Family Trip to Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, UAE

January 2021

With the move to Abu Dhabi complete, quarantine over, and a few months to actually settle in to our new home, it was time to take advantage of a long weekend and get away. Except not get away, because COVID restricts our air travel, so we took a road trip. Al Ain is a city built around an oasis on the eastern border of the Abu Dhabi emirate – or about an hour and a half drive from our home in the city of Abu Dhabi.

Al Ain is home to, obviously, an oasis, as well as a large zoo, and the highest peak in Abu Dhabi emirate. We figured we’d set out for all three. The perfect trip to test the new Tamron 28-200mm lens I got for Christmas.

The oasis was beautiful, and the boys slept through most of it, so Rebecca and I got to enjoy it peacefully. The zoo was a hit, and I think the photos show just how capable this little lens is! We got some great pictures. The highlight of the whole trip was Max and Gabe playing “monkey-see-monkey-do” with the chimpanzees who came down from their tree house to investigate us. And Jebel Hafeet was like the other mountains here, a very large pile of rocks with little vegetation. But the drive was enjoyable, and there was ice cream at the top.