Collecting trip un UAE

UAE – Dubai, March 2009 

Image It was impossible to come to the UAE only for Lectures & TV-interviews, Heiko Bleher had to collect the only freshwater fish species known and Natasha photograph it…

 

 

 

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The busy city of Dubai is a continuous construction Site, and even the beautiful Mansion of the Emir of Dubai, full with fantastic peacocks, had deviation signs…

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…it is the most futuristic city & country built in the desert… and 6-Lane-Freeways lead out of it…

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Walid Macher, our friend and driver, had his praying carpet always with him. He often had to study the UAE-map as I wanted to research every known Wadi along the Gulf of Oman…

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… along all UAE highways are light poles, about every 50 metres (left), and wild camels roam on the sand dune (right)…

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…but also butterflies and high-legged bugs can be found in the UAE-desert – there is more live in the desert that anyone can imagine…
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…fruits and vegetables are sold in the desert along the street…
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…and behind some sand dunes we saw tree-forests in this dry desert region…
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a Akazia-tree endemic to the Arabian peninsula which can survive with very little water for a decade or more…
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…some goats watching while Walid changes from Western cloth to his traditional Arabic dress (he said it is easier to talk to natives in his traditional dress)…

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…mosques and beautiful villas in the desert…
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…but the first Wadi consited of only a tiny algae-filled waterhole with tadpoles…
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…the water flow has dried-up long ago…
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…but some plants and caterpillars survive…
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…plenty of water we could only get on the wall of the nearby mosque

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We stopped in Dibba on the Gulf of Oman, which has an amazing mosque and a tea house, selling Rainbow Milk imported from Holland … but Natasha wanted to drink a Cappuccino with fresh local milk while holding on to the bread…

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In the department of Fujairh, along the coast, a tremendous amount of new buildings are coming up with beautiful squares. Nearby stands a old fortress and an even older mosque from the 15th Century. And also here, along the coast of the Gulf of Oman, land is being added into the Gulf, for more buildings and a giant marina site – like in Dubai

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Deep water and its “Waterfall“ was the only Wadi with had water along the entire coast in the UAE. But more persons had discovered this freshwater source

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This was once a gigantic riverbed, thousands of years ago, today almost completely dry…

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…except for this a tiny flow…
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…there was no fish only some dragonfly and the main pool – full of people – also no fish to survive here…

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…we climbed up to find untouched upper pools and hopefully fishes…

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…and there were some: a beautiful Garra sp. (the only fish species found) and two amazing larva of dragonfly and a very interesting snail…
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…in a very nice habitat, the only Wadi with water…

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Arriverdeci United Arabian Emirates and its desert…

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…but before Walid had to pray at sunset in the desert…

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…and we celebrated the only living freshwater fish in the UAE with fireworks in Dubai that evening in the very best (and most expensive) restaurant on Dubai’s famous Creek

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