Desert Island Wildlife Sanctuary

Sir Bani Yas Island is a 3 hour drive from Abu Dhabi. It has a very large wildlife sanctuary that includes gazelles, arabian oryxs, giraffes, cranes, cheetahs, many birds, and deer. 30 years ago, the desert island was planted with over 3 million plants. Being an island and a desert, it's amazing that 2 million to 2.5 million plants survived.

We took a game drive early Friday morning. Three cheetahs were recently introduced to help stabilize the gazelle population. We unfortunately were not able to see them during our game drive, but people later that afternoon did see them.

There is only one wonderful resort on the island called the Ananatara Desert Island Resort and Spa. Sara and I had a great time at the pool, excellent dinners, and the spa. Below are pictures from our wildlife game drive. We also had private cocktail and appetizers located in a Wadi inside the park.

View from Royal Family home within the park