It's my first morning in Iceland and I've been walking over the uneven sponge-cake terrain of lava fields for about two kilometres. I'm just about to cross a two-metre crevice, yet this is by no means the biggest challenge. I'm en route to the peak of Thrihnukagigur, a 4,000-year-old dormant volcano 20km south of Reykjavik, and will soon be lowered over the rim into an intact magma chamber.
Yet curiosity conquers fear. The group is made up of eight adventurous visitors from the UK, Canada and Iceland ranging from 25 to 45, who had all heard about the new tour through press coverage or word of mouth. We finally reach base camp to be welcomed by the Inside The Volcano expedition safety team. Their enthusiasm for the trip is infectious.
"Fewer people, to date, have done this than been into space. This is the second week it's open to the public. Tom Cruise was here last week and we have scientists in the chamber experimenting right now!" With Wi-Fi at the base camp and active encouragement to share our experience and spread the word of this new tour via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, it's a 21st century expedition of 1988BC geology.
We're gradually lowered 120m into the magma chamber, having to push with our hands against the inner walls to keep the rickety platform centred. As we reach the bottom, the air is crisp and a cool 5°C, a stark contrast to the intense heat the chamber once held. Streams of charcoal black violently clash with deep purple, hot pink and tiger orange. Solidified magma formations cover the inner wall like a beautiful dark art installation. Keeping track of time is challenging when there is no sunset, a phenomenon usually enjoyed between mid-June and mid-July. The horizon dips momentarily before rising up again for the night.
I make full use of the day and embark on a midnight whale watching tour from Reykjavik's harbour via a small island seasonally inhabited by puffins. An hour into the voyage, some minke whales playfully raise their fins above the ocean's surface. Despite the lack of dramatic Free Willy leaps, there is something powerful about seeing these creatures out in the open ocean.
In a country with one of the lowest population densities in the world, with an average of just three people per square kilometre, two-thirds of the country's 300,000 population reside in Reykjavik, a mishmash of unusual Nordic architecture. Most buildings are walled with corrugated steel painted in deindustrialising bright colours. There is an evident quirky-bohemian culture generated by shop displays and student life. Room With A View is a furnished apartment block right on the city's main street, Laugavegur. The location is ideal for exploring the capital and contains modern apartments with up to four bedrooms, complete with a kitchen, balcony and helpful round-the-clock staff. The banking collapse of 2008 and weakening of the local currency means that Iceland's reputation as a particularly expensive destination is no longer applicable. The prices, on average, are similar to mainland European capitals.
It is 2am on a weeknight in Reykjavik but it feels like mid-afternoon. With runners and regular revellers on the streets, the only indication that it is past midnight is that the main shops are closed. Hlölla Bátar, an Icelandic institution of Subway-meets-McDonald's, is an ideal 2am snack (average Dh11-Dh18 per person). For a leisurely, sophisticated lunch, Nauthóll (www.nauthol.is) is a modern Nordic-European bistro offering a great view of the ocean, excellently prepared food and good portions.
Next I drive 50km north-east of Reykjavik to explore the a route commonly known as the "Golden Circle", a triple force of nature made up of a waterfall, an erupting geyser and a national park. ingvellir is a national park situated between fissures created by the European and North American tectonic plates tearing apart. The park has waterfalls, hiking routes and giant lakes, all contained within the dramatic sharp drops of the plate walls. Gulfoss is a spectacular double crevice waterfall in a nearby canyon. While not on the same scale as Niagara Falls, it is equally, if not more, dramatic. I make my way down some stairs towards the canyon where Gulfoss lies and a perfectly formed rainbow frames the loud gushing streams of water creating a powerful spectacle for the surrounding swarms of tourists and school geography trips. Although a day trip of the Golden Circle is possible, Hotel Geysir is a destination worth exploring with individual cabins (average price $170 per twin) and an outdoor geothermal pool open until late, which sources water directly from the famous Geysir. I pay a late-night visit to the great Geysir, leaping back as the 80°C water rapidly transforms from a bubbling steamy surface to an erupting jet of water shooting up into the sun-filled midnight sky.
Wanting to escape the tourist trail, I rent a car with a few friends and find this the most cost-efficient and flexible way to explore further afield at my own pace. The country's main Ring Road 1, 1,339km long, circles the island in two lanes, almost perfectly constructed for a road trip. I drive across a unique topographical mix of lava fields, glaciers, lavender pastures and volcanoes with the occasional rainstorm, blinding sunshine, glacial reflection and dark clouds. Among all this, we accidentally come across Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall visible from the ring road with fierce 40-metre drop and a walking path directly behind the fall. We finally reach our halfway point for the day, Reynisfjara, a striking black pebble and black volcanic sand beach with an ideal view of the stand-alone iconic black lava arch in the neighbouring Dyrholaey. This is the southernmost point of Iceland. It is easy to lose track of time here. The view refuses to get dull and with no sense of time, it is a difficult task tearing ourselves away.
Driving through what feels like autumn and winter, the sunshine returns in full force. We drive east for five hours along the south coast ring road to arrive at Skaftafell National Park and head straight to one of the most famous sights in Iceland - Jökulsárlón lagoon, fame that has been increased by its use in the Tomb Raider and James Bond films. Large boats carrying around 200 people provide views from a distance but for a more thrilling and intimate experience, I opt for Zodiac Tours. Started in 2011, Zodiac uses smaller boats carrying up to 10 people, which manoeuvre around the lagoon's constantly reforming icebergs at a close range. The subzero wind chill lashes against my face and fingers as we head out into the lagoon. I forget about the uncomfortable windchill factor when I see an iceberg flip over in front of me, revealing fresh, crystal clear, but age-old ice. Gloves are essential as we touch freshly flipped icebergs. I hear a loud thundering crash and watch a glacier in front of us release part of its wall into the lagoon.
We head next to Fjallsarlon. We access the lagoon via a small red sign and dirt road not far from Jökulsárlón and spend two hours admiring the untouched lagoons with no boats in sight, the midnight sun rising and glimmering reflections of glaciers on the lagoon's surface.
My final adventure was a morning glacier hike on Falljokull, the biggest glacier outside the polar regions, located at the southern tip of Skaftafell National Park. Armed with crampons, an ice axe and a guide occasionally having to axe a new trail for our group of 10, I gradually absorb the close-up view of deep blue ice cauldrons, icefalls and fresh crevices. The guide reminds me that the glacier moves back about 30 metres a year, instantly increasing my appreciation for the experience.
I'm on the quest for the perfect lobster meal on my way back to Reykjavik and have been recommended Red House (Rauda Hausid) by a local as an authentic Iceland lobster institution. We find Red House in the small town of Eyrarbakki, 45 minutes outside Reykjavik, which is an easy place to miss. Established in 1919, the setting is like a grandmother's living room and the quality lives up to expectation (average price per person $27 [Dh99] www.raudahusid.is) but bear in mind, like most restaurants in the country, Red House closes at 9pm.
I wake up early on Sunday for a Reykjavik bike tour. Set up by a husband and wife team, the company uses local guides who understand the history of the city and fill the tour with engaging anecdotes. Edda is a friend of the founders and an excellent guide (www.icelandbike.com $36 [Dh132] per person for classic tour). In hindsight, the bike tour would be one of the first things I would do in Reykjavik for the orientation and information it provides.
With just a few hours left of a five-night trip, we stop at the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal pool situated en route to the main international airport, with facilities catered specifically for pre- or post-flight tourists. A huge tourist attraction is busy by nature, but once I'm in the 40°C lagoon water, I forget about the crowds. I feel like I'm in an interactive spa, with silicone and algae along the banks you're encouraged to rub on your face for glowing skin. This is an ideal end to everyone's trip and the natural minerals seem to work, but ensure that the aimless hours you can easily spend in the lagoon don't make you miss your flight.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The%20specs
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
