Mad Hatter in Hatta
- Kristy Lowe
- Feb 13, 2018
- 3 min read
This is an in-a-day adventure. We woke up early to start off our exploration to Hatta. Then accidentally fell back to sleep (I told you I'm one of those I'm-sleepy-and-love-my-bed kinda girls). After waking up naturally to Todd (my darling other half) prodding my face, we had some breakfast and decided to still head out despite the 12pm departure.
*Just a heads up, if you need the toilet try to go just before you leave. Unless you want to go to a hole in the floor, covered in water and smelling like something died*
Only a 2h car journey away we were looking forward to today’s adventure. We had the road trip playlist ready, a snack box for the road and our gym gear on ready for the hike up Hatta mountain and to see the dam. Make sure when calculating your route you take the E102 and not the E44 as that leads you through Oman. If you take the E44 you’ll find yourself in a pickle as you can’t actually pass through Oman unless you’re an Emirati so will have to turn around and go back down the E102. So rather just take my advice and take the E102 to begin with. The journeys a little boring but it is pretty, with drives through the desert and through the middle of mountains. When we reached our destination we got stuck in a bit of traffic. We’d decided to travel on UAE National Day as it meant Todd had an extra day off and it just so happened I was off too. But trust me, unless you want to be caught in traffic jams and queues to kayak don’t go on this day. I think every resident of Hatta and any nearby areas had come out to take a look at the dam.
As we reached the end of the traffic we pulled up at the side of a road and started our trek up the mountain. At this point I was wondering whether the locals were heading to the same point. We’d come totally prepared in our gym gear ready to get mountain sweaty. However the locals were in normal attire, jeans, shirts, dresses etc. surely we were going to different places? We climbed the hill and were ready to explore further up the mountains when we came to a stop and there was the dam. We were all headed the same place. Unfortunately if you like to hike maybe find another spot. In reality there weren’t treks and rocks, more like a walk up a steep hill and down another to get to the kayaks is all this part of the mountain has to offer. Although the views were breathtaking. So it was totally worth it.
We made our way down the other side of the hill and queued about half an hour to go kayaking. The price was 60 dirham a boat which is a little pricey but this does include life jacket rental and the rental price is unlimited!
We made our way around the lake, had a water fight and floated round in our boats while we played music and watched the sunset behind the mountains. It was so chilled and relaxing, and the natural mountainous silhouette was a nice change to Dubai’s skyline.
Afterwards many people head to the fort hotel or to a restaurant to eat but we’d pigged out on so many pringles and haribo on the road we were stuffed. We drove back at sundown and I slept for the whole ride back as I was so tired from all the strenuous activities (I’m not a gym bird, kayaking and a hill climb was enough for me). The perfect road buddy.
This was a nice day out, can be done easily during the day. It doesn’t require early morning wake ups and you’ll be back at a nice time for dinner so it’s perfect if you’re stuck in Dubai on a weekend and a little bored! If you have a research I’m sure you can find other routes with more of a climb to see views of the damn, but if you want to kayak just head to Hatta Dam Kayaks and enjoy!
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