SET SAIL FROM DUBAI

Here are five highlights from Resorts World Cruises’ new sea voyage

- Eddino Abdul Hadi

DUBAI Mention United Arab Emirates, and the images that come to mind are usually of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, or the palm tree-shaped Palm Jumeirah islands.

But the country at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula is not just about modern skyscrapers and luxury resorts, as Resorts World Cruises' sea voyages from Dubai show.

On Nov 1, I join its 1,800-passenger cruise ship, Resorts World One, as it sails from the city's Port Rashid Cruise Terminal 2 on the inaugural two-night Sir Bani Yas Weekend Cruise.

Here are five highlights, including a trip to Sir Bani Yas, an island off Abu Dhabi with a stunning coastline, and its Arabian Wildlife Park, home to giraffes, zebras and more.

ARABIAN WILDLIFE PARK

If you choose to do only one activity when the Resorts World One cruise ship docks at Sir Bani Yas island, it has to be the nature reserve safari.

During the 75-minute ride, the expert driver-cum-guide takes me and other passengers close to the diverse, free-roaming wildlife

found throughout the Arabian Wildlife Park, which spans more than half of the 87 sq km island.

In the 1970s, the first president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan AI Nahyan, developed the island as a wildlife preserve.

Over the decades, various animals were brought to the park, which became a sanctuary for

many of Arabia's endangered wildlife species.

For example, the park houses one of the world's largest herds of the Arabian oryx, an antelope that became extinct in the wild in the early 1970s.

Today, the park is home to more than 17,000 free-roaming animals.

We encounter a tall, majestic giraffe feeding from a tree, and a zebra trotting around and helping itself to a stack of hay. From a distance, we see the endangered Arabian oryx and their distinctive, long horns, and curious gazelles that stare at our vehicle as we pass.