Isabelle in Doha
A French expatriate in Qatar from March 2008 to February 2009Archive for November, 2008
Zekreet, its fort, its eroded landscape
We headed to the west of Qatar, to the village of Zekreet.
The road is long until the first eroded landscapes. The ancient ground is at about ten meters above the actual ground.
The eroded landscape around Zekreet
After crossing the village, the Zekreet fort in ruins: there are only the outer walls and the towers tracks left, surrounded by sand mixed with a multitude of small shells.
Zekreet Fort
Following towards the north, the bay and the oil ans gas plants, active and inactive pipelines, a deserted military camp…
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See the Zekreet Fort’s file on the Heritage of Qatar website. Coordinates: 25°29’24.17″N 50°50’40.51″E.
Al Jemail, an old fishermen village
Continuing the road from the Zubarah fort, towards the north of Qatar, you can see some fishermen villages ruins, if you are lucky. These qatari heritage places are unfortunately not indicated from the road, as most of the other places. You have to take a sand and rocks trail before you arrive to the village’s entrance. Out of the three listed villages on the Heritage of Qatar website, we only found one, Al Jemail (26°5’40.96″N 51°9’14.27″E).
Entrance of the village
The village’s entrance is indicated by a sign that says that it is an heritage place – riddled with bullets, maybe some warmly national heritage supporters! The mosque stands in the middle of the houses, mostly in ruins, theirs walls, made of stone and shells, collapsed.
The village, and the sea
Alone, the mosque’s minaret resisted the departure of the inhabitants and time’s erosion…
The mosque’s minaret
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See the file of the villages on the Heritage of Qatar website.
The Zubarah Fort
The Zubarah Fort is located in the north west of Qatar, near the coast (25°58’37.07″N 51°2’43.52″E). It is among a long road, in the middle of the desert.
The entrance of the fort
Once the keys collected at the keeper’s – he’s living next to the fort – you enter the enclosure until the entrance door.
Inside the fort
Inside, you can climb one of the towers to see the surroundings and visit several rooms in which are presented the objects found during the archeological excavations in this area, in a somehow basic way – objects laid on a piece of paper or magazine, no indication of place, date or even of what is the object.
Some of the objects from archeological excavations
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See the fort’s file on the Heritage of Qatar website.
The Rumeilah family park: a green space in Doha!
There are very few places in Qatar and in its capital, that are fresh, shaded and green. Since the beginning of november, the weather is nice – between 22 and 28°C in average – with a light breeze. It is the ideal moment to go out for a picnic in the Rumeilah family park, located on the Corniche, facing the sea!
The view is beautiful, on the left, the modern area of West Bay with its towers and, on the right, the traditional fishing haven and its dhows*, the Islamic arts museum – open to the public from December the 1st – and the commercial haven.
There are lawns where strong to heat and lack of rain grass was sown, paths that wind around, playgrounds for children, blue water pools, little bridges and shelters.
On fridays, rest day, the park is full from the morning until sunset.
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* dhow: traditional boat of the Gulf, made of wood. Used for fishing and also to tours in the Doha bay.
The Doha Zoo
The Doha Zoo, located on the west of the city, on Al Furousiya Street, between Al Waab Street and Salwa Road (25°14’45.61″N 51°25’58.00″E) is one of the rare places with trees and shade. The entrance fee is cheap (5QR, about 1€ for adults and 2QR, about 0,40€ for children) and you can walk along the alleys and go and see the animals.
Zebras
Pink flamingoes
Oryx
It is a pity to see some of them a little cramped in their cage or have miserable looks like this half-starved wolf or the lions. You can see also oryx, these gazelles that you can see in the country.
Fuwairit, its deserted village, its beach and coast
We went back to the north of Qatar, looking for the Fuwairit beach (see our last adventures). The village is half deserted, except for a sheep breeding next to a big villa and it seems that the inhabitants have suddenly deserted, leaving their cars here and there, doors half open. At sunset, these turned yellow from the dust and sand houses and their rusty doors, the cars also, were very attractive subjects for photography (see also other pictures of the village).
Window in Fuwairit
Then we went and saw the beach, there was a little bit of wind at sunset. Many tents were installed facing the sea. It is visibly an entertainly place for the locals, to drive and skid in the small sand dunes. Apparently indifferent to the near landscape, several 4WD appeared, men sit on the windows and the open roof, all lights on and driving fast, later, men on quads enjoyed the place too.
On Fuwairit beach
At sunset, we drove along the coast, the ground was made mainly of rocks, certain passages were delicate for the CR-V (which is not really a big 4WD). At one moment, we were facing a wide land made of sand and rocks, turning our backs to the sea, in a rose oranged light.
Desert near Fuwairit
Adventures on the beach, on trails and in the dunes
Autumn is here, even in Doha. It is hot but windy, it is bearable, especially when you leave the city.
We head for the north, looking for a beach called Fuwairit, which we found too late, at night fall. The signposts are much irregular and we arrived on another beach, not so beautiful. Plus, we venture too much and directly strand the front of the CR-V! Fortunately, there are people and a Qatari man offers help, sits at the steering wheel and reverse the car driving it back from there in a few seconds, phew! Night is coming quickly and we end up in the heart of an deserted village, with wrecked cars (See here some pictures of the site taken by François).
The day after, head for the south of Doha, after Messaied and the industrial city. We arrive at the Sealine Beach Resort. We are at the end of the road, after that there are only sand trails, more or less packed down by the passing 4WD, quads and other local leisure engines… The resort is not worth the price: 100 Qatari Riyals (20 €) per adult and 25 QR (5 €) for the car – children under 12 pay 50 QR (10 €) . There are two swimming pools, a big lawn, rooms and bungalows on each side, a cafe restaurant outside and another inside the main building, but the beach is not very beautiful.
Sealine beach resort entrance
After a quick tour of the resort and on the beach, we leave for the trails with the CR-V, to try a bit its 4 wheel drive… It skids a little in the soft sand, it jumps on the bumps, we even try to drive up and down some dunes, a foretaste of a future desert drive…
Dune, route and desert
