Sir Bani Yas Island

Gulf News heads to Sir Bani Yas Island to experience nature tourism in the UAE.

Transcript

00:00A wildlife getaway is now close to home. Just an hour's flight on a seaplane or short boat

00:11ride will bring you to Sabanillas, the UAE's largest natural island.

00:27It boasts around 23 species including a variety of birds, chemsbok, scimitar-horned oryx and

00:33other antelopes.

00:34The Desert Islands is a nature-based development in the western region of Abu Dhabi. It's a

00:43place where you can find nature, find adventure and find yourself. We have one rule on Sabanillas

00:49Island and on Desert Islands and that is animals come first. So whenever you drive or walk

00:54or mountain bike or kayak anywhere, whenever there's an animal in front of you, you stop

00:58and you wait for that animal to move. That might be five seconds, that might be two minutes,

01:02that's up to the animal.

01:03The resort that we have at the moment is just 64 rooms so the impact on the environment

01:08is very, very, very small. And for every visitor that comes to the island we plant a certain

01:12number of mangroves, again to offset some of the environmental impact that humans have.

01:19In time we will have many more wind turbines, we'll have solar energy plants so that the

01:23entire island will be powered entirely by carbon neutral energy, future energy.

01:31Consider one of Sheikh Zayed's legacies, Sabanillas now offers tourists the chance to view nature

01:36on their doorstep.

01:37Emanuele Londe, Gulf News.