Wadi Al Kharas
Wadi Al Kharas, also known as Wadi Lakharas is a valley or dry river with ephemeral or intermittent flow, which flows almost exclusively during the rainy season, located in the emirates of Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah, in the east of the United Arab Emirates.
It is a tributary of the Wadi Khabb and a sub-tributary of Wadi Tawiyean, to whose hydrographic basin it belongs.
Course
The total approximate length of Wadi Al Kharas is .It flows from north to south, and its main source is located at an altitude of approximately, on the northeastern slope of Jabal Al Kharas, next to the mountain pass of Al Kharas, which defines the drainage divide between the Wadi Naqab and Wadi Tawiyean basins.
Although the Wadi Al Kharas runs with a gentle gradient in its initial course, its middle and lower sections follow a steep path, forming rock gorges that is highly polished by erosion. These sections feature multiple dry waterfalls and pools, which make access difficult and prevent the use of its channel as a means of communication, requiring rock climbing or canyoning equipment and techniques.
Along its course, the Wadi Al Kharas borders to the west the mountain villages of Maserayn and Difan, and receives water from smaller tributary wadis and ravines, including Wadi Salmadan, Wadi Al Masirek, and Wadi Nikid.
The Wadi Al Kharas flows into the Wadi Khabb between the villages of Al Baqil and Al Sharyah.
Toponymy
Alternative names: Wadi al Kharas, Wādī al Kharas, Wadi Lakharas, Wādī Likhras, Wadi Kharras, Wadi Kharas.The name of Wadi Al Kharas, its tributaries, mountains, and nearby settlements, was recorded in the documentation and maps prepared between 1950 and 1960 by the British Arabist, cartographer, military, and diplomat Julian F. Walker, during the work carried out to establish borders among the then-named Trucial States. These were subsequently completed by the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) on 1:100,000 scale maps published in 1971.
For several years, the village of Difan, through which the wadi passes, was wrongly identified in some geographic databases as Sidaqah / Şidfah, which in fact corresponds to a village located two kilometers away, in the territory of the Sultanate of Oman. As a result of this confusion, for some time Wadi Al Kharas was also mistakenly known by some hikers and climbers as Wadi Sidaqah.
In the National Atlas of the United Arab Emirates it appears with the spelling Wādī Likhras.