Swiss cheese building

0-14  tower - photo by Cheryl

Dubai’s architectural smorgasbord of skyscrapers may be dominated by the Burj Khalifa, the Princess Tower and the twisted Cayan Tower, but a comparatively short structure in Business Bay is also a remarkable feat of engineering.

The 22-storey 0-14 tower locally nicknamed the ‘Swiss cheese building’ makes its mark on the city with a holey, curvaceous, poured concrete exoskeleton that supports a main enclosure within.

Architects Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto of RUR Architecture, New York, created the 40 cms thick outer shell of white concrete perforated with 1,326 different sized holes - giving it the appearance of a chunk of Emmental cheese - in a startling departure from the standard glass-clad box high rise.

The unique design of this 105.7-metre commercial tower on the extension of Dubai Creek has won many awards for the architects, and of particular significance is that five years after its completion the tower has matured well, just like a good cheese.

Says Reiser, “As compared to a typical aluminium glass curtain-wall tower, which begins to deteriorate visually in the extreme climate of Dubai, the desert gives the shell a patina that only improves the appearance of the building as it ages.” 

When Business Bay was first opened to development the brief from Creekside Development Company was simple: make the buildings different.

“It was one of the few radical projects that was proposed towards the end of the economic boom and successfully completed [in 2010], despite the economic downturn,” says Resier, whose only problem was how to build a stunning structure that wasn’t going to be like any other. Inspired by Islamic architecture, he noticed the effect of the jali, the latticed screen that moderates the amount of sunlight entering a space. While decorative, says Reiser, it is also functional for it shades a building from the heat of the sun.

About one metre away from the exoskeleton is an inner glass wall enclosure following its contours. The two are linked by structural concrete tongues, so allowing column-free open spaces in the building’s interior, where there’s a central stair and elevator core.

“The one-metre space between the façade and the building's glass surface creates a chimney effect causing hot air to rise, creating an efficient passive cooling system, therefore reducing the energy consumption by approximately 30 per cent,” says Vasileios Vatistas, Property Manager, H&H Property Management.

The architects found this project unique in many respects, including having close relationships with developer H&H Investment and Development, Erga Progress Engineering Consultants (ERGA) and contractor DCC Construction. “This was not a typical corporate project, it was very personal, and the work among the team members was very direct and we were all basically on the same page,” he says.

Named 0-14 after the Business Bay site number, the lace-like tower perched on a two-storey podium officially opened to the public in 2011.

Jesse Reiser & Nanako Umemoto

“Undoubtedly the O-14 tower has made its impact in the Business Bay area as an iconic landmark,” says Vatistas, adding that features include a-state-of-the-art hydraulic car park system, around the clock security services and amenities such as a ground floor café, 10,000 square foot of external terrace space, prayer rooms and four basement levels that hold up to 416 parking spaces and storage areas.

Awards for 0-14 include an Architecture Honour Award in the American Institute of Architects New York 2013 Annual Design Awards, the Concrete Industry Board’s 2009 Award of Merit, the American Council of Engineering Companies’ 2009 Diamond Award, a silver Emporis Skyscraper Award in 2009, an ACEC National Honour Award for Excellence in Engineering Design in 2010, and it was a finalist in the Best Tall Building in the Middle East and Africa 2010 Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat awards programme.

This is an engineering masterpiece that matures with age.

Mountain biking in Zimbabwe

ZCC Victoria Falls region

Pumping Legs for Water Hwange

Unless you have nerves of steel, waiting for an elephant to move off a path it has followed for centuries (the same one that you are sharing perched on a bike) could be a little scary. But in a region where man is the intruder, meeting wildlife along the designated routes that course through game paths, single tracks, grasslands or sandy roads gets the adrenaline going just as much as the tricky terrain and stunning natural beauty.

In southern Africa three annual epic biking challenges beckon. 
One takes you through Zimbabwe’s biggest game reserve, another skirts the Victoria Falls waterfall, and there’s also an expedition that traverses three countries.

Tour de Tuli (TdT)

Any four-day five-night multi-stage challenge tackling 300 kilometres of rough terrain in a remote corner of Africa is going to spell adventure. It usually happens in July /August in the Tuli Block of private safari land connecting Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Supported by the governments of all three countries, this mountain bike safari takes in bush paths, sandstone cliffs, single track of scree, fever trees, thorny bushes, impromptu encounters with animals and makeshift river border crossings. There’s some serious single track riding topped only by an incredible spirit of comradery.

On July 28 in 2016, riders had to get to the Pont Drift border post between South Africa and Botswana. Armed with passports, they then rode 2.8kms from the border to the first night’s camp at the Limpopo Valley Airfield in Botswana.

The next day at sunrise riders set off towards the Majale River and where the vegetation thickens and where elephants could have been hiding in the shrubbery. Beyond Hammerkop Crossing are ancient elephant tracks carved into sandstone ridges. Brunch was served at Pride Rock on the banks of "the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River", as author Rudyard Kipling describes in his Just So Stories.

The course ploughed on through three kilometres of sand, acacia thickets, donkey tracks and subsistence farm lands. The 4th day of hard riding ended on 1 August at the baobab-sprinkled Mapungubwe National Park in South Africa, where there was a big party under the stars.

The TdT is a strenuous challenge requiring preparation, some technical skills and an ability to cope with the heat.

Never a dull moment in Africa

Routes and camps are different every year, but it usually amounts to 60 to 80 kilometres of cycling per day. The minimum sponsorship donation was US$1,610 per person (2016). Proceeds go to Children in the Wilderness (CITW), a Wilderness Safaris initiative set up to facilitate sustainable conservation through leadership development and education of rural children in Africa.

Participants (maximum 350) can hire mountain bikes from the organisers but it’s simple enough to box up your own bike and bring it as luggage.

Zambezi Cycle Challenge (ZCC)

The ZCC meanders around the Victoria Falls, the largest sheet of falling water in the world. It drops for 108 metres and stretches 1,708 metres across the Zambezi River, which forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.

 It’s not hard to understand why locals call this waterfall Mosi-oa-Tunya (the smoke that thunders), for at certain times of the year the water pounding onto the rocks below creates a spray that billows upwards just like smoke.

This three-day stage event starts on 8 July and runs through 150 kilometres of varied terrain that includes marshland, single track on cliff edges, teak forests and grasslands peppered with wildlife.

Victoria Falls residents Bruno De Leo and Brent Dacomb established the ride in 2015 to raise funds for CITW and the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust (VFWT), a local wildlife and environmental conservation organisation.

Each day riders start from and return to the Elephant Hills Hotel, which serves as a cycle village and central hub for logistics and briefings for each day’s ride.

Day one starts with a 0600 transfer to a spot 40kms south of Victoria Falls along the Bulawayo Road. Initially there is 75 kms of gravel road then the course bumps along old hunting tracks and elephant paths. Cross the Matetsi River first then double track appears for about 20 kms, after which riders go into single track through wildlife areas and community reserves until they hit tar and civilisation as we know it.

The following day cyclists are dropped off early on the road to Kazungula, from where they head into the marshy grasslands of Westwood Vlei, along often barely visible tracks. Last year De Leo came upon a hyaena den with two sets of pups here. “Totally relaxed, they played and suckled as we quietly enjoyed the sighting,” he said.

The route heads through the Matetsi private concession down to the Zambezi River, where it snakes alongside the water’s edge, sometimes looping off inland on a combination of gravel, single and double track all the way back to Elephant Hills Hotel.

Day three is about riding on the edge, a technically challenging 45 kilometres stretch of 90 percent single track leading along the spectacular Batoka Gorge.

Families and competitive cyclists can take part, but prior training of at least one off-road cycling event of 70kms and two long rides of more than five hours each is expected. Entry fee is US$325 per person, and further donations welcomed.

Pumping Legs for Water (PLFW)

This annual 100 kilometre mountain bike ride raises funds to help wildlife survive the dry season in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe’s largest game reserve.

TdT

Covering more than 14,000 square kilometres, the park relies heavily on pumped water that is extracted from underground sources and fed into surface pans. The money raised each year is administered by Wildlife Environment Zimbabwe (WEZ) and is used to develop water sources, buy fuel for the pumps and to maintain engines, boreholes and drinking troughs.

The PLFW ride takes place on July 22 and 23 around Main Camp, a self-catering accommodation hub within the park. It is aimed at all levels of riders (no children under 10 years old) although participants should have had some off-road training.

Cyclists are seeded according to their ability or in families wanting to ride together. Groups are escorted by a lead vehicle carrying an armed National Parks game scout, followed by a sweeper truck which stays with the group throughout. To ride in a game reserve means some serious rules have to be observed, but the advantages are huge - you can get up close and personal to nature in safety.

Winter falls in July, meaning warm clear skies in the day and extremely cold temperatures at night. So it will be a chilly start on day one, when riders head out of Main Camp to the Ngweshla picnic site 55kms away. Back in 2013, a group of participants lining up at the starting point were momentarily delayed by a pack of African Wild Dogs (also known as Painted Dogs) pursuing a young kudu through the area. It was a little reminder for riders to expect the unexpected.

The flat gravel roads hold a few surprises including soft sand, rocks and corrugations. Ngweshla picnic site is in one of Hwange’s best game viewing areas with a small pan that attracts anything from secretary birds to predators. Finishing in the afternoon, riders are returned to Hwange Main Camp for the night and a talk by a researcher from Hwange.

 The route for day two is yet to be confirmed but will be another 45 to 55 kilometres. Closing date for entries is 27 June 2016. A few bikes are available for hire via the Ride Organising Committee. Those wanting an extra challenge could make their own way to Hwange Main Camp from Bulawayo Airport (450kms away) or from Victoria Falls (175kms away), just ensure you get there in time for the event briefing on the night of July 21.

The basic entry fee is US$150, additional sponsorship is entirely up to the individual and there’s a prize for the person who raises the most. Last year 108 cyclists took part and raised US$49,280.

(First published in Cyclist Magazine Middle East June 2016)

Swimming with sharks

The tawny nurse shark stared passively at me through one pale blue eye. Her sensory barbels tickled the cage I was snorkeling in while she searched for food. Surmising that she wouldn’t find it apart from between those bars she moved off to swim with others like her - blacktip, grey reef, bamboo, horned, zebra, swell and wobbegong plus 69 other marine species at the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo bang in the middle of Dubai Mall.

We climbed backwards into the four metre deep aluminium cage, finding a resident bunch of barramundi had already taken up a prime safe position away from predators, for transparent acrylic covers the bars on the two four metre-long sides and at the bottom. The cage holds four people at one time plus instructor and offers a fish-eye view of the fascinating underwater world from a completely safe vantage point.

A sand tiger shark slipped silently past on my left while a blotched fantail stingray cruised, slowly flapping its circular-shaped disc beneath my feet. Two unicorn fish with extraordinarily horn-like appendages between their eyes negotiated their way through an open side to brush my ankles, completely ignoring my excited yelps, somewhat muffled through a snorkel .

“Last year 791 people were killed by defective toasters,” states my guide Tata Jemray as we come up for air. And your point is? The point is that we are not food for sharks. Far less people have been killed by sharks than by toasters, yet sharks carry this stigma.

Sharks provide a natural balance but as many as 80 per cent of some shark species have been killed off by man, which is why some species are now protected by law from fining (cutting off the fins for soup and other products) and fishing.

Like a goldfish I watch spectators walk through the tunnel below, snapping away at the shoals goggling at them through the viewing panel which, according to Gordon White, General Manager of Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo, holds the Guinness World Record for ‘the single largest acrylic panel’ at 32.88 metres long by 8.3 metres high.
As I climb out thinking how well worth the 40-minute, Dh290 experience is, a Napoleon Wrasse gives me a wink.

Flamingoes

Flamingoes at Ras Al Khor in Dubai 

Just off the Oud Metha Road around 9am and 4pm there is a rosy flush of excitement at Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, a tidal estuary with saline lagoons at one end of the Dubai Creek. It's when the supplementary feed truck arrives.

Swathes of pale pink, flashes of deeper pink and white wings flap expectantly around the food handler. Some ungainly greater flamingoes taxi in from further afield. Once the feed hits the water a scrum of pink stick legs, bent in the opposite direction to that of a knee joint, support feathers and long necks that are plunged into the water, the upside-down beaks filtering it furiously and making gentle sucking, chewing and splashing noises. At peak times there are more than 3,000 here.

Black winged stilt

Once replete, calm descends upon the sanctuary again. Although the greater flamingoes (not the brighter pink lesser flamingoes) are the draw cards, some quiet time spent in the basic wooden hide, accessible from the car park via a screened jetty walkway, reveals just how many resident and wintering birds love these nutrient-rich mudflats.

Thousands of birds from Africa, Asia and Europe have used this area to rest and refuel while on their annual migration on the East Asia/ East Africa flyway, long before the sanctuary was established in 1985. Numbers have increased since it was officially declared a protected area in 1998 and now maintained by Dubai Municipality, which cites housing 270 species. About half the flamingoes and birds remain here in the hot summer months.

Tracking wildlife

Gazelle and tracks in the sand

There’s a primeval thrill in following animal tracks in the sand. Maybe it’s because we are supposed to be hunters and gatherers.

Pursue a trail of fresh heart-shaped spoor and the chances of finding an Arabian gazelle grazing at the other end are fairly high. Breathe in the cool morning air that gently brushes the skin awake and listen to the mesmerising stillness. We have forgotten what silence is.

Duane Eksteen is among the field guides at Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa who lead visitors into the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (DDCR) on nature walks. It is astounding just how much life is out there in the golden dunes. Even ants have footprints. Adapting to its environment is the desert runner ant, which folds itself in such a way as to avoid touching the baking sand beneath.

Desert runner ant

Eksteen points out the tracks of an Arabian gazelle and a spear-horned oryx. He can tell if a francolin or a bustard crossed the road earlier but to see a ‘sand-fish’ in the open - he rates as virtually impossible.

 “It’s like a golden lizard and walks above ground but as soon as it feels threatened it dives into the sand,” he says.All you see is a flick of swirling grains of sand as it burrows away from danger.

Untidy scuffles around a burrow indicates Leptien’s spiny-tailed lizard is either dozing below or has left the building. The DDCR introduced 70 Arabian oryx around 2004 and now houses close on 500. The vulnerable Macqueen’s bustard was also introduced here.

As we do the ghaf tree walk Eksteen seems impressed. “When the Bedouins travelled through the desert they would stop here, pitch their tents and start digging because these amazing drought resistant trees push their roots straight down 30 metres or so, to reach the ground water.”

The shady ghaf forest provides shelter for all creature, from oryx to lesser jerboa, and branches make ideal perches for about 126 visiting and resident bird species.

Under a fire-bush we spot a lone female gazelle resting in the shade. It’s warming up now and time to head back to the resort. And by the end of the day our tracks too will have shifted in the sand.

 Original article:

https://gulfnews.com/gn-focus/special-reports/dubai-summer-surprises/the-big-five-wildlife-experiences-of-dubai-1.1191986

Metallica visit Abu Dhabi

Nervecell with Metallica

When heavies such as Metallica return to perform in Abu Dhabi, it comes as no surprise that fans in the Middle East are giddy with anticipation. As early as February some were even Facebook posting photographs of themselves gripping their recently bought tickets, according to reports heard on the grapevine. Of course they all know the heavy metal band’s music off-by-heart but to hear, feel and see it in the flesh will simply be awe inspiring.

Who knows, the audience reaction from this part of the world may well be why the group is returning to the capital on 19 April this year.
“It’s phenomenal they are returning,” says local musician from Point of View, Royden Mascarenhas. “I have to say I was pretty surprised to hear they were coming back so soon.” The band performed here at the Yas Arena in October 2011, again brought out by this year’s organisers Flash Entertainment.
“I think the reaction here in the Middle East is so completely different to that given out by USA audiences,” says Mascarenhas, who has been to Metallica stage shows in six different US towns including San Francisco and Detroit. 

Royden Mascarenhas holding a Metallica Beach Ball thrown to the audience during Metallica's  Death Magnetic' World Tour. During the song Seek and Destroy, he says “ these huge beach balls would fall from the roof of the arena and a lucky few got to keep the beach ball. I was at a Metallica show in Detroit (at Joe Louis Arena) on Jan 13th, 2009 where Lars (the drummer) kicked one of these balls from the stage and it landed right in my arms.’

“People in the States are used to seeing them, it’s almost like they are at their back door. Here in the UAE, it’s usually a once-in-a-life-time event, so the huge fan base (20,000 people at the last show here) gives out just a beautiful vibe,” he says. “That was one hell of a performance.”
Equally excited at the return of the metal legends to home ground is Barney Ribeiro from Nervecell, one of the first extreme metal bands to emerge from Dubai, who will this time round view the show mingling with the audience. In 2011 his local band was in the incredibly enviable position of being the opening act.
“It’s funny as we had already bought our tickets to see Metallica,” says guitarist Riberio. “Then 10 days later we got the call from Flash to open the show. It was an incredible experience - every rock band’s dream. Of course it seriously boosted our ratings here too.” Widely known among fans of metal for their first album Human Chaos, Nervecell celebrates more than 12 years together.
He believes Metallica doesn’t attract only serious musicians. “It is probably the only band in the entire world that can have a 12-year-old and a 58-year-old dancing to the same tune,” he says. Turn up the sound when Sandman and Nothing Else Matters spools through the iPhone and see who reacts. It’s across the age range, not too surprising for Metallica have been in circulation since the formation of the band in 1981, when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper.
Abu Dhabi-based event organising company Flash Entertainment, part of Abu Dhabi’s government-backed media free zone,Twofour54, has brought to the Middle East bands such as Coldplay and Madonna, so is adept to giving residents the performance of a lifetime.
John Lickrish, Managing Director, Flash Entertainment, says that deciding which artists to bring to Middle Eastern shores depends on how many tickets they can expect to sell and at what price.
“As long as the revenue is higher than the expense, then we will proceed with the show,’” he says on the thinkflash.ae website. “We can probably deliver the highest amount of revenue possible for the artists because we sell tickets through an automated ticketing system, while the partnerships that we have are probably better than anywhere else in the region.”
“People know what to expect and they know that they are not going to be ripped off for their ticket
price,” says Lickrish. In addition, because of the number of events the company does they can negotiate better rates with suppliers. “They work with us because they know they get paid on time, they know they get treated professionally, and they know that they get to work with the best in class. All of those things help us deliver the artist into the region,” he says.

Babbling to the Bishop of Botswana

Airline check-in counter clerks have so much power. They can, in one swift move, relegate you to a middle seat or one of those at the back of the economy section that doesn’t tilt. Equally they can elevate you to the dizzy height of First Class - not that that has ever happened to me despite being 6ft 2” tall and a blatantly obvious prime candidate for needing more leg space than others. But it never happens.

 I now thank the check-in clerk at the Kenya Airways desk at Harare International Airport who refused to grant me any extra leg room at all but inadvertently placed me in an aisle seat next to the Bishop of Botswana. While Blackadder’s “baby-eating Bishop of Bath & Wells” sprang instantly to mind (simply for its alliteration) when we introduced ourselves, of course there was no possible comparison to the genteel and Right Reverend who was returning to Gaborone after meetings in Zambia and Zimbabwe, the latter with the head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury himself.

Stick to the plan

I was on the first leg of a rather tortuous journey from Harare to Dubai, flying via Gaborone then Nairobi before getting anywhere near home. I’d considered changing the flight to a more direct one but feelings of impending doom should I meddle with fate urged me to stick to the original plan. Maybe every cloud does have a silver lining, for it turned out to be possibly the most interesting flight I’ve ever had.

 For starters, it wasn’t necessary to instantly resent the fellow passenger sitting in the middle of my three-seat row as one is apt to do according to a Lonely Planet survey of 5,800 flyers who, when questioned on what bugged them most about air travel, put invasion of personal space at the top of the list.

Sure, I would have resented him if the Right Reverend Trevor Mwamba had persistently kicked my shins, definitely had he stolen my headrest or entertainment console, and absolutely if he had with him a feral child. Top gripes in this survey included assaults on the olfactory system. Stinky feet were rated by respondents as nastier than baby vomit, while stale cigarettes, body odour, highly fragrant foods and perfumes could induce the gagging reflex.

Obviously he had none of the above. The dapper gentleman in an immaculate suit complete with pale pink handkerchief in his jacket pocket and what looked like a monocle tucked into it chatted as if we had known each other from way back. None of the polite but boring flight-companion-type conversation seemed necessary. We got straight down to the nitty gritty taboo subjects of religion, politics and although not quite sex per se, I learned about his advisory pre-marriage course offered to those about to embark on that perilous road.

Garnet ring

He was so unlike a stereotypical bishop – aloof, imperious and of condescending manner - that I started to wonder if indeed he was one. Reading my thoughts, he pointed out the regular regalia that identified a bishop whatever they were wearing at the time. And there they were; a big gold ring with a dark burgundy garnet on his right hand and a gold chain around his neck carrying a pectoral cross which was tucked into his left jacket pocket. It wasn’t a monocle after all.

He had been in Harare along with other Central African bishops to support Archbishop Dr Rowan Williams in handing over a dossier to President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, detailing alleged abuses suffered by members of the Anglican Church in the country over the last four years at the hands of an excommunicated Anglican Bishop Nolbert Kunonga and his followers.

It’s all so political of course, with Kunonga being supported by the government and having full use of the state machinery of police, war vets and Central Intelligence Operatives to persecute Anglican Church members. A chronicle of seized property including schools, clinics and orphanages and details of the harassment going on by this renegade bishop was contained in the dossier and the collective bishops asked Mr Mugabe to put an end to it. The Bishop of Botswana said the meetings were beneficial and he was hopeful that justice and good would prevail. (It didn’t.)

We discussed our current reading matter, both of us happened to be focused in the 1960s. His was a biography of President Kennedy by Richard Reeves while mine was Kathryn Stockett’s The Help. Naturally, we got onto Alexander McCall Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series of books, in which the bishop is mentioned. He also played a starring role – himself - in an episode of the BBC TV series of the same title.

Dancing Sermons

I bought his own book of wisdom Dancing Sermons when I returned home. This is a book that does not demand readers to be any particular religion, rather it discusses various scenarios typical of human nature, encourages people to be humble and most importantly, retain a sense of humour at all times.

After a standard airplane lunch washed down by a fine South African red, the plane touched down in Gaborone. I was sorry to say goodbye.

 The leg from Gaborone to Nairobi was empty, but on the flight from Nairobi to Dubai it was bursting with men swathed in white cloth destined for the Hajj. My designated aisle seat was already taken by a man – just like that – he wanted to be next to his friend. Well and good provided I could get an aisle seat too, which I did a few rows down. My new flight companion in his ihram seemed new to flying – he had his knees tucked into his chest and feet on the seat – so I showed him how to buckle up the seat belt.

I also offered him my carbohydrate heavy meal via gesticulations and gestures as we didn’t share a language; and thumbs up and smiles was all that was necessary.

 CMR

A version of this article appeared in the Gulf News opinion page at this link: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/not-all-flight-companions-are-boring-1.1069946

Gentlemen only

I wondered what these signs I found on the internet related to. They all tell a tale I’m sure, but none better than the “Gentlemen Only” sign that has recently been whitewashed from the wall of the Mutare Club in the leafy suburbs of Mutare in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe.

Previously known as the Umtali Club, this elegant building was designed by pioneer and architect James Cope-Christie in 1897, incidentally the same year my grandmother was born.

Apparently royalty, governors, politicians and even Cecil John Rhodes used to frequent this conservative upmarket establishment, and some stayed over for it offers accommodation too. It is still a well-attended refuge for gentlemen.
The sign at the Mutare Club has sadly been whitewashed over, but until quite recently only gentlemen were allowed in, but first were requested to put away their shorts, socks and sandals for the more suitable attire of long trousers and a collared shirt.

A particularly pleased customer
     

It's a shame this sign was removed, probably due to female protestations or because of political correctness, and I think that it should be reinstated for historical record and besides that, the club still doesn’t admit women to the members bar.

Critically endangered northern bald ibis

The Middle East’s rarest bird teeters on the brink of extinction.
The northern bald ibis had not been spotted in the wild in the Middle East for about 70 years until in 2002 researchers discovered seven birds nesting near the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria. Since then the Syrian Government’s Desert Commission and supporting conservationists have toiled to preserve this tiny population, but numbers are sadly down to three birds.

Conservationists fear Syria’s political unrest will have a detrimental effect on these sensitive birds, already traumatised by illegal hunting and other threats.

International agencies helping to save this colony from oblivion include the Turkish government, which donated six juvenile semi-captive birds to Syria, hoping their introduction will swell the precariously small wild population.

UK bird charity the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) devised a programme involving attaching satellite tracking devices to the backs of four of these birds. The data received revealed the migration route of the adults – namely Odeinat and Salama - crossing eight countries and spending the winter in the highlands of Ethiopia. However, where the other two tracked youngsters donated by Turkey go and whether they can survive still remains a mystery, according to Chris Bowden, RSPB international species recovery officer monitoring the birds.

Conservationists from RSPB place satellite tracking device on an ibis

Once widespread across North Africa and the Middle East, the only other nesting population of about 100 breeding pairs of Geronticus eremita lies in Morocco.

What a sorry state of affairs for a bird so respected by ancient Egyptians to be depicted in a hieroglyph!

Check out  http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/tracking/northernbaldibis/

A variation of my original story is at

https://gulfnews.com/life-style/general/on-track-to-save-the-ibis-1.965985