books, birds and a spot of rain
One thing that I have really been missing since I left South Africa is bookclub, a monthly meeting of 10 or so like-minded ladies for gossip, wine, snacks, oh and of course swapping the odd book. Stu suggested I look at starting something along similar lines here, and so last week Wednesday we had our inaugural meeting at my place. Sadly only 4 of us were in attendance this time, but we have at least 11 in total that have expressed an interest so the next one should be up to full strength. However I think the 4 of us had fun nonetheless. I was on the tail end of my detox so couldn’t enjoy any wine or anything, I will be sure to make up for it next time round.
[Creek Park]
Friday we had a half day booked with a birding guide, Neil, that Stu had found via the UAE Birding website. He collected us at home at 6am (yes rather early for a “Saturday”) and we headed off to the Dubai Pivot Fields. This is an area just off the road to Hatta where they grow turf and feed, and is called the pivot fields due to the watering system they use there which moves slowly around a central point and leaves large tracks in the field. Needless to say but the constant watering attracts all kinds of bird life, and we were spoilt with sightings of 40 new species (for us). Unfortunately Neil informed us that we had actually just missed the winter migration period, which runs closer to October, but nevertheless we were delighted with what we saw. From there we headed past Ras Al Khor again, briefly as it is closed on a Friday, but from outside we identified a few more birds including a (Greater) Spotted Eagle. We continued on to Creek Park, which is in downtown Dubai and runs along the creek. The 5 dirham entrance fee is a bargain. Creek Park is beautiful; rolling lawns and well maintained gardens are enjoyed by families who come to walk, picnic or braai, or by people who just want to sit and read away from the dust, noise and heat in the rest of the city. We saw another 6 new species of bird there, and will definitely be back for a picnic one day soon. Our last stop was Al Safa Park, which, as it’s just off Sheikh Zayed road, is on the way back to our place. It was now closer to 11am and getting warm, and I must say I was wilting rather fast with all the walking, so was happy it was our last port of call. Al Safa park, for me, was not as nice as Creek park. They had several noisy things going on, from a Diabetes day aimed at people with kids (yes the stats here are very bad due to too much fast food and so on) to a chinese get together complete with live music. Very noisy and busy. Thankfully we spent most of the time off the beaten track in a grove of trees looking at a couple of Olive-Backed Pipits that were scratching around in the sand. We did get some rather strange looks I must say. Our tally at Safa park was 11, bringing our total for the day to 61. We were very chuffed with this result.
Saturday we decided to have some friends over for a braai, and of course by the time they arrived the day had gone all cloudy and the wind picked up out of nowhere. We even had some drops of rain which was most bizarre. However it didn’t last and we enjoyed the rest of the evening, albeit a little more windswept. Sunday morning when I opened the curtains and let the cats out I discovered it had rained in the night and everything was still wet outside. The cats looked at me as if to say “are you crazy, we don’t want to get our feet wet thanks”. This small amount of rain caused complete chaos on the roads (nothing much new there) and some people took 3 hours to get out of the area where we live. Luckily (or unluckily) we had to go and do our national ID cards, and had our appointment in the opposite direction. Everyone in the UAE has to register for an ID before the end of the year. We could not get an appointment in Dubai so we had to travel 80 odd kms to Ras Al Khaimah and do our application there. A rather tedious and frustrating 3 hours later we were done and managed to time our drive back to coincide with peak hour traffic heading through Sharjah. Not the most fun day ever but at least it is done. If you have spent any time getting your drivers license renewed in JHB you will know what I mean.
[raindrops on our dusty paving]
Today I am off to Bahrain for a quick business trip. Will let you know my impressions in a few days.