Green Mubazzarah

At the foot of Jebel Hafeet is Green Mubazzarah, an unexpected splash of colour in the desert landscape. It’s a public area fed by hot springs that have been channelled into streams and is unsurprisingly very popular, particularly at weekends I’m told. We arrived midweek and it had a lovely relaxed and sociable feel occupied mostly by women and a few pensioners.

We had to indulge in a little paddle, of course. Even though I knew the water was hot, it still took me by surprise just how hot! At the top of the stream the spring is pumped up to spray out of rocks creating a feature that encouraged a good soaking even if fully clothed. We managed to restrain ourselves – very British, don’t you know.

Others had come better prepared to spend the day than us. Mats, camping chairs, barbecues and coolbags had been brought along and set up in shady spots under trees or the roofed shelters that were dotted about. We managed to nab one of these to unwrap our butties. Very pleasant it was, too.

Jebel Hafeet

You can’t miss the mountain that rises above the city of Al Ain . Well, you could if you were depending on the signposts but fortunately it does rather stand out. We’d read of the winding route up the mountain and thought we knew what to expect. We were forgetting this is Abu Dhabi not Europe. The road is wide and modern, good barriers over the precipitous drop with large parking areas dotted all the way up, seriously putting anything else we’ve previously experienced to shame. Mind you, on the midweek day we chose to go up, many of these areas were closed to the general public – they were being used to fly falcons.

At the top is another large car park and a cafe. And views, of course, so it’s worth picking a clear day. We didn’t. Except the car park isn’t quite at the top. There’s a “path” beside the cafe and we could clearly see people at the summit. It was a bit on the warm side but, well, nothing ventured…

From the quotation marks you’ve probably guessed that this was not a path. When a car came past us on the way down we just thought “wouldn’t like to drive up here”. Then a second car approached, rolled down the window, and informed us that we should hurry down as the route was not for walking but he didn’t seem too alarmed and waved us up to the last last 100 metres or so to the view point.

Pausing only to take a couple of photos we took him at his word and headed straight down. The gates that we had barely noticed on the way up were now closed. And padlocked. A police car was parked outside. He took one look at us and drove off. There was nothing for it but to climb the gate – not too arduous and thankfully without the spikes of the surrounding fence. Except I was wearing my modest long skirt. As you can probably guess, modesty went out of the window.

Al Ain

Abu Dhabi is an island, a city and an emirate: the name applies to all three. So you can live on Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi. And you thought New York, New York was good. Well, Al Ain is Abu Dhabi’s other city.

A bit of history: In the first half of the 20th Century, before the discovery of oil, the movements of the Bedouin people who lived in this harsh desert land were dictated by the seasons. In the cooler winter months they would come to the coast and make a living diving for pearls. As the temperature soared, the humidity at the coast also became intolerable and they would head inland to an oasis where the climate was more bearable. Al Ain was the biggest of these oasis and many Emiratis still have holiday homes there. It was also an important point in the trade routes of the area.

Situated on the border with Oman, the city has remained on a much smaller, and lower, scale than the capital. The minarets of the mosque still tower over the surrounding buildings. Even though you arrive in the city on a palm tree-lined highway the surrounding desert is very apparent, the reddish dunes becoming more dominant the nearer you get. And above it all rises Jebel Hafeet mountain. This was where we were headed when, with a few days off, we figured it was time we explored.