With every step we took upwards on the Stairway to Heaven, our admiration increased for the unknown Bedouins who created the UAE's most famous mountain route.
Where we tried to remain calm while ascending narrow drystone staircases with a 300-metre drop to one side, they had to perch on the same cliff and place each rock to create this improbable route from Wadi Galilah in Ras al Khaimah to the high mountain villages located just over the border in Oman. Where we came prepared with sturdy hiking boots, they had traditionally done this route in sandals.
But we regained a tiny degree of credibility by facing a difficulty the originators of this route did not have: mobile phones.
Nearly six hours after leaving the four-wheel drives at the bottom of the wadi, one of our group, Shawn, was just below the top of the route and was doing an airy traverse on polished holds above a yawning drop when his phone began to ring.
I was even more impressed when he answered it.
"Yeah, hi," he said. "Ah, well, it's actually not really a good time for me to talk right now. Sure. OK, bye."
Having mobile phone reception on every part of the route underscored the way old and new coexist on the Stairway to Heaven. Nobody seems entirely sure how long this route has existed, but it clearly dated back to a time when cars, roads and international borders were all abstract concepts compared to the task of getting from the villages in the bottom of the wadi to their counterparts in the mountains.
One thing that was certain from even a modest search for reports by others who had come this way, was that there have been nearly as many nightmares on this route as there are goats in Ras al Khaimah.
The RAK police had even contemplated closing the Stairway to Heaven because of all the deaths and rescues that take place on it, with some blaming a four-wheel-drive guidebook to the region for citing it as a day out - albeit with warnings that it was a serious undertaking - when it should only be attempted by those with mountaineering experience.
Even one of the rock-climbing guides to the region described it as being "a five-star expedition with over 2,000 metres of ascent and descent [which] is not for the unfit, inexperienced or the fainthearted".
Although I was going with the Abu Dhabi Alpine Club - a loose affiliation of mountaineers who describe themselves on their website as "earning money in a hot and sandy corner of the planet so we can spend more time in its high and frozen bits" - there remained a degree of trepidation that our Stairway to Heaven expedition might still turn into a Highway to Hell.
With this long history of problems in our minds, eight of us set off before dawn, almost as soon as it was light enough to see our way up the wadi bed.
At first, the route had a distinctly New Zealand backcountry feel - like travelling up an untracked riverbed consisting of enormous boulders and beside walls of mud and stones seemingly held in place by force of habit rather than the laws of physics.
In New Zealand, though, there would be a river flowing and its absence here made our lives easier. There had been flash floods here a week before, which had left a legacy of boulders teetering precariously on plinths of mud and gravel, besides which we passed while silently praying to whichever deity worked for us that our passage would neither cause nor coincide with their collapse.
The wadi headed straight towards the middle of the intimidating amphitheatre of cliffs, forming a T-junction at the base. Immediately ahead were the remains of terraced fields, a smattering of trees and some simple stone structures dating from the days when subsistence farming happened here, although off to one side was a blue plastic tarpaulin covering a cache of some kind that suggested it must still be used occasionally.
Immediately behind the village, there was a waterfall where water seeped and dripped from the recent rains, collecting in a series of modest pools below, and off to the right, a band of cliffs formed around a large dry waterfall.
This was the improbable-looking descent route for those doing the circuit up Stairway to Heaven, across Jebel al Jais, the UAE's highest peak, and then down this easier-looking ridge.
Our route went up along a steep stream bed strewn with boulders, leading over a series of rock steps and then into an ugly-looking erosion gully consisting of yet more widow-maker rocks held in place by forces that were not immediately obvious.
I was relieved to see a way to avoid this unpleasantness, keeping hard to the western side of the valley where a series of steep terraces threaded a route that skirted the gully.
The sudden increase in steepness was reflected in a corresponding drop in the amount of conversation, although that might also have been because we could now see the cliff line up which the Stairway to Heaven was located.
At first glance, the cliffs looked almost sheer but when observed with a mountaineer's eye, there seemed to be a fairly obvious route following natural ledges. It was the next bit that looked a little sketchy.
However in the finest tradition of what I'd like to think was mountaineering confidence, but which I suspect was more accurately described as wilful stupidity, I figured that bit would become obvious once we reached it.
From contact with others, I knew this was not necessarily certain.
One person I'd emailed had made several unsuccessful trips in the previous few months.
"I've been there three times now and I never made the whole trip in one day," he told me.
"We made it almost to the top but we wasted so much time searching for those stairs that we had to turn back from that point.
"Sometimes it is not obvious where the next flight of the stairs is and it is crucially important to find it fast if you aim to complete the hike in one day. GPS [Global Positioning System] helps, but not with locating the stairs - too detailed."
Another trip report came from an expat resident in the UAE who had been invited along by a friend without fully understanding what was in store.
He reported: "NEVER - NEVER - attempt this climb without someone who had done it before a few times, and is very knowledgeable of the area. It is easy to get lost.
"It was not so easy. I was not fit, I did not carry enough water or food. Had it not been for my Austrian friend, I would have probably had to spend the night on the mountain until my body cooled off and I could climb down in the morning before the sun beat down on the route back."
At least this was good news for us, because the Abu Dhabi Alpine Club group featured not one, but two Austrian friends: Thomas and Katrin. Maybe it was the benefit of several decades of mountaineering experience between us, but I was surprised how logical the route's location was, in each case following what seemed to be the obvious line of least resistance. When there was no obvious natural way to surmount one of the lines of rock strata, a staircase would appear to take us to the next ledge.
The Bedouin stonemasons' skill was humbling to see and on each staircase, every single rock was absolutely solid despite the unknown amount of time since any maintenance.
We made our way steadily upwards, following a series of ledges and the occasional staircase until we reached the point that had seemed sketchy from below, to find that up close it looked just as sketchy, but closer.
After a couple of utterances of "Guys, I'm not sure about this ...", that was far enough for me. The route seemed OK going up but since we were coming down the same way, I bravely opted to wait and have a one-man meeting of the Abu Dhabi Wussies Club, instead.
Of the eight of us, three made it to the top, two others stopped about 50m below at the start of the polished and exposed traverse, which was where Shawn received his phone call from a friend inquiring about how the climb was going.
The others down-climbed to my position - I took the comments about shaky "Elvis legs" as they arrived as a testament to how much more difficult it had been to descend with the unavoidable view of the 300m drop immediately below.
The way down was less intuitive than the ascent but thanks to the Austrian friend, we found our way back to the bottom of the lowest staircase and to the safety of the scree slope, where it was just a case of punishing our knees to return to the four-wheel drives and then find the nearest shop selling ice creams - another modern innovation that I'm sure the ancient Bedouins who created this route would have wholeheartedly endorsed.
jhenzell@thenational.ae
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
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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
Teams
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shanwari, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
if you go
The flights
Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes.
When to visit
March-May and September-November
Visas
Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The Uefa Awards winners
Uefa Men's Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Uefa Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze (Lyon)
Best players of the 2018/19 Uefa Champions League
Goalkeeper: Alisson (Liverpool)
Defender: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Midfielder: Frenkie de Jong (Ajax)
Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Uefa President's Award: Eric Cantona
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.”
Racecard
6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes (PA) Group 3 Dh175,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,200m
8.50pm: Dubai Creek Mile (TB) Listed Dh265,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m
The National selections
6.30pm: Chaddad
7.05pm: Down On Da Bayou
7.40pm: Mass Media
8.15pm: Rafal
8.50pm: Yulong Warrior
9.25pm: Chiefdom
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Sour%20Grapes
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAuthor%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EZakaria%20Tamer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESyracuse%20University%20Press%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPages%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E176%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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
Scoreline
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 17
Jebel Ali Dragons 20
Harlequins Tries: Kinivilliame, Stevenson; Cons: Stevenson 2; Pen: Stevenson
Dragons Tries: Naisau, Fourie; Cons: Love 2; Pens: Love 2
SQUAD
Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Adel Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Mohammed Barghash, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Hassan Al Mahrami, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Yousef Jaber, Saeed Ahmed, Majed Sorour, Majed Hassan, Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Khalil Al Hammadi, Fabio De Lima, Khalfan Mubarak, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Ali Saleh, Caio Canedo, Muhammed Jumah, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
