1 SightS
Fs ei h Kh Zayed
palace MuseuM Mu uSeM
(www.adach.ae; cnr al-ain & Zayed ibn Sultan Sts;
h8.30am-7.30pm Sat-Thu, 3-7.30pm Fri) Sheikh
Zayed’s residence from 1937 to 1966 has
been reinvented as the Sheikh Zayed Palace
Museum. It is a beautiful adobe-coloured
traditional building set around several
courtyards with beds of cacti, magnolia
trees and lofty palms. You can step inside
the majlis (meeting room) where the ruler
received visitors, see the curtained cano-
pied bed where his wife slept (ever hum-
ble, he apparently preferred to sleep on the
floor), and snap a photo of the Land Rover
he used to visit the desert Bedu. There is
also a gallery of portraits of the royal fam-
ily, a Quran room, a kitchen and a replica
of a grand court tent in the grounds, rep-
resenting the iconic link with Bedouin life.
a n Wildlife -lai parK Zoo
(www.awpr.ae; adult/child Dh15/5; h9am-8pm,
last admission 1hr before closing; c) Al-Ain is also
the home of the region’s largest and arguably
best zoo, with spacious enclosures inhabited
by grazing Arabian oryx, prancing gazelles,
lazy crocodiles and hundreds of other spe-
cies, including the rare white tiger. Tots will
enjoy the Elezba Petting Zoo, opened in 2011,
plus camel rides and various animal encoun-
ters, including giraffe feeding. A zoo shuttle
service takes visitors on a tour with hop-on
and hop-off options at the main exhibits.
This zoo gets the thumbs-up for its successful
conservation and breeding program.
c l MaraMe KeT Ca l MarkeMe T
(Mezyad rd, just before bawadi Mall; h7am-
sunset; c) Dusty, noisy, pungent and chaotic,
this famous camel market is a wonderful
immersion into the ancient Arabic culture
that’s so hard to find in the UAE today. All
sorts of camels are holed up in pens, from
babies that might grow up to be racers to
studs kept for breeding. The intense hag-
gling is fun to watch, but you’ll also quickly
realise that you’re as much an attraction to
the traders as they are to you (especially if
you’re a woman!). Some may try to make
you pay for a tour but you’re free to walk
around on your own. If you take photos of
the animals or their owners (always ask
first, of course) it’s nice to give a small tip.
Note that the trading takes place in the
morning but it’s usually possible to see
the corralled animals throughout the day.
Afterwards you can wander around the
adjacent covered (and a tad soulless) new
souq. The camel market is located approxi-
mately 35km south of the centre of Al-Ain,
on Mezyad Rd.a n -lai oasis Gar DenS
Linking the museums is the 3000-acre Al-
Ain Oasis. A marked route leads through
this atmospheric labyrinth of shaded culti-
vated plots irrigated by a traditional falaj
(underground system of tunnels). There are
nearly 150,000 date palms here, along with
mango, almond, banana and fig trees.a n -lai naTional MuseuM Mu uSeM
(www.aam.gov.ae; Zayed ibn Sultan St; admission
Dh3; h8.30am-7.30pm Sat-Thu, 3-7.30pm Fri) The
charmingly old-fashioned Al-Ain National
Museum is perfect for boning up on the an-
cient past of Al-Ain and surrounding region.
Highlights include archaeological displays
and artefacts from the tombs at nearby Hili
and Umm an-Nar, which date to the 3rd
millennium BC. The ethnography galleries
contain beautiful silver Bedouin jewellery,
traditional costumes and a harrowing dis-
play of primitive surgical instruments with
lots of sharp points and hooks – ouch!F -Jahili al forT h TiSoriC builDinG
(www.adach.ae; hazah St; h9am-5pm Sat, Sun
& Tue-Thu, 3-5pm Fri) In freshly restored
glory, Al-Jahili is one of the largest forts
in the UAE. Built in the 1890s as a royal
summer residence, it now houses a visitorJebel hafeeTDon’t leave Al-Ain without driving up
Jebel Hafeet� This majestic, jagged,
1240m limestone mountain rears out
of the plain south of Al-Ain� A new and
extremely curvy road snakes its way up
to the top, past evocatively eroded for-
mations and shrubs eking out a living
between the rocks� The area is home to
red foxes, feral cats and the rock hyrax,
which resembles a large rabbit�
The top of Jebel Hafeet is about
30km from central Al-Ain, including
the 12km stretch of mountain road�
From the town centre, head west on
Khalifa bin Zayed St towards the air-
port, then follow the brown signs�d
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