Lessons for "whitey"

In addition to cycling, Garren and I made it a point to get out of town this weekend and do a little exploring. We decided to go to Hatta. Afterall, it is described by many guide books as being one of the “classic trips in the Emirates.” We booked a room at the Hatta Fort Hotel, and after a short 2 hr drive we arrived in Hatta. First order of business? Pool! We were both exhausted and wanted to sleep and get some sun. So we slept and got some sun until about 5 when we checked into our room. The pictures on their website pretty much tell it all, so I will avoid copyright infringement and just have you check out their site. The only issue I have with the pool picture is that the water wasn’t quite that blue (photoshop does some wonderful things). Nonetheless, it was nice. The picture of the room is exactly what our room looked like, pretty cool décor. Spacious room and stocked mini bar – what else can you ask for? Here’s the view from our balcony….

We woke up Saturday morning and proceeded to head to the Hatta Pools. It was about a 25 minute drive from the hotel, mostly off-road (graded track) through the Hajar mountains.

Dried up riverbeds are common here in the UAE, and are called wadis -you’ll hear me talk about these a lot as most of the trips in the UAE involve some type of wadi hike or visit. Flash floods are common when it rains, and the wadis fill up quickly, resulting in potentially dangerous conditions if you are hiking or driving through one… but no worries, you won’t find me near a wadi when rain is imminent. The Hatta Pools are never dry, although the wadis that flow in and out of the pools are. It is a series of deep pools carved into the rock where you can swim and relax in the heat.

While it was a beautiful place, our experience there was tainted. First off, there is litter everywhere… starting in the parking lot, and continuing down to the pools. The far end of the pool was a floating pile of debris so we only swam ½ way across. It was quite disgusting and highly unfortunate that natural places such as this have succumbed to the ignorance of mankind. Apparently any highly visited place in the UAE has problems with trash and graffiti… different culture, I suppose. Anyways, the Hatta Pools were recently discovered to have high levels of e coli bacteria, mostly due to roaming goats and donkeys, but I’m sure the trash isn’t helping the cause. Garren and I did swim a little, but were sure to keep our mouths closed tightly and not take in any foul water. The water was cool and refreshing in the heat of the day.

Second, we had brought our lunch to eat at the pools, and upon opening it, a giant hornet came out of nowhere wanting some of the action. We captured and buried it. Then its friends came along to join us for lunch. They were huge, and we didn’t know what they were, nor did we want to risk getting stung - for all we knew it could have been the most poisonous hornet in the Middle East. It turns out that it was an Oriental Hornet, and it wasn’t going to kill us… But at one point, it looked like the hornet was humping a piece of our roast beef, only to find out it was just cutting off a piece to take with him. Needless to say, we packed up and left the effervescent pools. Next time we’ll come prepared.

I was expecting the land between Dubai and Hatta to be rolling sand dunes everywhere, but I was wrong. It is mostly dry gravel plains with some scattered shrubbery. Halfway between Dubai and Hatta is a set of giant sand dunes. Big, beautiful mountains of reddish-orange sand, aptly named “Big Red.” On our way back through we stopped and rented a 4-wheeler and went cruising through the dunes. That was super fun, but another learning experience – unless you want to find sand in random places for weeks on end, wear long sleeves and pants, and wrap something around your head. Of course the guys renting us the 4-wheeler where aptly dressed… maybe we should have taken a hint. They must get a good laugh when we come back covered in sand.

Also - on our way back we passed a camel caravan on the side of the highway. Almost 30 camels lined up single file cruising through the desert.... could have been my favorite sight of the weekend. Picture is on the right navigation bar.

Well, that’s all for now! More adventures await. Keep posting comments, I love to hear from you!