In October, Annette landed a very interesting and light-duty pet sit in Abu Dhabi. This sit was with a small dog in a new area of the city. During the weekend, I popped down for a couple days to explore parts of Abu Dhabi that we have not visited prior.

The sit was in a new apartment complex along one of the many new waterways that are being formed or reformed to support the reinforcement of the many islands that comprise Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi City is on an island and is surrounded by many islands and mangrove swamps. These shift like the sands, but are being reinforced and lined with rock to create a stable system.

In the highlight map, you can see the many islands.

While Dubai is world famous for the rapid development over the last few decades, Abu Dhabi has quietly been developing quite rapidly as well. I am not sure if they are better organized or not, but they are often grander and more significant, even if they do not have the world’s tallest, or the world’s biggest anything.

As we drove around to see the new developments, we were impressed and amazed by the scale of some of the developments and the new water frontage.

Some of the new housing and communities are on a serious scale.

Some new stretches of beach reach all the way to Abu Dhabi Island itself.

As you drive along the road side of this stretch you will come to Mamsa, which is a lovely walk full of restaurants and IPA.

Continuing along the ocean front of Abu Dhabi, you will eventually come to the Heritage Village and a great viewing spot to see the skyline of Abu Dhabi.

If you turn the other way, you will get views out towards the harbour entrance or towards the Qasr Al Watan, the Presidential Palace.

Harbour Entrance

If you were to go inland, you would eventually drive by the Sheikh Sultan Mosque, which we did not visit at this time.

Circling around (look at the map), you would then come across the Jubail Island Mangrove Reserve.

There is an extensive walkway through the mangroves with a number of different viewing points. It is all quite interesting.

The development, however, is not far away and getting closer by the month.

Yet, the Mangroves still host a surprising variety of flora and fauna.

COming back to the pet sit, we were able to take the little dog on some excellent walks around the complex and along the canal. The weather is pretty much sunny every day.