Abu Dhabi, 1955
Three years ago Abu Dhabi was, to me, just a word on the map, rather like Timbuktu. Where it was I had no idea and if I had been told - near Dubai - I still wouldn’t have been any the wiser as I was very vague about the location of Dubai. Well now that Heidi and Darrell have migrated to that strange sounding place I am enjoying a real life geography lesson. If you are interested - read on…!
Abu Dhabi (Father of the Gazelle from the legendary arrival, in late 1700s, of the Baniyas Bedouin tribe at a spring of clear water on this island) is the name of a city and also of an emirate, one of seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates. An emirate is rather like a province, I gather. The others are Dubai (second biggest and best known with capital of the same name), the others are Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Kaimah and Fuljairah. Heidi who has been here for two years can reel them off her tongue which I find very admirable. ~The last five are very small and apparently of very little importance. Abu Dhabi is by far the biggest and richest and basically supports the others. On the map it shows an ‘undefined border’ with Saudi Arabia which doesn’t sound very comfortable.
Until 1955 AD was a nomadic settlement with a few hundred people coming and going. The attraction was the fresh water spring - always an attraction in a desert! The island is actually a just piece of land separated from the mainland by an easily crossed narrow channel. It is now connected to the mainland by two bridges and another is under construction.
It was the discovery of oil in the Arabian Gulf that made the difference . Whilst the Dubai oil has dried up AD oil continues to spurt and is expected to continue for another thirty years. But not just oil. AD was incredibly fortunate in that the Sheik in charge, Sheik Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan was a highly intelligent man with moderate views and very concerned for the good of his people. Not quite a Mandela, as he was a dictator, albeit a benevolent dictator, which Mandela certainly was not. But he was a good guy and in the thirty three years of his reign he brought this country into the modern world. Thirty eight years ago the seven Emirates combined to form the United Arab Emirates and this will be celebrated on Wednesday - National Day. It seems that there was genuine grief when he died in 2004 and his son, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, succeeded him and has continued to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Sorry - I somehow switched from Geography to history!
Back to the subject in hand…
Modern AD is amazing with wealth oozing from every pore. The desert has been - well not conquered as I don’t think that anyone can conquer a desert - but it is certainly being held at bay. The modern city has magnificent roads - actually highways - edged with trees, grass, flowers - fed by fresh water gushing through a maze of black piping. The spring has receded in unimportance. The fresh water now comes from great desalination plants (we are keen to visit one but so far have had no luck in finding a tour). No one saves water - there is plenty and no one saves petrol or electricity - there is plenty. Oil, oil, oil.. Houses are huge, building and development is going on everywhere. It is mind-boggling.
The original island is now of course much too small and the city is spreading out into the desert and onto the nearby islands. The huge luxury hotel that Darrell is building is on Sadiyat Island which is also accessible by road bridges. It is one of three hotels that are going up on the island and, naturally, there is a golf course also under construction adjacent to the hotels.
I have to admit that my impression of the city, apart from my admiration for what has been achieved and disappointment about the lack of concern about the fragile desert and beach ecosystems, is one of total confusion. The highways all look the same with on and off ramps and enormous traffic circles and one never seems to be going in the required direction. There are no nice quiet and convenient suburban roads, there are no short cuts. We have been here a week and I have absolutely no idea how to get to the shops or to the childrens’ school. I have enormous admiration for Heidi at the way she manages to navigate (Darrell uses a GPS but not Heidi).
Because the local beaches have already been or are about to be taken over by the uncontrolled development, beach holidays for the locals are not that easy. That is why Darrell and the boys went across to Oman for their holiday. He ‘phoned today to say that they were up at 3.30am this morning to look for turtles - and they saw them What a fantastic experience and how sad that the beaches on this side of the gulf are losing out to the almighty dollar, in this case the dirham.
Sorry this was longer than intended.
Any questions?
Abu Dhabi (Father of the Gazelle from the legendary arrival, in late 1700s, of the Baniyas Bedouin tribe at a spring of clear water on this island) is the name of a city and also of an emirate, one of seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates. An emirate is rather like a province, I gather. The others are Dubai (second biggest and best known with capital of the same name), the others are Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Kaimah and Fuljairah. Heidi who has been here for two years can reel them off her tongue which I find very admirable. ~The last five are very small and apparently of very little importance. Abu Dhabi is by far the biggest and richest and basically supports the others. On the map it shows an ‘undefined border’ with Saudi Arabia which doesn’t sound very comfortable.
Until 1955 AD was a nomadic settlement with a few hundred people coming and going. The attraction was the fresh water spring - always an attraction in a desert! The island is actually a just piece of land separated from the mainland by an easily crossed narrow channel. It is now connected to the mainland by two bridges and another is under construction.
It was the discovery of oil in the Arabian Gulf that made the difference . Whilst the Dubai oil has dried up AD oil continues to spurt and is expected to continue for another thirty years. But not just oil. AD was incredibly fortunate in that the Sheik in charge, Sheik Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan was a highly intelligent man with moderate views and very concerned for the good of his people. Not quite a Mandela, as he was a dictator, albeit a benevolent dictator, which Mandela certainly was not. But he was a good guy and in the thirty three years of his reign he brought this country into the modern world. Thirty eight years ago the seven Emirates combined to form the United Arab Emirates and this will be celebrated on Wednesday - National Day. It seems that there was genuine grief when he died in 2004 and his son, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, succeeded him and has continued to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Sorry - I somehow switched from Geography to history!
Back to the subject in hand…
Modern AD is amazing with wealth oozing from every pore. The desert has been - well not conquered as I don’t think that anyone can conquer a desert - but it is certainly being held at bay. The modern city has magnificent roads - actually highways - edged with trees, grass, flowers - fed by fresh water gushing through a maze of black piping. The spring has receded in unimportance. The fresh water now comes from great desalination plants (we are keen to visit one but so far have had no luck in finding a tour). No one saves water - there is plenty and no one saves petrol or electricity - there is plenty. Oil, oil, oil.. Houses are huge, building and development is going on everywhere. It is mind-boggling.
The original island is now of course much too small and the city is spreading out into the desert and onto the nearby islands. The huge luxury hotel that Darrell is building is on Sadiyat Island which is also accessible by road bridges. It is one of three hotels that are going up on the island and, naturally, there is a golf course also under construction adjacent to the hotels.
I have to admit that my impression of the city, apart from my admiration for what has been achieved and disappointment about the lack of concern about the fragile desert and beach ecosystems, is one of total confusion. The highways all look the same with on and off ramps and enormous traffic circles and one never seems to be going in the required direction. There are no nice quiet and convenient suburban roads, there are no short cuts. We have been here a week and I have absolutely no idea how to get to the shops or to the childrens’ school. I have enormous admiration for Heidi at the way she manages to navigate (Darrell uses a GPS but not Heidi).
Because the local beaches have already been or are about to be taken over by the uncontrolled development, beach holidays for the locals are not that easy. That is why Darrell and the boys went across to Oman for their holiday. He ‘phoned today to say that they were up at 3.30am this morning to look for turtles - and they saw them What a fantastic experience and how sad that the beaches on this side of the gulf are losing out to the almighty dollar, in this case the dirham.
Sorry this was longer than intended.
Any questions?
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