An ark on Sir Bani Yas to protect the Arabian wild

Oryx, giraffes and cheetahs roam the nature reserve on Sir Bani Yas, where species once facing extinction in the region are making a comeback

Since animals were first brought to Sir Bani Yas — an ‘Arabian ark’ nature reserve off the coast of Abu Dhabi — more than four decades ago, their total population has soared to more than 13,000.

Twenty-five species of mammals and 170 types of birds are found in a nature reserve covering an area of 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres), including striped hyenas, caracals — also known as the desert lynx — and the Arabian tahr.

Some species are, or were, endangered in the region, or even extinct in the wild.

The reserve began as an initiative by the late Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, who started bringing animals to Sir Bani Yas in 1971. “He started developing the island into a nature reserve and the idea back then was to create an Arabian ark for his people,” said Marius Prinsloo, general manager of operations at the island.

“We have been successful,” he said of the conservation efforts.

Sir Bani Yas is now home to about 500 Arabian Oryx — one of the world’s largest herds.

Sameer Ghani, an independent conservation specialist, said the reserve’s Arabian Oryx breeding programme is showing “great results” after the animal “went extinct in the wild in the early 1970s”.

A type of antelope, they once roamed most of the Arabian Peninsula, but rampant hunting meant that for years they survived only in captivity. Conservationists believe the last remaining Arabian Oryx in the wild was shot and killed in the Omani desert in 1972.

Re-wilding

They were bred and reintroduced in the UAE and other countries, resulting in their removal in 2011 from the global list of endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which now classifies them as ‘vulnerable’.

Sand and mountain gazelles have also found a natural habitat on Sir Bani Yas. In 2008, four cheetahs were brought to the island to help maintain an ecological balance.

The cheetah — the world’s fastest land animal — was indigenous to the region but is believed to have become extinct in the wild in the Middle East in the early 1970s.

Bred or raised in captivity, the four cheetahs were taught to survive and hunt for themselves, feeding mainly on sand gazelles.

In 2010, the first cheetah cubs were born on the island.

While it has an airport and three luxury resorts, Sir Bani Yas has largely preserved its natural character, in stark contrast to the glitzy shopping malls and skyscrapers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. “Sir Bani Yas offers an amazing natural landscape of wadis (valleys) and salt stones and beaches,” said Mark Eletr, director of four resorts on the island run by Thai group Anantara. “People are experiencing this now and enjoying a very raw natural environment.”