Qatar - A tale of two deserts

Zekreet, Desert, Qatar

As much of Qatar is desert, it would have been wrong to come here and not see some of it, especially as our friends here were perfectly happy to take us out - and had the necessary 4WD car. So during our stay, we made two trips out to very different desert landscapes.

Desert, Qatar

The first area was up to the north of the peninsula, where the desert is far from the sand dunes and occasional oasis that you might typically think of, but rather a kind of scrubby and stony landscape.


It makes for a slow drive in some places, as the stones can fly up fairly wildly if you take it too fast.

Desert, Qatar

There isn't a huge amount to see in between the specific sites, but we did manage to find a few nice flowers, saw numerous oddly shaped mounds, where sand has gathered into a more permanent ridges and then been eroded, and of course there are the odd oil pipelines running across, which you have to take your chance to cross when you can.

East-West/West-East, Desert, Qatar

Our first stop was to see a piece of art. No, I'm not kidding, there really is an artwork out here in the desert. It is called East-West/West-East, and it is a series of four huge great slabs of steel that, according to the artist, Richard Serra, represent the connection between the state's two regions.

Nic would never forgive me if I didn't tell you that this was commissioned by the Emir's sister.
The need to tell you this isn't because she is apparently regarded as one of the most influential people in the art world, but rather because he is amused by the combination of her name and title - Sheikha Mayassa; say it aloud if it doesn't hit you straight away!

East-West/West-East, Desert, Qatar

It is certainly art on an impressive scale, and I liked the way that the steel is intentionally being allowed to weather and rust. I was less impressed that, even out here, on a piece of artwork, people have graffitied it. Whether or not I would have worked out it was supposed to be art, had I just come out here without knowing and seen it, I'm not sure. There is a reasonable chance that I would just have wondered why they were building a big bridge here, and why they stopped after putting in the uprights. But then I am a bit of a philistine when it comes to art!

Film City, Desert, Qatar

Our next stop was very different, but equally strange. In the midst of the desert, there is a recreation of a small Arabic settlement, complete with palm trees.

This is Film City. there are various tales about how and why it came to be, but the one we are going with, is that it was built for filming of the Transformers film, but was never used.

Film City, Desert, Qatar

Film City, Desert, Qatar

We popped in and took a wander around, just out of curiosity, but it was far too hot to stay for long, and we were soon on our way again.

Zekreet, Desert, Qatar

The rest of our stops were more what you might expect to find out here, the remains of villages and forts. The first was the remains of Zekreet Fort, with numerous stone towers on the eroded limestone rocks. There are also the remains of madabes, where they used to press the dates.

Al Jumail, Desert, Qatar

One of my favourite stops, was Al Jumail, the ruins of a pearl diving and fishing village that was likely in use in the 19th and 20th centuries, but fell out of use once the oil industry started.

This was a great place to wander around, looking at what was left of the village, including the shells that are built in to some of the walls.

Al Jumail, Desert, Qatar

The best remains are of the mosque, which you can walk through, and where the lovely round minaret still stands.

Al Jumail, Desert, Qatar

  

Al Jumail, Desert, Qatar

Al Zubarah, Desert, Qatar

Our last stop was the Al Zubarah Fort, which was built in 1938, to be either a coastguard station or a police station, depending on which accounts you believe. It is now a museum, with a few interesting exhibits about the history of the place as a once busy and prosperous pearl diving and trading town.

The town itself is only ruins, but there is an archaeological dig going on to see what they can learn about it. Unfortunately, the site was closed, so we couldn't go and see that.

Al Zubarah, Desert, Qatar

Al Zubarah, Desert, Qatar

 

Sand duning, Southern Desert, Qatar

The second trip out was to the southern desert, which was rather more what you might expect. And just as well, because the reason that we were going was to drive over the sand dunes. Well I say drive - in this case, we went with a Qatari guy, who was less likely to get himself stuck in the sand than we were. And that is a real risk, as evidenced by the number of bits of vehicle that we saw scattered amongst the dunes.

Sand duning, Southern Desert, Qatar

Sand duning, Southern Desert, Qatar

Now, I've been sand duning before in a buggy type thing and I've been sandboarding, but for some reason, going over the dunes in a car - albeit a 4WD  - seemed less safe than either of the other two methods.

I don't know if it is just because I'm used to cars being in a road, or because you're higher up so seem like the centre of gravity is too high, or what, but it just felt like we were more likely to end up rolling down the dune instead of driving down it.

Sand duning, Southern Desert, Qatar

That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it; it was great fun. slightly unnerving when you could, at times, feel the sand sliding out from under you, but still fun.

It was quite nice that there was a second vehicle with us too, as watching them slither down the dunes, and knowing that this was what we were doing, was quite fun too.

Sand duning, Southern Desert, Qatar

This area of Qatari desert is one of only about thirty places in the word that has singing sand dunes. Never heard of singing sand dunes? Neither had we.

Apparently, it is a combination of low humidity and the way the wind blows across the dunes, that creates a strange sort of humming sound. The sound can be made more audible by moving across them, and we could definitely hear them in places on our drive.

Sand duning, Southern Desert, Qatar

Overall, two great - and very different - journeys out into the desert.

Sand duning, Southern Desert, Qatar