Dubai: In a country where fresh water or rain is scarce, any place where water collects is a gem.
The UAE, despite its arid environment, is blessed with a number of wadis, the Arabic word for a valley or streambed in northern Africa and southwest Asia that is usually dry except when it is the rainy season.
And like most cases around the world where water supports life, the wadis in the UAE are of no exception. This handful of freshwater catchments have been supporting delicate ecosystems that feature species endemic to the region such as insects, reptiles, and mammals, as well as flowering plants.
Some of these wadis also present evidence of historical and cultural links with the country’s earliest inhabitants, whether it be people or wildlife.
But as the country embraces constant change, rapid urbanisation and increasing land use, how is human encroachment affecting these sites with bursting ecosystems?
Gulf News trekked two of the country’s wadis, the very famous Wadi Wurayah, and a wadi in Hatta to see just how much effects we humans have had on these precious resources.
We saw sad stories of abuse of nature in one part, but on the other hand, we also saw the selfless efforts of conservationists as they struggled to bring these wadis back to what they were long before man discovered them.
The rawness of the wadis’ beauty shows just how much man can take and take and take from nature. In this case, they took more than nature could give.
But the good part is, little by little, man is learning that lesson and conservationists are slowly proving their point.