Jebel Dhannah und Sir Bani Yas

Jebel Dhannah and the island of Sir Bani Yas are located 250 km to the west of Abu Dhabi City towards the Saudi border. This area is a famous spot for a weekend break.

In Jebel Dhannah you find the Jebel Dhanna Danat Resort, a 5-star resort opened in 2004 with acceptable rates. Here you can relax from the stressful city. The hotel is located directly in front of a long beach. The water here is so shallow that you can go at least 200 m into the sea only to be wet until your knees.

The highlight is a visit to the island of Sir Bani Yas. You can book a half-day trip in the hotel. Sir Bani Yas is owned by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi and the late Sheikh Zayed created here a nice habitat for endangered plants and animals. If you don't count the many different types of birds, above 80 different animals including the very much endangered Oryx Antelope are living there. You can also find some presents which Sheikh Zayed brought from state visits all over the world, e.g. some giraffes.

In addition to that the island is a famous stopover for migrating birds during autumn and spring from or on the way to Europe.

Nowadays there was built an 5-star-resort directly on the island where you can relax from busy Abu Dhabi. I'm quite sure that this wouldn't be possible as long as Sheikh Zayed was living, but now the attitude of his heirs towards this great escape and animal retreat has changed dramatically. Time will show us whether this is the right direction.