THE ISLANDS - Sir Bani Yas

One of the largest of the UAE's offshore islands, Sir Bani Yas is in the west of the UAE, a few kilometres offshore. Oval-shaped, and roughly 11 kilometres north–south and 8.5 kilometres east–west, Sir Bani Yas is a diapiric salt dome, formed by the pushing up of Cambrian sediments, over 600 million years old, from deep beneath the earth's surface. The resulting hills reach to a height of around 130 metres, and are surrounded by later sediments, including extensive areas of Miocene rocks, around 5 to 8 million years old.

The island is first referred to in 1580, when a jeweller from Venice, Gasparo Balbi, mentioned it among a list of islands in the lower Arabian Gulf.

Evidence of occupation during the Late Stone Age, (c.7000 years ago), has been identified on the island, as well as a site from the Bronze Age (around 2000 BC) and the remains of Late Islamic fishing villages. The most important archaeological site on the island, however, is a pre-Islamic Nestorian Christian monastery, which dates to the fifth – sixth centuries AD, and is the only evidence yet discovered of the presence of Christianity in the UAE prior to the coming of Islam.

Since the late 1970s, the island has been managed as a wildlife park and nature reserve by UAE President HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. A particular focus has been on the conservation of the endangered animals of Arabia and, more broadly, of the arid zone stretching from Arabia to the Atlantic, and there are extensive collection of Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx), mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella), sand gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), and other species. A number of endangered bird species are also bred in captivity or in semi-natural surroundings, while over 1250 species of wild birds have been recorded on the island.

To provide a congenial habitat for the wildlife, over two million trees, mostly of species from arid zones, have been planted on the island, while there is also an extensive area set aside for the cultivation of citrus and other fruits.

Sir Bani Yas, which has been described as 'An Arabian Ark,' now houses one of the largest collections anywhere in the Middle East of endangered large herbivores. The collections are under the supervision of the Environment and Wildlife Management Department of the Private Department of President Sheikh Zayed, which is actively involved in exchange programmes with other collections around the world. It also manages a programme for the controlled re-introduction of some of the indigenous species into desert areas of the UAE.