There is an old and dilapidated fort in Abool. I first visited the place in 1991. I had to take a 10-km track from Mahdah Wiliyat of Oman, bordering Buraimi.

A tiny hamlet of five houses stood at the foot of the hill before the fort. This was Abool.

The fort was at the end of the old village. It had several chambers and at two stairways to reach the roof and the watch tower.

I often take the road that connects the Dubai-Al Ain Road to the Academic City Road every time I go to the Dubai Municipality’s sewage treatment plant in Al Warsan.

Until last year, the road was a two-lane, two-way strip.

The road has now expanded to six lanes to accommodate the increasing number of tankers, lorries and heavy vehicles going to the Aweer Sewage Treatment Plant as well as residents visiting the used car showroom and vegetable market areas.

The UAE has a unique reptile called the dhabb.

It is a spiny-tailed agama that uses natural cooling and heating systems by using sunlight, shade, wind and burrows.

Reptiles and amphibians, fish and invertebrates cannot voluntarily control their body temperature the way birds and mammals do.

As I was driving from Bab Al Shams to work on a hot summer day, my companion suddenly asked me to stop the car. She had seen a snake.

I pulled over and chased the reptile as it tried to slither away.

As I cornered the snake, it raised its head and bent it towards me, moving sideways. The neck was inflated, making it look more like the hood of a cobra.

World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) was celebrated worldwide on May 10 and 11.

The event used to be a regional programme until last year when the United Nations Environment Programme recognised it as an international event.

The main aim of WMBD is to raise awareness of the need to protect all migratory birds and their habitats throughout the world.

I never expected to encounter an Arabian oryx within a few kilometres of the Bab Al Shams Hotel and Dubai International Endurance City.

One day, while coming down from a dune, I saw something huge appear by the side of a local under-tree called salam (Acacia ehrenberghiana).

Other than camels, we rarely see any large animals in the desert. I tried to drive as fast as possible to get a clear view of the animal through my Leica binoculars. And when I saw it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. An Arabian oryx right in front of me!

To live in the middle of a desert, many animals have evolved or developed systems of adaptation that allow them to live in such a hostile environment.

Among other adaptations, they have developed ways of movement through (and over) hot and soft as well as sinking sands.

Movement on or through sand is a difficult proposition. Having a light and streamlined body is an asset that helps animals to have easy movement.

There was a time when large numbers of Arabian gazelles roamed the deserts of the UAE which was part of the Great Arabian Desert called Rub Al Khali, or the Empty Quarter.

But with the arrival of men with rifles in four wheel drive vehicles, these animals, along with the Arabian Oryx, began being hunted down.

Fortunately, good sense prevailed, and in the early 1970s the countries of the great desert began diverting their attention to saving them.

I reached a spot in the middle of the desert in Dubai, some four kilometres away from human habitation. Spring was giving way to summer. At noon, the temperature was almost 40 degrees Celsius.

I was feeling uncomfortable in my full-sleeve shirt, but had to keep it on to avoid sunburn.

I was walking through Dubai Municipality’s Nature Reservation Area No 3, located on the west of the Al Faqa-Dubai-Al Ain border, seven km from the highway.

During a trip to Hatta dam, I came upon a huge Jayakar’s lizard lying on a rock. After lying motionless for about 10 minutes, it suddenly decided to run for its life.

On my return journey, after about four hours, I spotted the same lizard ten metres from the earlier spot.