Day 291: Abu Dhabi

Jan 19 - One of my original objectives in Abu Dhabi was to visit the mangrove swamps just north of downtown. I was intrigued by the idea that such a sensitive wild area existed in proximity to avenues of skyscrapers. Due to the tides, and our loss of a hotel room by 12:00 today, we opt for a self-guided kayak tour of the mangroves starting at 7:00. There are several mangrove areas, the one we visit today is the Eastern Mangrove National Park. The mangrove areas in Abu Dhabi have been greatly enhanced through plantings over the last 10 years, in an effort to restore natural habitat. The bus is not convenient at that hour so we go by taxi. Unlike leaving the airport, taxi fares around the city are by the meter, so no haggling and a guaranteed fair price.

Drop off at near the Anantara Hotel and collect our previously booked kayaks at Noukhada Adventure Company. It is about $40 for two kayaks and three hours time limit. It is pleasant and quiet at this time of day. One can still hear the rush of traffic but it is off in the distance, and most of the time the city isn’t even visible from the canals that wind through the swamp.

The tide is high so much of the mudflats are submerged. The dominant tree here is the grey mangrove.

We were able to get close to a western reef heron. There were several other types of heron and egrets in the park.

Odette did a good job paddling.

Could not find the name of this yellow flower. It appears to sprout directly from the sand, perhaps from a rhizome.

From here head back downtown, eat at a Filipino restaurant, then to the shoreline and take a long walk along the corniche. This whole area is dedicated to parks, an unusually generous allowance for green public space in an area that would normally command significant value for high rise hotels. The parks here are very well maintained, with tunnels for pedestrians to cross underneath the coastal highway. Catch a bus for the last four kilometers to the southwest corner of the city we visited yesterday.

Get off bus near the Marina Mall again. I lost my hat on the bus yesterday, so find a Columbia outlet to get another. The above photo is a scene from near the mall, featuring the (to me, truly ugly) Rixos Marina Hotel, where rooms start at $290/night.

The entrance to the Emirates Heritage Village. It is a mock-up of traditional style homes and some small museums. Of course there is also a souvenir market, but we skip that part.

Traditional rug weaving.

A partial reconstruction of Al-Hili Tomb, thought to be about 4000 years old. A number of circular graves were found in this area, which used to be an island (called Umm Al-Nar).

An Arabian sand gazelle.

A bayt al-Sahel, or coastal home. Just 80 years ago, this would have been a common sight in Abu Dhabi.

A bayt al-Yanooby, a much more Bedouin-style home, made from goat and sheep hair. We saw many of these out in the desert along the highways of Saudi Arabia, and in Wadi Rum, our tent was similar (without the sand floor).

Some silver Bedouin jewelry, with Maria Teresa thalers as decorations.

We got here with little time before 16:00, but they are very slow about kicking people out at closing time. We wandered around until 16:30.

A last look at downtown, from the Heritage Village site.

Make our way back slowly to the hotel, where our bags are in storage. Do some computer work in the lobby then take taxi to the airport.

This particular series of transports over the next day has always worried me a bit, as the routing is complex. I had previously filled out a form for the airline we are flying next (IndiGo, based in India), so thought I was done with all the spurious paperwork to confirm our flight and assure smooth immigration to the Maldives. Regardless, we show up about 3.5 hours before our flight and find that the queue for check-in is already stretched down the hallway. Take our spot and arrive at the front of the line 1.5 hours later. Am asked by the ticketing agent if I have my Maldives QR code, but this is the first I’ve heard of such a thing. Fortunately, he takes the time to help me locate the Maldives immigration web page on my phone, where I have to fill out a form for each of us, submit it electronically, and receive a QR code. I was supposed to do this 96 hours before the flight but whatever, I gotta hammer it through anyway. Without this he cannot give us boarding passes. I proceed to do all of this as fast as possible. The form is rather complicated and requires several bits of paper and other internet searching on Janet’s phone to get all the questions answered. This all takes about 30 minutes but in the end, we get it done and can finally relax a bit.

The reason our flight is so full is because it first goes to New Delhi, and there are many, many Indians working in the UAE. I can feel the geographical transition already, we are now leaving the Arab world into the next section of Asia. The lilting, animated Indian accent that is so characteristic of South Asia is suddenly all around us.

COST SUMMARY:

This is our final day in the Arabian Peninsula. I knew from the start that this was going to be a difficult one to budget. In all three countries of this section, none have infrastructure developed for the budget tourist. It was difficult to hunt down moderately priced hotels, particularly in Al-’Ula, where we paid the most of any hotel on the trip thus far ($165/night). Also, a rental car was thrown in the mix, a component that has always boosted cost in every country we’ve used one.

Projected daily cost from the pre-planning phase = $250/day

Realized daily average costs for Nov 27 - Jan 19 = $228/day

The share of this cost apportioned to lodging was 48%, food 17%, and public transport/taxi at 2%. Car rental (plus fuel) came in at 27%. There is almost no room for cost improvement here, without sacrificing many of the more remote sights we visited in KSA. For those interested specifically in the nascent KSA tourism sector, I would guess that many more hotels will become available in the coming years that can accommodate independent travel by foreigners, bringing that particular cost down.

United Arab Emirates Maldives