Hot sticky days are almost here again, with temperatures rising as we roll full-speed ahead into the UAE summer. And as many of us prepare to travel, swapping Dubai’s ocean breeze and Abu Dhabi’s sunsets for cooler climes, we turn our focus to the more humble summers of years gone by when jumping on a flight wasn’t quite so easy.
Before the UAE unified as a country, most summer travel plans revolved around swapping hot and humid coastline climes for nearby mountain or desert terrain.
Known as Al Maqidh — a word that comes from the Arabic for the hottest part of summer — the journeys were once an important ritual for Emirati families, who would await them eagerly each year.
Leaving the country’s coastal regions, people would flock to the mountains of Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah, or to the oases of Al Ain, where cooler weather, fresh harvested fruit and spring water was readily available.
“We used to spend the summer season in Al Hamra, a coastal area in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, and travelled on camel to Liwa area during the autumn,” said Saeed Ahmad Rashid Matar Al Mansouri from Al Dhafra in a document published by the UAE's National Archives.
These summer trips would typically average about three months, and back then there wasn’t a choice of five-star hotels to stay in. Instead, people would bed down in huts made of palm fronds.
“They would stay in what we call 'bait al arish' — or the palm tree house,” Yousef Al Mannaee from Dubai's Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Centre for Cultural Understanding tells The National.
"It’s a house made out of palm trees. They would build it when they got there and every family would know which place was theirs in that area."
One thing that perhaps has not changed too much when it comes to summer travel is that these annual journeys were largely left up to the woman of the family to organise.
“Before men sailed for pearling, they would give down payments to women in the family to help prepare for the summer journey and pay camel owners who would carry them to Oman or Liwa,” said Obaid Rashid Ahmed bin Sandal Al Ali in the book Their Memory our History, published by the National Archives.
Traditionally, these camel owners would set out in groups of three to four at the start of the summer season and journey to coastal cities where they would transport residents to oases and other cooler regions of the country, according to Wam. These camel owners were usually Bedouins known for their loyalty, expertise and resourcefulness on the desert roads.
But by the early 1960s, cars were more common.
“People used what was sort of like an old Uber system, with one person in the neighbourhood owning a car, a four-wheel [drive], and taking other families to where they needed to go for the summer,” Mr Al Mannaee says.
"Others would still use their camels as their main transport to get there.
"The unification of the UAE led to the founders of the country implementing a lot of initiatives to [improve] the lifestyle of people so they didn't have to go to Al Maqidh any more."
Coupled with more widespread air-conditioning, this meant that these journeys to escape the heat soon ceased, but the summer sojourns still hold fond memories for many.
“My mother used to spend the summer season near the mountains in Ras Al Khaimah and when she used to go there with her family they would have a lot of fun,” Mr Al Mannaee says.
"They went to an area where there were a lot of palm trees and there would be some small pools, so that they could swim over there too. The children really used to look forward to it. They had a lot of dates and fruit, and the weather was a little bit better there than in other places."
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Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Indoor Cricket World Cup
Venue Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE squad Saqib Nazir (captain), Aaqib Malik, Fahad Al Hashmi, Isuru Umesh, Nadir Hussain, Sachin Talwar, Nashwan Nasir, Prashath Kumara, Ramveer Rai, Sameer Nayyak, Umar Shah, Vikrant Shetty
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Scotland 59 (Tries: Hastings (2), G Horne (3), Turner, Seymour, Barclay, Kinghorn, McInally; Cons: Hastings 8)
Russia 0
Brief scores:
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Xhaka 25', Lacazette 55', Ramsey 79', Aubameyang 83'
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
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
Brief scores:
Toss: Northern Warriors, elected to field first
Bengal Tigers 130-1 (10 ov)
Roy 60 not out, Rutherford 47 not out
Northern Warriors 94-7 (10 ov)
Simmons 44; Yamin 4-4
Liverpool 4-1 Shrewsbury
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Gordon (34'), Fabinho (44' pen, 90' 3), Firmino (78')
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Udoh (27'minutes)
Man of the Match: Kaide Gordon (Liverpool)
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Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
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Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
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Gulbadin Naib (captain), Mohammad Shahzad (wicketkeeper), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
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Director: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: Joaquim Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov
Four stars
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Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
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Engine: 3.8-litre V6
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Price: Dh179,999-plus
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