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The story of Al Jazirah Al Hamra could truly inspire a novel!

11th February 2022

A challenge to authors! The story of Al Jazirah Al Hamra could truly inspire a novel!

The story of Al Jazirah Al Hamra could truly inspire a novel!

We recently took a holiday to the tiny Emirate between Dubai and the Strait of Hormuz. Ask most people and they will never have heard of Ras Al Khaimah, a fairly barren desert and scrubby landscape, that nevertheless has its own attractions. Endless motorways criss cross the terrain in straight lines, disappearing into a wavering horizon as the sun drills down. The odd camel wanders in the distance, little hamlets cater to the local, sprouting housing developments and diggers dig deep into the sand to create more urban infrastructure.

On the coast lies Al Jazirah Al Hamra, just south of the actual city of Ras Al Khaimah, comprising an enclave of abandoned dwellings, left to go to rack and ruin. Today it is a dustbowl with some architectural details, crumbling edifices (including a mosque), which all hint at vibrant community life in the past. As a visitor, you edge your way past a couple of bollards and then wander and explore at will. You can sense the community that lived here among the starkly defined streets and passageways that must have witnessed the whole gamut of life. It feels like a tiny, bleached Pompeii, without the grandeur and colour. It is truly wonderful that one can mooch around the ruins without a care. Workers were out and about installing an art show, you stumbled across them having their lunch in one of the many covered houses – they seemed vaguely amused that Westerners wanted to fulfil their urbexing desires by poking around among the stones, rubble and the coral, which formed the fabric of the buildings. Some say the complex is haunted…..

How did this small town come to be abandoned? The story seems to be that in 1968 a dispute with Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi of Ras Al Khaimah resulted in the majority of the Zaab people living there to take up an offer from Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and move to Abu Dhabi. Anywhere between 2,500 – 4000 people simply abandoned their town and relocated.

This ghost town is thought to date back 7000 years and it is the last authentic fishing/pearling village in the UAE.

The story of Al Jazirah Al Hamra could truly inspire a novel!

Just imagine, as a novelist, the stories you could build around this fascinating place, bringing the people to life, their feuds and friendships and their ultimate abandonment of home. Any writer out there prepared to take up the challenge?

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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