in the
Asir Mountains of
Saudi Arabia These
mountains are mainly rocky though some contain vegetation. Many of the peaks are fairly young and jagged, but some are smoother from weathering. Nearing the
Yemeni border, the Sarawat begin to spread into individual peaks, and the
Hejaz turns from a cliff to a gradual ascent up to the Yemeni Plateau. In Yemen, the Sarawat are divided into the western and central highlands, where the western highlands receive plenty of precipitation, more than anywhere else in the peninsula, and the central highlands have the highest mountains in the peninsula. A very dramatic part of the Yemeni Sarawat are the
Haraz Mountains, where a few peaks top , but the descents and views from the mountains are staggering; some foots of mountains are only at above sea level yet their
peaks are at . All of the mountains over are located in Yemen, the highest of which is
Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb near the capital
Sana'a. At , Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb is also the highest peak in Arabia. Geologically, the Sarawat are part of the
Arabian Shield, and are made up mostly of
volcanic rock. The western slopes end abruptly near the
Red Sea coast, while the eastern side of the mountain range slopes downward more gently and is intersected by
wadis that support
agriculture, especially in the southern reaches of the Sarawat, where the mountains face the
monsoons. Among the cities located within the Sarawat is the Yemeni capital,
San'a, located near some of the Sarawat's highest peaks. ==Wildlife==