Hatta Pools August 2012 - Riane's First Offroad Drive
August 22, 2012
Over the Eid holiday, we took the road to Hatta Pools via the mountainous Munay path from Sharjah-Kalba/ Maleha Road. It was a sweltering summer and because we have a three month old in tow (yes, we brought Riane along at 44 deg celsius! And it's her first long drive with offroading), stepping out of the car was minimized, and we did the route between 11:30am to 9pm, including lunch and dinner breaks:
Dubai - Maleha Road - Hatta Pools - Maleha Road - Kalba - Fujairah City Center- New Fujairah Road - Maleha Road - Dubai
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| This Little Princess is on a heat endurance training at 3.5 months old. It's her first trip to Oman's mountains at 44 deg Celsius. |
If I recall it well, this is our 4th time untrodding Hatta Pools, but this time, we had friends in a separate car along. The family is now not as excited it seems, that by the time we led the way to Dubai's Hatta Dam, all four of us just stayed in the car waiting while our friends take photos outside.
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| At Hatta Dam. My brother behind the camera and our friends in front. |
The offroad part after the UAE - Oman border towards the pools is now undergoing widening and improvement. My driver-Husband though is not happy of the development, hoping that the little roughness of the drive be left as it is as this keeps more of the excitement. There were also two really tall and huge water tanks on the other side of the water gorges, and it's quite a distracting backdrop for the scenic nature view.
I used to believe that the mountains are 'cooler' than the plains, hence I agreed on a drive to Hatta considering that we have a Little Princess along. But I have to let go of that impression now because back in Hatta Pools, it was burning hot. We felt guilty of bringing our Riane along but we were thankful she coped, so maybe she deserves the title Little Miss Adventurous Riane instead, starting her early training of braving the sandpit heat :)
Here was our mini road trip itinerary:
1) Left Deira (Dubai) heading to Emirates Road by 11:30am.
2) Took right to Maleha Road before the National Paints flyover/ roundabout.
3) Drove straight along Maleha Road (also Sharjah/ Kalba Road) until we reached the road signposted to Munay.
4) Drove right to Munay road, driving up along mountain sides until the Hatta - Oman Road.
5) At the exit to Hatta - Oman Road, we took a quick right until we reached the Hatta Fort roundabout (to the right is Hatta Fort Hotel and towards the left is Emirates Cooperative.
6) It's about past 2 pm by now, and we parked outside the Emirates Cooperative building and had a late lunch of chicken at Popeye's.
7) We drove towards Hatta Pools passing by Oman - UAE border.
8) From Hatta Pools, we dropped by Hatta Dam. We forego of passing by the heritage village and of going to Hatta Fort Hotel as day visitor because of time constraint. One of our mates did not bring his passport along (just his National ID used at the Hatta Pools border) in case we needed to drive past Hatta - Oman Road border so we wanted to leave before dusk through Munay where there are no lamp posts ( we were too used to the UAE lights lined roads :-) ) .
9) We exited Munay Road to Sharjah-Kalba Road towards Kalba
10) Drove towards Fujairah, and dropped by Fujairah City Center for a quick dinner.
11) Headed back to Dubai via the new Fujairah - Maleha road.
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| Hatta Pools August 2012 |
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| Hatta Pools August 2012 |
5 COMMENTS
its overwhelming to come to this place, its surreal
ReplyDeleteHello! Very interesting place!
ReplyDeleteNice place. I have been to hatta many times in search of this pool but unable to find it can you share the road map or the google map vertics so i can reach there
ReplyDeleteDid the border security ask for car insurance coverage for Oman? And UAE resident visa occupation is 'Sales Agent' or something like that (not in the list for visa on arrival), will that be an issue? Thanks very much.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteCould you please advise if we can take KIA optima to Hatta pools or else if 4x4 is required.