Believe it or not – there are mountains in United Arab Emirates and I’ve got pictures to prove it.

Last weekend my Dad signed us up for a tour of the Hatta Mountains with Oasis Adventures. It was a five-hour tour complete with “Indian techno.” Our tour guide didn’t speak much English or didn’t want to. Instead he blasted the music and sang a long under his breath.

Hatta is a small town nestled at the foot of the Hajar Mountains, about 100 kilometres from Dubai. It’s home to the oldest fort in the emirate sort of like Fort Langley with less wood and more sand.

We drove past the village and after a brief detour for a flat tire; we arrived at the Hatta pools. Imagine deep strangely shaped canyons carved from floodwater. Along with a few Filipino families, we went for a swim. Dad didn’t like the little fish that swarmed and then nibbled on your toes. I kept the Chacos on…fish or no fish.

Although different, the mountains made me think of home.

We also stopped at the Hatta Heritage Village, which is 3,000 years old. The village included a fortress built by Sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum in 1896. It’s full of old weapons. You know swords, armour, and stuff. I don’t even think I could lift half of it let along kill someone with it. I’ll stick with ivory handguns.