Abu Dhabi Emirate hotels collection

Monks of the Church of the East were still living on Sir Bani Yas in the early days of Islam; excavation has given back their church, their cells and a plaster cross moulded by hand, a fingerprint pressed into its back. Arabian oryx, released on the island, now graze around the ruins. Far inland, Al Ain keeps its palm groves at the foot of Jebel Hafeet, whose flanks carry beehive tombs of dry stone raised in the Bronze Age. At Hili, a great round tomb shows men and oryx carved over its two entrances.