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JEDDAH: Jeddah is famous for its stunning beaches and water activities — and flyboarding is becoming increasingly popular as a pastime there.
The flyboard, a hydro-flight apparatus that uses propulsion to drive a board into the air to perform tricks and maneuvers, was created in 2012 by French watercraft rider Franky Zapata.
The art of water hoverboarding is practiced by Layan Al-Azhari, a Saudi woman who teaches flyboarding wherever she finds a body of water deep enough to support the board and large enough to fly over.
“I enjoy all types of sports, and I’ve tried horseback riding, scuba diving and flyboarding, which is my new passion,” Al-Azhari told Arab News.
“I met Mussab Felemban, who’s a flyboard instructor, 10 months ago, and he taught me everything I know about flyboarding, and now it’s a part-time job for me at Al-Ashoor Island beach in Jeddah,” she said.
After Al-Azhari, who is a sales representative for a local bank, discovered a passion for watersports she decided to achieve creativity in the sport. She is also now an instructor.
“Running from my desk job, I saw people on the beach playing this game, and I was amazed by how high they could get in the air with the flyboard, and I had to try it for myself,” she said.
Al-Azhari is active on social media, especially on TikTok, where she has gathered more than 96,000 followers in only two months. “Many women come to me on the beach to teach them the sport, which is a great indicator that the women in society are interested in playing a sport,” she said.
A joint memorandum of understanding has now been signed by the Saudi Water Sports and Diving Federation and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development with the intention of boosting Saudization and empowering women in the watersports and diving industry.
The agreement also aims to increase the proportion of women participating in the labor force through private-sector businesses engaged in diving and watersports.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center on Thursday signed an agreement to implement a project to support education in Yemen, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Friday. The agreement was signed by KSrelief Assistant General Supervisor for Operations and Programs Ahmed bin Ali Al-Baiz at the center’s headquarters in Riyadh. Through the project, school uniforms and bags will be provided to 11,586 Yemeni children, and 23 schools will be rehabilitated and their infrastructure improved in Hadhramaut, Al-Mahra, Aden and Hajjah governorates. The project aims to increase access to basic and secondary education for Yemeni students, improve learning conditions, and enhance the capabilities of the education sector by reducing the dropout rate of students and providing them with a safe study environment. This comes within the framework of the humanitarian projects implemented by the Kingdom, represented by the center, to support the educational sector in Yemen.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense on Friday urged the public to take caution as it warned of chances of thunderstorms in parts of the Kingdom from Saturday until Wednesday. The authority said the regions of Asir, Najran, Jazan and Al-Baha will be affected by moderate to heavy rain and brisk winds, which may lead to torrential flow, and the regions of Riyadh, Sharqiya, Qassim and Hail will be affected by light to medium rain. Spokesman Col. Mohammed Al-Hammadi called for caution against potential dangers of the weather, to stay away from places where torrents gather, and to abide by the instructions of the Civil Defense announced through various media and social networking sites, in order to preserve their safety.
RIYADH: Saudi deputy minister for protocol affairs and ambassador, Khalid bin Faisal Al-Sehli, on Thursday received Ghana’s envoy to the Kingdom, Mohammed Habibu Tijani.
During their meeting in Riyadh — that followed Al-Sehli’s earlier talks with the ambassadors to Saudi Arabia of the Ivory Coast and Turkey, Coulibaly Drissa and Fatih Ulusoy, respectively — they discussed diplomatic relations between the two countries and issues of mutual interest.
In June, the deputy minister met with Azerbaijan’s envoy to the Kingdom, Shahin Abdullayev. Al-Sehli has held various positions in Saudi embassies around the world, including Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, Ottawa in Canada, Bangkok in Thailand, and Kuwait.
AL-BAHA: Since the start of the summer season in the Kingdom, the Al-Baha region has witnessed a large number of visitors and vacationers coming from various regions and governorates due to its cool weather and picturesque locations.
Al-Baha is one of Saudi Arabia’s top tourist destinations, and visitors from the GCC flock to the area to enjoy nature in a pleasant environment.
This summer, Al-Baha opened another prominent tourist site, its lavender garden, which is located in the middle of Raghadan Forest Park.
The 500-meter walkway linking the two areas is covered with natural stone and one can see waterfalls while walking down a path illuminated by 270 decorative light poles, as well as flowerbeds, sitting areas, wooden crossings and kiosks.
Mayor of the region, Dr. Ali Al-Suwat, said that the lavender garden and the central area of the Raghadan Forest were located on an area of more than 20,000 sq. m. The lavender garden occupies an area of 5,000 sq. m.
The 500-meter walkway linking the two areas is covered with natural stone and one can see waterfalls while walking down a path illuminated by 270 decorative lighting poles, as well as flowerbeds, sitting areas, wooden crossings and kiosks.
Al-Suwat said that parks and gardens have been added this year in the Al-Baha region on an area exceeding 400,000 sq. m.
Al-Suwat said that the region’s municipality aims to raise the per capita share of green land areas as the Al-Baha region is among eight tourist destinations covered by the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and receives large numbers of visitors and vacationers annually.
Officials behind a multibillion-dollar Saudi megaproject on Thursday took part in World Nature Conservation Day to highlight the importance of preserving the environment and natural resources.
The Diriyah Gate Development Authority’s sustainability plan focuses on creating a thriving community in a desert environment with all its necessary infrastructure while protecting fragile ecosystems.
Observed annually on July 28, World Nature Conservation Day aims to raise awareness about environmental protection, conserving natural resources, and the impacts of climate change.
One of the DGDA’s key missions is to use the power of innovation to actively revitalize and regenerate historic Diriyah in harmony with nature, while also positively empowering the local community to embrace greener lifestyles.
The project is a key contributor to Saudi sustainability goals and is aligned with Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative.
While the impact of Vision 2030 will be felt across all regions and sectors of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom’s cities are expected to demonstrate improved environmental sustainability.
The authority recently achieved the US Green Building Council’s LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) for Cities Platinum precertification for the first phase of the Diriyah Gate development, recognizing its commitment to meeting the highest national and international standards in sustainability.
The Saudi Green Initiative, as a part of Vision 2030, brings together environmental protection, energy transformation, and sustainability programs to work toward three overarching targets to achieve the common goal of a green future, namely reducing emissions, greening Saudi Arabia, and protecting land and sea. The DGDA will contribute to all three targets of the Saudi Green Initiative.
Throughout the development, the priority will be to include native and drought-tolerant species within the landscaping, which will contribute to significant enhancement of the natural setting and ensure irrigation demand is reduced.
The authority has also prioritized the protection and rehabilitation of valuable natural resources, such as the wadis and escarpments within the project area. The careful revitalization and protection of wadis, desert landscapes, and escarpments are at the core of the scheme.
For example, the preservation of Wadi Hanifah’s historical date palm farms and the substantial planting of native species in the area will contribute to a greener Riyadh.
In addition, the Diriyah site contains cultural assets that highlight the Kingdom’s biodiversity and natural resources, contributing to the education of the community on the country’s conservation efforts.
Through the study and implementation of energy demand reduction and energy efficiency measures, the authority will contribute toward the reduction of carbon emissions and support national efforts to address the impacts of climate change.
At a community level, the DGDA aims to help residents understand the importance of nature preservation by hosting online educational resources, conducting workshops in schools, leading campaigns such as the Plant Your Land initiative, and developing a supervisory area planning framework to promote agricultural studies in universities.
Earlier this year, the authority encouraged the local community to adopt eco-friendly living practices through the 3-R approach of reduce, reuse, and recycle, while promoting the use of sustainable cloth tote bags and reusable water bottles instead of plastic bags and bottles.