With the rich habitat and the efforts to safeguard the falcons, they are creating an environment where the species can be released with the best chances of survival.
They successfully released eight pairs of barbary falcons, which are a very rare type; very few of them are left in the wild.
“We are committed to caring for falcons as a cultural and historical heritage and supporting all related activities through a set of regulations and organizational frameworks adopted by the club,” Talal Abdulaziz AlShammisi, CEO of the Saudi Falcons Club, told Arab News.
“This includes promoting and preserving falconry heritage, organizing falcon auctions, collaborating with universities, colleges, research centers and health institutions to conduct falcon-related studies and scientific research.”
Talal Abdulaziz AlShammisi, CEO of the Saudi Falcons Club
Falconry is not just a pastime in Saudi Arabia; it is a centuries-old tradition deeply woven into the fabric of national identity.
“Falconry has been practiced by our ancestors across the deserts of the Kingdom for centuries and today the country is home to thousands of falcons and passionate falconers,” said AlShammisi.
“Local species such as the lanner falcon and the barbary falcon are native to the Saudi environment and hold significant ecological value as essential components of environmental balance.”
The barbary falcon, once on the brink of extinction in parts of the Arabian Peninsula, is now making a comeback. Thanks to the Hadad Program’s careful release, rehabilitation and monitoring strategies, the birds are beginning to reclaim their place in Saudi skies.
The initiative’s success is underpinned by a network of partnerships.
FASTFACT
26,500
Area (square kilometers) of NEOM spanning mountains, desert and Red Sea coastline.
NEOM is working with the Saudi National Center for Wildlife, the Saudi Falcon Club and the Special Forces for Environmental Security to monitor these falcons, to protect them and give them not only the best chances of survival but appearing and breeding.
Soon, the first new generation of barbary falcons is expected to hatch in NEOM.
While falcons are among the stars of NEOM’s rewilding efforts, the program goes much further. More than 1,100 animals once absent from the region — including oryx, ibex, mountain gazelles and sand gazelles — have been reintroduced to help restore a natural ecological balance.
More than 1,100 animals once absent from the region — including oryx, ibex, mountain gazelles and sand gazelles — have been reintroduced by Saudi Arabia's National Center for Wildlife to help restore a natural ecological balance. (SPA photos)
The reintroduction of different species of animals is not only a victory for biodiversity but also a chance to restore natural food chains and ecological interactions that sustained this environment for millennia.
With plans to extend across 95 percent of megacity project’s total land area, the NEOM Nature Reserve represents one of the most ambitious conservation zones in the world.
Through projects such as the Saudi Green Initiative and the Middle East Green Initiative, the Kingdom aims to plant billions of trees, reduce emissions, and protect vast swaths of land and sea.
As World Environment Day shines a spotlight on the urgent need to protect and restore our natural world, NEOM stands as a compelling example of how large-scale development and ecological stewardship can go hand in hand.
