Wadi Asimah | |
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Coordinates: 25°25′17″N56°5′48″E / 25.42139°N 56.09667°E Coordinates: 25°25′17″N56°5′48″E / 25.42139°N 56.09667°E | |
Country | United Arab Emirates |
Emirate | Ras Al Khaimah |
Elevation | 401 m (1,318 ft) |
Wadi Asimah is a seasonal watercourse in the Hajar Mountains of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. It runs broadly westward from the village of Asimah to join the Wadi Fara, its confluence forming the locus between Wadi Fara and Wadi Sidr.
A popular location for day trippers and offroading, Wadi Asimah is notable for its lush greenery and agriculture. [1] It is the site of the 'Sultan's Gardens', an area of abundant oleander, grasses, palm groves and pools that often (and unusually) harbours water year-round, as well as providing a nesting ground for heron. [2] In winter, the mountainous wadi will receive heavy rainfall, leading to flash floods, and has even seen hail on occasion. [3]
The villages of Asimah and Mawrid and the course of the Wadi Asimah were traditionally settled by members of the Mazari tribe. [4]
Wadi Asimah is both a geologically and archaeologically rich area, with thick fluvial deposits and archaeological sites. [5] Wadi Asimah has lent its name to the 'Asimah Window', an area of isoclinally folded metacherts formed by metamorphic events. [6]
The archeology of the area of Wadi Asimah yields signs of human habitation from the Neolithic to the present. Prehistoric incised arrowheads have been found in the area, [7] which is also the site of an Umm Al Nar settlement, with finds including a bronze goblet, socketed spear-heads and dagger blades. A number of tombs from the late Umm Al Nar period were located at the edges of the wadi. [8] Iron Age finds have also been made in the wadi. [9]
Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The city of Ras Al Khaimah, sometimes simply abbreviated to RAK or RAK City, is the capital of the emirate and home to most of the emirate's residents. It is linked to the Islamic trading port of Julfar. Its name in English means "headland of the tent". The emirate borders Oman's exclave of Musandam, and occupies part of the same peninsula. It covers an area of 2,486 km2 (960 sq mi) and has 64 km (40 mi) of beach coastline. As of 2015, the emirate had a population of about 345,000.
Khatt is a mountainous village south-east of the city of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Famous for its hot springs, and latterly home to a spa hotel, there is evidence that Khatt has been a site of constant human settlement since the stone age – a record of over 5,000 years of occupation.
Ghayl is a town in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Situated in the foothills of the Hajar Mountains. It lies at the mouth of the Wadi Fara and was traditionally home to members of the Mazari tribe.
Shimal is the name of a settlement in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It is associated with the Shihuh tribe of the Northern UAE and Oman and with the foundation of the Islamic era port of Julfar, and was once the seat of the Ruler of Julfar. It is also the location of an important archaeological site dating back to the Umm Al Nar culture.
Wadi Fara is a seasonal watercourse, or wadi, in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It runs from the village of Ghayl to the confluence of the Wadi Asimah and Wadi Sidr.
Bithnah is a village in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), long occupying a strategic location in the Wadi Ham, which is the only natural link to the interior of the UAE and the Persian Gulf from the East Coast city, and Emirate of Fujairah.
The Wadi Suq culture defines human settlement in the United Arab Emirates and Oman in the period from 2,000 to 1,300 BCE. It takes its name from a wadi, or waterway, west of Sohar in Oman and follows on from the Umm al-Nar culture. Although archaeologists have traditionally tended to view the differences in human settlements and burials between the Umm Al Nar and Wadi Suq periods as the result of major external disruption, contemporary opinion has moved towards a gradual change in human society which is centred around more sophisticated approaches to animal husbandry as well as changes in the surrounding trade and social environments.
Wadi Bih, alternatively Wādī Al-Bayḥ, is a river/wadi that crosses the North-Western Hajar Mountains from the United Arab Emirates, and traversing Oman before returning to the UAE. From the West to the East, it originates in Ras Al Khaimah on the Gulf, before crossing the Omani exclave at the tip of the Musandam Peninsula, past the village of Zighi and into Fujairah at Dibba Al-Hisn, on the Gulf of Oman. The wadi is a popular location for birdwatchers.
Wadi Ham is a wadi, a seasonal watercourse, in the Hajar Mountains of Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.
Seih Al Harf is an archaeological site in Northern Ras Al Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), dating back to the Wadi Suq period.
The UAE's Iron Age I spanned 1,200–1,000 BCE; Iron Age II, 1,000–600 BCE and Iron Age III from 600–300 BCE. This was followed by the Hellenistic Mleiha era, from 300 BCE onwards through to the Islamic era which commenced with the culmination of the 7th century Ridda Wars.
Wadi Qor is a seasonal watercourse in the Hajar Mountains of Ras Al Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates. The wadi runs from the mountain village of Al Qor, near the Dubai exclave of Hatta, through the villages of Huwaylat, Rafaq and Al Nasla before crossing the Omani border and fanning out to the Batinah plain and the Gulf of Oman north of the Omani coastal village of Bu Baqarah.
Wadi Ejili is a wadi, or seasonal watercourse, in the Hajar Mountains of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It runs down from the confluence of the Wadi Shawka and Wadi Esfai to run into the Wadi Helo at the village of Fayyad, on the Sharjah-Kalba Highway (E102).
Wadi Tuwa is a wadi, a seasonal waterway, in the Hajar Mountains of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. The wadi is dammed by the Wadi Tuwa Dam.
Tayyibah is a large village in the Hajar Mountains of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. It is notable for its hiking trails, its Heritage Museum and the Al Qalaa Lodge, an Emirati heritage themed guest house.
Wadi Tayyibah is a seasonal watercourse, or wadi, in the Hajar Mountains of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. It runs from the village of Tayyibah to join the Seih Dibba or Dibba Plain, where it fans out into the plain. Prior to 1960, Wadi Tayyibah provided the main route from Masafi to Dibba and sections of tarmac are still visible, particularly on the lower reaches of the wadi as it approaches the village of Al Hala.
Wadi Sidr is a seasonal watercourse, or wadi, in the Hajar Mountains of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. It runs from the confluence of the Wadi Asimah with the Wadi Fara in a north-easterly direction to the village of Wadi Sidr, where it is dammed by the Wadi Sidr Dam, constructed in 2001.
Wadi Naqab is a seasonal watercourse, or wadi, in the Hajar Mountains of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.
The Habus are a tribe of Ras Al Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They mostly settled the area around Khatt, Fahlain and the Hajar Mountain wadis to the East of the city of Ras Al Khaimah.
Wadi Sal is a seasonal watercourse, or wadi, in the Hajar Mountains of Ras Al Khaimah, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).