Sir Bani Yas An Arabian Ark

First
impressions of the island of Sir Bani Yas depend upon one’s method of approach.
A boat-crossing of the narrow stretch of water between it and the mainland
of Abu Dhabi at Jebel Dhanna, is dominated by sight of the island’s cone-shaped
central ‘mountains’, providing an easy navigational beacon. As one sails
closer, these turn out to be a strange mixture of red, green and brown
rock formations. Circumnavigating the island, it soon becomes apparent
that there is much more to Sir Bani Yas than this unusual structure, for
it is surrounded by gently sloping plains which merge with a fairly level
coastal shelf. The shoreline itself ranges from mangrove covered sand-banks
and hidden inlets, to buttressed foreshore and, finally, a well constructed
small harbour at which one lands.

The approach by air, by helicopter, or indeed fixed wing aircraft, offers
an entirely different view. Surrounded by a glittering blue sea the island
stands out like a green emerald placed on a jewellers display cloth. First
impressions are of its serried ranks of trees, which cover almost half
its land area, and, secondly, its obvious abundance of wildlife. Large
herds of gazelle skoot across the mountain side whilst over a hundred white
Arabian oryx graze contentedly within their large enclosure. Close to the
helicopter pad are more exotic wildlife: giraffe, emu and a range of African
mammals. The helicopter ride itself is a noisy experience and after being
deposited on firm ground, the whirling blades once more lift the craft
skywards. Gradually, a beautiful peace and tranquillity descends, calming
jagged nerves. Finally, with the aircraft gone, a sense of urgency builds
up to explore on land everything that has just caught the eye from above.

Sir Bani Yas has attracted man for a long time. The central salt-plug
of Jebel Wahid, for that is what geologists tell us forms the strange crystalline
mountain, was not always surrounded by water. Towards the end of the last
Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, sea-level in the Gulf was considerably
lower than it is today and much of the present day seabed was above high-water
mark. At that time Sir Bani Yas was part of mainland Arabia and its craggy
hills rose up above a green plateau on which a wide variety of wildlife
flourished. This verdant countryside, watered by ancient rivers, undoubtedly
attracted fishermen, hunters and gatherers and we have firm evidence of
people living here between 6000 and 7000 years ago. Archaeological excavations
on the island are being carried out by the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological
Survey and whether it is a Late Stone Age site at which a flint ’tile-knife’
was discovered, a fisherman’s midden containing the remains of dugong and
turtle bones, or the pre-Islamic Nestorian church and monastery with its
intricate plaster embellishments, Sir Bani Yas’s past is gradually being
revealed in all its varied facets.

Throughout
history this fascinating island has offered challenges and opportunities
for those who chose to make it their home. For the people of the Bani Yas
tribal confederation, after whom the island is named, it offered a refuge
and staging post, with a safe anchorage, good fishing and the prized Gulf
pearling beds nearby. Today the island is part of an unusual environmental
and biological experiment. Initially Sheikh Zayed chose Sir Bani Yas as
a place to spend time with his family, following an age old bedouin tradition
that took advantage of the sea-breezes during the hot summer weather. A
love of wildlife and nature led Zayed to the idea of sharing his island
with endangered Arabian species such as sand gazelle and oryx. Little by
little, year by year, he developed the island into a special reserve where
wildlife holds pride of place and where visitors are able to gain a taste
of how it must have been thousands of years ago, when this landscape resembled
the savannahs of Africa and shared many species with its neighbouring continent.

There
are basically three kinds of ‘enclosure’ on the island, i.e. ones to keep
animals within a defined area, ones that provide living space for humans,
and finally the rest of the island in which a large number of animals roam
at will. Among the latter are the Arabian or mountain gazelle (Gazella
gazella cora), known to the locals as dhabi. It was this animal that gave
the emirate its name since the island on which the capital city now stands
is known as ‘possession of the gazelle’ or Abu Dhabi. Other gazelles include
the more numerous rheem or sand gazelle (Gazella subgutterosa marica),
dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas) and Grant’s gazelle (Gazella granti), an
East African species.

Arabian
oryx (Oryx leucoryx), rescued only a few decades ago from the brink of
extinction, are protected within their own compound which straddles a large
section of the sloping plain beneath Jebel Wahid. Here they are free to
wander over several square kilometres of natural landscape. The herd is
steadily increasing in size as a result of natural breeding within the
enclosure. This quietly undertaken effort, little known internationally,
is testimony to Sheikh Zayed’s deep seated concern for protection of Arabia’s
unique wildlife, so elegantly personified by the white oryx.

Also to be found wandering the open countryside, or held within other
large enclosures, on this exotic island reserve are blackbuck (Antilope
cervicapra), common eland (Taurotragus oryx), beisa oryx (Oryx gazella
beisa), scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx),
addax (Addax nasomaculatus), defassa waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defassa),
fallow deer (Dama dama), axis deer (Axis axis), hog deer (Cervus porcinus),
barbary sheep (Amnotragus lervia), and wild sheep or Asiatic mouflon (Ovis
ammon).

One experiment of wildlife management that visitors are not encouraged
to observe is a breeding pen for houbara (Chlamydotis undulata), members
of the bustard family. These birds need to be left strictly alone if they
are to to have any chance to breed successfully under wild conditions,
and a large area close to the coast has been set aside just for that purpose.
This island bird sanctuary is only part of the many efforts by Sheikh Zayed,
and his family to revive the population of the houbara in the wild. At
the National Avian Research Centre (NARC) at Sweihan on the mainland, a
highly scientific approach is taken to captive breeding, while NARC scientists
are also studying the migration and breeding patterns of the houbara.

Sir
Bani Yas’s other birds are also impressive inhabitants of this Arabian
ark. Whilst Arabia’s native sub-species of ostrich (Struthio camelus syriacus)
is sadly extinct, a captive population of closely related African ostrich
is now breeding on the island. Meanwhile, successful breeding of two other
flightless birds, the rhea (Rhea americana) and the emu (Dromaius naavaehollandiae)
is raising the question of what to do with the rapidly increasing flocks.
Another introduced bird, but one which now breeds in the wild on Sir Bani
Yas, is the Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptius), whose adults, with goslings
in tow, can be seen alongside the mangrove channel close to the main residential
area. Other introductions include the ground nesting grey francolin (Francolinus
pondicerianus), black francolin (Francolinus francolinus), see see (Ammoperdix
griseogularis) and chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar). Some other free-flying
species that have begun to breed include the African crowned crane (Balearica
regulorum), helmeted guineafowl (Numidia meleagris), and possibly also
the common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus).

The success of Sir Bani Yas as a nature reserve is further underlined
by the number of wild bird species that made it a temporary or permanent
home. Details of sightings of around 170 species are now kept in the files
of the Emirates Bird Records Committee. Among these, a popular favourite
is the greater flamingo (Phoenocopterus ruber), also known as the pink
flamingo, which can be seen in shallow intertidal lagoons, protected by
mangrove bushes, or at the artificial ‘bird lake’ where they can gather
in dense flocks of over a hundred individuals.

Sheikh
Zayed’s success in creating a wildlife reserve has been matched by the
results of field trials in which the island has been used as a testing
ground for agriculture. One of the first plants that he encouraged to grow
on the island was a species that has been much maligned elsewhere in the
world, and which has suffered greatly at the hands of developers, the humble
mangrove tree (Avicennia marina). For someone who knows the true value
of freshwater and the real dryness of the desert, a tree that grows in
sea-water creates a powerful impression. So powerful, in fact, that Sheikh
Zayed has had agricultural teams planting new stands of these salt-tolerant
bushes all along the coast of Abu Dhabi for the past 20 or so years, both
in areas where they were previously present and in new areas, often along
the edge of reclaimed land. Not only has this practice formed new stretches
of coastal greenery, but it has also created important habitats for many
birds, insects, fish and marine invertebrates. Such efforts are making
new nursery grounds for commercial fish, as well as aesthetically pleasing
coastal features.

But
the most visible achievements at Sir Bani Yas are on dry land where hundreds
of acres of old or reclaimed land have been planted with millions of trees
and shrubs. Whilst some of these are grown to provide shade and comfort
for wild animals, or simply to green the landscape, some are part of food
growing experiments that aim to test new ideas and to find species that
show the greatest tolerance for Abu Dhabi’s hot arid climate.