Having given you a rather basic review about Living in Dubai, I thought it might be interesting to take you out of the city and look at some of the surrounding areas that make up Dubai and the UAE.

Dubai has many little villages and only one other significant sized town which is to the east and is called Hatta. Hatta is just over an hours drive, about 100km, and nestles at the bottom of the Hajar Mountains. It has the oldest fort in the emirate built in 1790 and you can see several watch towers overlooking the town on the surrounding hills.

The Trip: to Hatta and back can be done in about half a day, but why rush it. Take it easy pack the cool boxes and make a day of it. You’ll be glad you did.
The road to Hatta is well signposted through out Dubai and is within easy reach from most parts of the city. The drive to Hatta is on a super highway that runs through some pretty fantastic dunes and mountain landscapes, camels are a plenty and don’t get offended if you want to stop and take some photos, but don’t get to close as they are a bit whiffy.

When you come to the end of the highway in front of you is a roundabout which has a small replica of a fort built in the centre, to the left of you is the Hatta Fort Hotel, truly this is an oasis in the desert quite literally. It is set into the mountains and makes the perfect weekend getaway. (Perhaps another review) In front of you is the road leading to the border of Oman, which is 10km away and to the right, the route we will take, the road into Hatta village.

Past the Heritage Village we come to a small roundabout where we turn left and go past the new part of the town still on a main road at this point and heading toward the mountains, 4km along this road we take a right turn at which point we leave the comfy road driving and its hold onto your seat time with lots of bumps and dips. The road is actually much better now than it was the first time we did the trip some 6 years ago and it’s not unusual to see ordinary saloon cars taking the route. The journey to Hatta pools is about 6km along a landscape of many side wadis (a deep ravine which fills up with water during the rainy season) with small villages on both sides of the track, as the pools have no shade, these spots make perfect spots to stop off and have a picnic as there is fresh running water, lush plantations and it’s great way to meet some of the local people, who almost always want you to go and eat and meet their families.
We continue until we see a sign for Al Qahfi (hand written on a wooden board) and turn left toward the pools; the road descends dramatically down to the wadi and is a bit of a thrill as you feel like you are sliding out of your seat. Here we leave the 4 x 4 and continue on foot.

Once you have had a leisurely swim you can walk downstream crossing lots of puddles. After it rains a wide stream appears from the pool and leads to a narrow gorge. The stream plunges into the gorge and waterfalls of different heights appear. A little way on the drop is so steep you can hardly see the bottom. You can keep walking along the top of the canyon and see many more gorges and pools of water and its so peaceful you won’t want to leave. It’s a lovely place to wander on your own and with friends, or just sit and watch the world go by.