All Around The Watchtower

Hidden within Abu Dhabi’s glitz are historical gems that hark back to a desert life that has long been forgotten.

- Chaitali Patel

Under an overcast sky, and in the late evening light, the newly renovated and illuminated Qasr Al Hosn complex, in the glass-and-steel heart of Abu Dhabi,looked resplendent as we made our way into it. Inside, at the visitor centre, hung a black-and-white photograph from the 1970s, showing what the complex looked like then: A small fort with a watchtower, as tall as a three-storey building, standing in the midst of nothing but miles of barren land.

The oldest structure in the Abu Dhabi island, Qasr Al Hosn, has witnessed the evolution of the city, including the union of the many tribes that roamed the lands, and the very formation of the United Arab Emirates.

Legend has it that in 1761, Bedouin hunters followed a deer from Liwa, an oasis in the south of Abu Dhabi, to the coast in the north, and discovered shallow water beds under the sand. Word spread fast, and soon the area transformed into a small fishing village, the genesis of Abu Dhabi.

Stories aside, Bedouins were nomads who moved with the seasons. For centuries, people of the Bani Yas tribe left their ancestral home at Liwa, a collection of oases at the fringe of the Rub Al Khali desert or the ‘Empty Quarter’, looking for fresh water and pastures for their animals, and to trade their dates. Documents suggest that the tribe possibly also visited the Abu Dhabi island periodically to fish, dive for pearls, and collect salt.