I could almost taste the cool air on my face but decide to do like other burqa wearing women and eat with my fingers lifting the veil enough to put food in my mouth without showing my face. It works well except that I drop some egg in the folds of my sheil’a and can smell breakfast all day.
We continue to walk on in this old city noticing the friendliness of people, the laughter of children, the care of the elderly family members flanked by younger boys as protection and these silver jambiyyas reflecting and glistening in the sunlight.
      I open the top flap again once we are on a bridge and look out over the city view of mud houses, mosque minarets, mountains and clean air and sky. Things have not changed here and peacefulness wafts everywhere. For a Westerner, even one behind a burqa, that is a breath of fresh air.

The Sahara, its diverse wildlife and major habitats.

A presentation by John Newby – article by Will Moore

    We are indeed lucky, here in Al Ain, so far from it all, yet able to attend presentations put on by such highly experienced people as Mr. John Newby who after some eight years in Chad as a volunteer wildlife biologist, established an 80,000 km² Aïr and Ténéré National Nature Reserve and World Heritage Site in Niger. In1991 John was head of WWF International’s Africa & Madagascar Programme, and in 1998 WWF’s Endangered Species Programme. After 28 years with WWF he accepted a job with ERWDA, in Abu Dhabi, in 2002 to head up the Terrestrial Environment Research Centre. John has published widely and was decorated on two occasions by governments in Niger for services to nature conservation. He has been made an Officer in the Order of the Golden Ark by HH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. He believes, as did G. W. Murray, a British Surveyor working in Egypt, that “a day spent out of the desert is a day wasted”.
His presentation on Tuesday, January 25th, at the Intercon Hotel here in Al Ain was well received by a crowd of about 50. I think it was the width and depth of the presentation that impressed me the most. He began with overviews and worked right down to the individual species, environments and details of interest.

Weekly Friday Outings

This past month, the ENHG has conducted tours:

to Subaitha ( Jan. 7th) - What has Subaitha got to offer? A spectacular gorge. A lovely oasis. A largely abandoned village with mud brick houses and a watch tower. A falaj which hugs the cliff-face and ends at deep pools which may be swimmable. Some copper smelting sites. Fruit trees in the oasis, wild flowers in the wadi. Insects, birds, geckos, toads, wadi fish, often a donkey. Spectacular photo-opportunities. A report on one of last year's trips may be found at http://www.enhg.org/gallery/subaitna/subait.htm.

to Jebeeb (Jan. 14th), looking for more artefacts before the new developments bury them, a few pieces were found, but not that hoped-for ancient gold coin, etc.

to the desert between Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, looking for the old camel caravan stopovers (Jan. 21st) - Years ago, camel caravans traveled routinely from Al Ain to Abu Dhabi, the trip taking up to eight days. Caravans would stop at wells along the route and at other locations. Some small communities are now established where these wells were located, as is the case on the Al Ain – Dubai highway. As a result, all traces of the caravan stops have been lost under new development. One of the sites was known among members of the Abu Dhabi chapter as Site One, a spot on the north side of the Al Ain – Abu Dhabi highway about 33 km from the Mafraq bridge. Site One now appears to be lost owing to farm development. – sadly, no sign was found of any caravan sites.

And to the two abandoned villages back of Khutwa (Jan. 28th), these are very interesting sites. What with the winter rains, the terraces were all green with small plants. There was an opportunity to swim and really enjoy nature as well. There is a write up on these sites in the September 2004 newsletter.

As noted by Jerry, Comet Machholz passed overhead – and was seen by at least one member of the group – a planned moonlit walk was cancelled due to inclement weather (no, I do not mean that the temperature fell below 20 degrees – it was cold out, and there was a real threat of cloud or fog moving in while the group was out!)

As noted by Geoff S., Agar Wood or Oud (they are one and the same) and Sandalwood
Following web sites will give you a good background on the scientific names for what is known as Oud or Agar Wood. They are followed by a reference for Sandalwood, a different species produced by an entirely different plant type. Agarwood is produced in a large forest tree and Sandalwood is a scrappy small tree or large shrub.
Agarwood contains a resin that is produced by the tree's defence system when attacked by certain fungi. Only small parts of the tree will be so affected and carry the resin, hence the scarcity and high price of Agarwood.
Sandalwood, on the other hand, offers all its wood but it is slow growing, relatively rare and similarly expensive.