Habala Cable Car

The Habala Cable Car is an aerial cableway in the Asir Region of south-western Saudi Arabia, south-east of the city of Abha. The line descends from the rim of a very high cliff in the Sarawat highlands to the old village of Habala, which stands on a rock ledge part of the way down the drop.

The name Habala is linked to the ropes that the villagers used to climb down to their homes and back up, and to move their goods, since the village had no other easy route. In the late twentieth century they moved to a modern village built for them at the top of the cliff. The cable car and the facilities around it were then built, turning the site into a tourist destination.

Visitors board a cabin at the upper station and are carried down beside the rock wall. At the bottom they can see the remains of the stone houses and farming terraces, and there are terraces and restaurants in the park above. Its importance lies in the view it gives of an unusual form of isolated mountain settlement, and of the steep terrain that separates the Asir highlands from the Tihama lowlands.