An unforgettable Sharjah desert safari

Published on: Sunday, June 04, 2023

By: Kan Yaw Chong

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The famous Fossil Rock in Sharjah Desert – a limestone outcrop.

FOR us raised in jungle clad Sabah or the nether gloom of rainforests, deserts are exotic.

If you have not seen a desert, you have not seen the Middle East, a geographical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsular (where UAS is), Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Iraq.

United Arab Emirates, at 34,000sq km, is largely sandy desert, where most cities are located along the Arabian coast, so it’s a good representation of the Middle East.

May 6, at about 12.15pm, just back for lunch at Novotel from Sharjah Expo Centre, Ahmed. M (a part of the manpower deployed by Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival 2023 to look after invited guests staying at the hotel), stopped me: “Hi Mr. Kan, be here at the lobby at 12.30pm, we are going to take you for a Desert Safari!”

Finding joy in thoughtful hosts

Wow, all that arranged without me ever asking – thoughtful, pro-active, characteristics of our well-read host who could even read our personal dream and interest, it seems.

To cut the story short, me and a two assembled journalists from Spain and Mexico were driven to Pullmon Hotel where a large group of animation experts etc invited to speak at the Festival, were gathered, obviously for the same adventure.

The Festival’s theme ‘Train your Brain‘ made me ‘think’ about this point – it’s hard to forget the joy of that once-in-a-lifetime experience that Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival organisers had fostered among journalists and invitees who were there to help foster the joy of reading, because all its activities and workshops were linked to promoting the love for reading.

I always enjoy travel writing, especially exciting new places I’ve never been, nor even dreamed of.

The desert is a perfect example.

Twist in destination

But, oh, oh, our bus didn’t drop us in sand dunes but at a hardware with no typical desert in sight – the Mleiha Archaeological Centre instead of sand dunes! This twist in destination seemed incongruent.

Bit by bit, the idea became clear, find joy first beyond a journey to a desert, find joy in a journey back in time – Train your Brain, in line with the Festival’s theme, to understand a key chapter in the history of ancient Sharjah.

The desert is physical.

The archaeological history of Sharjah is mind.

So, least expected was to be brought to a Mleiha Archaeological Centre built around a well preserved Bronze Age Umm Al Nar era tomb (see picture) dating back 3,200BC and also a very old-looking bark-splitting Ghaf tree.

Discovering a big story of human migration

Discovering this sophisticated centre for the first time in the middle of nowhere, it showcases relics excavated from the surrounding areas over the past 40 years.

What’s the big deal?

The big dig is it has unearthed “evidence” that modern humans were in Mlieha 130,000-120,000 years ago, pointing to the spread of humanity from Africa across the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf region to populate the world through Iran, India, Europe and our region Asia, including Southeast Asia for sure.

It reads far-fetched but you google and everywhere pretty well asserts all modern humans descended from one African population of homo sapiens that spread out, so that if one considers where even the natives of Borneo may have originally fanned out from long, long ago, consider Sharjah.

Not only that, Mleiha is one of only a few sites outside Africa that had unearthed relics from five distinct archaeological and human history timelines: (1) Old Sone Age (Palaeolithic era – 3.3mil years ago), (2) New Stone Age (Neolithic), (3) Bronze Age (3,300 -1200BC), (4) Iron Age and (5) late Pre-Islamic Age.

Strategic location & the Last Ice Age

Why this consistent human draw to Mlieha in Central Sharjah?

“It’s the strategic location Mlieha as the gateway from the continent of Africa to the rest of the world,” reasoned Ajmal Hasan, education manager of the centre.

Another push factor is a major climate event – the last Ice Age which caused migration across the Red Sea into the Arabian Gulf which was then blessed with nature’s bounties and abundance of water, Ajmal believed.

Mleiha Bronze Age Umm Al Nar era tomb adjacent the Mleiha Archaeological Centre built around 2300BC.

Realising I was in the nerve centre of this relic-rich of historical goldmine not just for Sharjah but indeed the world, I tried to look at every exhibit – vessels, cups, spouted jars, spouted bowls, jars, necklace, brooch, pendant, pots, alabaster, all of which to laymen who are ill-honed in archaeological education, seem like normal museum displays.

Two unforgettable exhibits

So I won’t bore readers getting into the relics further except two exhibits that seem so extraordinary and so unique to Sharjah:

(1) Five left-facing skeletons lying neatly close to each other and embracing each other with no sign of violence. So what’s the mystery behind it? It can’t be suicide because somebody must have buried them in that arrangement and I didn’t manage to get the answer onsite either.

(2) Attention grabbing exhibit of the funerary practice that involved burying the dead with their favourite camel and horse known as the ‘baliya’ practice which made me think it’s like doubling the tragedy so it’s an unforgettable sight!

Unforgetable exhibit – five skeletons facing same direction in embrace.

Funerary practice – favourite camel and horse buried alongside prominent dead.

The story is prominent people who died practised that rite.

Anyway, archaeological jargons are incomprehensible for most people so better say goodbye to the centre, however significant it is.

Thrilling sand suns bashing desert safari

Leaving serious archaeology behind, next, gun for the much expectant desert safari adventure.

For this rough wilderness stint, we were all shoved into something like eight turbo-charged 4WDs.

I was placed in the passenger seat, behind me were the Spanish and Mexican journalists.

In front of me was like a red planet Mars landscape of barren undulating sand dunes which actually looked beautiful.

So we were all set for a first taste of sand dunes bashing ride notoriously known as an adrenaline rushing experience as drivers scale over steep dune or side track them.

One can see the beauty of desert.

But in our case, considering the average age of the group and lady majority, the drivers took a temperate approach but still there were scary moments as the vehicle lurched deep towards one side and one wonders – over turning?

But no, adrenaline pumping alright but over all it was a thrill and I was especially thrilled when a herd of camels popped up unexpectedly on an uphill stretch.

As always in a desert safari, the driver would stop somewhere to let guests get out to feel the desert sand.

I did, the sand is so soft that each step you take, the foot sinks deep and you can’t get a proper walk actually.

Proof desert was once shallow sea

The most worthwhile stop was Fossil Rock, which is a limestone outcrop because of its geological meaning.

This is a natural formation amongst the sand dune in the desert of Sharjah which offers inescapable evidence that the desert was once a sea, howbeit shallow sea, because limestones come from coral reefs, around 70 million years ago?

Embedded seashells on Fossil Rock proves Sharjah Desert was once a sea.

A tour guide pointed out the evidence - Sea shells embedded on the outcrop.

Satisfied with the experience, we were driven to a lofty sand dune ridge to view the desert sunset, which is guaranteed because the desert hardly rain – only five times a year, I heard, so there’s no unexpected bad weather to foul up sunsets.

It wasn’t always a desert?

But central Sharjah may not always have been deserts.

According to Ajmal Hasan, by the end of the Bronze Age (1,200BC), the Arabian region started turning into a desert when the Indian Ocean Monsoon that used to cover all of Arabia but 3,000 years ago, those wind patterns began to change and ceased to bring rains to southeast Arabia so that’s the onset of desertification until now.

Our desert safari group comprising top animators and journalists watching desert sunset. At front closest to camera is our Nigerian guide, Abdullah Sabo.

Spectacular desert sunset.

Why’s that? No idea.

What followed a beautiful sunset was dinner time – Arabian dinner, followed by stargazing before being driven back to the hotel – the joy of which will be remembered permanently.