Day 7 - 1 January - Sir Bani Yas UAE

Well what can I say about this island.... its a desert that was a retreat for Sheikh Zayed (founding father of the United Arab Emirates). The sheikh designated nearly half the island as a nature reserve and his vision for conservation is still a driving force. We saw how the island has been planted with thousands of trees  and is a sanctuary for many endangered species.  We visited an archaeological sites of a late 6th-century Christian monastery, a falcon 'catcher'.  The more fascinating thing... is every time the royal family decides they don't want one of their 'houses' on the island they turn it into a resort (that's when you know you house is too big!!)

It was kind of like a Disney safari thing... with some old ruins thrown in :) Here are few pics

Here is the monastery and the museum... I really like the architecture of the museum a lot !

The museum at the archaeological site

I love Caissons!

and the falcon catcher... apparently they put meat inside it... the falcon goes in and then... they tame it... seemed rather bizarre to me... and I couldn't find anything on Wikipedia! But we all traisped down to take a photo of an empty box... tourists sheesh

the empty beach near the cruise port