Thanks for visiting our web site, Robert!
For millenia people all around the world have gone into caves for meditation
and spiritual
purposes. Your project sounds interesting as well as unusual, and I hope you
will keep us informed -- through this bulletin board-- about the results of
your quest.

To answer your questions #1 and #2:
Here are some web sites that can give you lots of information about Saudi
Arabia, Islamic questions, maps and more:
www.saudinf.com/root/index.htm
www.geocities.com/Hotsprings/Spa/3861/othman.Saudiarabia.html
www.glufnet-solutions.com/sd/html

As for maps showing cave locations, we can't give these out to the public
because caves
are very fragile environments that can easily be damaged...and they can be
very dangerous. However, if you contact us after your arrival in the
Kingdom, we will try to assist you and to introduce you to the wonderful
caves of this country.

Regarding your question #3: The people who can best help you to prepare
yourself for living in the desert are the bedouin who still live there
themselves. Again, we can help you to contact some of these knowledgeable
people upon your arrival in Saudi Arabia. You'll need more than a book!

John