Freetime and sports
Birdwatching
There are ideal conditions for an activity known as “birdwatching” in the UAE. Several migration runs cross in the area and millions of birds come every year. It is recommended to take at least little binoculars because hardly anybody resists to watch hundreds of various birds. Besides, in every emirate, you can order a trip to some interesting places for the purpose of watching fledgelings.
Desert safari
This sort of organised touristics is very popular and is offered by every local touristic agency. Mostly everything begins by collective departure form the hotels on off road cars which will take take you to the desert where the real adventure starts. The cars sink into the sand and during short breaks people fight the sand dunes on foot. But the main attraction in the desert is the view on the sunset.
After comes transport to the “Bedouin village” where meet the participants of many trips like that. Here everyone is having a good time under the beautiful sky smoking waterpipe watching belly dancers or having barbecue until midnight when it’s time to go back to the hotel. Another possibility is to experience a night in this camp.
Dune skiing
Desert safari offers also a local speciality – ride ski or snowboard down the sand dunes. This interesting activity is practised mostly on big sand dunes. All the service (loan and delivery of the equipment) is assured by the conrete touristic agency.
Riding camels
Camel rides – a very attractive activity for foreigners – could not lack in any Arab country. Often it is a part of the desert safari. Careful, not to be dissapointed! Usually it is just about climbing onto the camel, taking few pictures and a few meters walk. For a better experience, rather arrange a camel ride in your hotel or in some tourist agency specialising right on this activity.
Bathing and aquatic sports
The United Arab Emirates washed by the waters of the Persian gulf and the Gulf of Oman offer a great bathing possibility and local sand beaches are well known all over the world. Better hotels have their own beaches which are very well equiped. People who are not checked in the hotel can enter the beach for a fee. In most of the inshore cities there are also public beaches.
Most of them are free but on the other hand they are not as well equiped. Bathing “topless” is forbidden, in the Sharjah emirate women have to bathe clothed (not in swimsuit). The agencies offer many types of aquatic sports: diving, water ski, motorboat rides, snorchling, kitesurfing, windsurfing, parasailing etc.
Diving
The UAE don’t count among the most attractive localities for diving, but still they offer a lot. You can admire the beauty of undersea world – colorful tropical fish, sharks, corals or sea turtles as well. More attractive for this activity is the East coast.
Fishing
The best season for fishing is from September to April and not only during this period you can hire a boat and equipment to a journey to the sea from an agency. The waters of the Persian gulf are literally full of various kinds of fish.
Golf
This fastest developping sport in the country creates literally an artificial world inside of the UAE. In an area full of sand deserts green golf courses seems like a rarity. Those are the greenest places irrigated by many gallons of dearly desalted water.
Golf changed the landscape character and has attracted many tourists or professional players. In the last few decades big amounts of money come into the golf infrastructure, so the UAE dispose of more than ten big golf courses where thousands of foreigners or wealthier locals play. Also golf tournaments with the best golf players take place here.
Tennis
Tennis courts are to find mostly in four or five-star hotels. There are also many private tennis clubs. Most of the courts has artificial light, so that you can play there at night when the temperature reaches bearable values.
Other spors
Soccer is very popular in the UAE, but it is not on such level as for example in Europe. The national team for the first and also for the last time so far qualified to the world championship in 1990, The club Al Ain won the asian club championship (analogy to the European Champions league).
Also another sport coming from Great Britain is popular, cricket. Also sea sports are worth to mention – by the coast of the UAE many important powerboats’ races take place. Suprisingly ice hockey expanded in the UAE. The UAE is the first Arab country which is a member of the international hockey federation IIHF.