Duba

Duba occupies one of the few natural anchorages on the northern Red Sea coast of Arabia, a shore that has carried traffic between Egypt, the Hejaz and the Levant since antiquity. Fishing, coastal trade and the supply of caravans moving inland sustained small settlements here long before the modern state, and the hills behind the bay were crossed by tracks towards the oases and the pilgrim roads further east.

Under Ottoman authority the Hejaz coast was watched from a string of small ports with customs posts and garrisons, and the northern harbours took on strategic weight during the First World War, when the coast was contested in the Arab Revolt and supplied from the sea. After the unification of the kingdom under Ibn Saud, Duba settled into the role of a minor fishing and trading port for the Tabuk hinterland, remote enough that paved roads reached it only in the second half of the 20th century.

The modern town was made by two things. The first was the port itself: a deep-water harbour and ferry terminal that gave Saudi Arabia a sea link with Egypt and Jordan, used by traders, workers and pilgrims crossing the Red Sea, and a landing point for cargo bound for the north-west. The second is the development of the far north-west since the late 2010s, when large construction projects and new tourism plans along this coast brought contractors, workers and traffic through a town that had been one of the quietest places in the kingdom.

Duba is a coastal town in a province of desert tribes, and its character comes from both. Families trace descent to tribes of the northern Hejaz whose grazing grounds run inland towards Tabuk and north towards Jordan, and the manners are those of the desert: unhurried greetings, insistent hospitality and Arabic coffee poured for a guest before conversation begins. At the same time the sea has shaped generations of fishermen, boat owners and traders, with a practical knowledge of reefs, weather and the crossing to Egypt.

The town is conservative and its public life religious in structure. Shops shut for each prayer, Ramadan turns the day around so that the streets are busiest late at night, and the two Eid holidays are given to visiting, feasting and new clothes. Weddings are the main public celebrations, with drumming, sword dances and Nabati poetry recited in the local dialect.

Because of the ferry, Duba has long been more mixed than its size suggests: Egyptian and Sudanese travellers and workers pass through constantly, and their food and speech are part of the street. Leisure is outdoors and seasonal — picnics and camping on the beaches in the cool months, fishing from the rocks, and weekend visitors from Tabuk. Development has begun to change the town's sense of itself, and residents weigh the prospect of work against the loss of the quiet that has defined the place.

Duba is a small town, its population counted in the tens of thousands including the villages and Bedouin settlements along the coast and in the wadis behind it. Most residents are Saudi; Egyptian, Sudanese, Yemeni and South Asian workers staff the shops, restaurants, boats and construction sites, and the numbers rise and fall with the projects under way in the region.

The port is the centre of the economy: cargo handling, the ferry service, customs and the trade that follows them, together with a fishing fleet whose catch is sold locally and trucked inland. Government employment, schools, the municipality and the health centre provide steady salaries, herding and small farms continue in the interior, and construction work on the coast has become a major employer in recent years.

The day is organised around heat and prayer. Business is done early, the town falls quiet through the afternoon, and the corniche, cafés and beach fill after sunset and stay busy late. Friday brings communal prayer and long family lunches. Housing is mostly single-storey villas and low apartment blocks with walled yards, and a car is a necessity. Residents talk about the cost of housing, whether the new projects will employ local people, and the strain of growth on a town with limited services.

The food here is that of the Red Sea coast. Fish dominates: grouper, emperor and other reef species, mackerel, and in season shrimp and squid, most often rubbed with spices and grilled whole over charcoal, or fried, and eaten with flatbread and a sharp chilli relish. Sayadiyah, fish laid over rice browned with onion and spices, is the classic cooked dish, and the simplest meal of all is bought at the market beside the harbour and grilled on the spot.

Inland cooking is equally present. Kabsa, rice cooked with meat, tomato, onion and spices including dried lime, and mandi, meat cooked slowly and served over rice, are the dishes of any gathering, eaten with the right hand from a shared tray. Bread comes from neighbourhood ovens through the day, and dates are offered to every visitor. Egyptian influence from the ferry route shows in the bean dishes, falafel and pastries sold in small shops.

Drinks are non-alcoholic, alcohol being illegal in the kingdom. Arabic coffee, pale and scented with cardamom, is served in small cups with dates; sweet black tea, sometimes with mint or sage, follows meals; and karak-style milky tea, fresh juices and speciality coffee have become fixtures for younger people. Sweets are simple — semolina cakes, syrup-soaked pastries and biscuits from the bakeries that stay open into the night.