Five Islands of the Arabian Peninsula

So why Arabian Peninsula and not the Middle East?

It's simple really, all of these islands are, of course, in the Middle East. However the M.E. encompasses more than the Arabian Peninsula as I'm sure you are aware. The Moyen-Orient, as the French call it, also includes Turkey, Iran, Egypt and a few other countries known as the Levant (see an earlier blog). So Arabian Peninsula it is.

Just a quick note before we start our journey, you may be wondering (or not, whatever!) why it has taken me so long to write another edition. Well, to put it simply, I've made a few quizzes of the Click variety, work has been hectic, and to be frank, I got a bit bored with writing blogs. I needed a short break to do something else. I've done that now, so here we are, I'm back, back in the New York groove as the 1975 hit by Hello goes. (Oh yeah, and I've got a new computer that replaces the old slow one I had before, and I had a birthday...60 years old/young now. The old man of JP !)

So, in the last blog we left Africa, well this island used to belong to Egypt until relatively recently. The ownership officially changed in 2017 when the agreement was ratified by the Egyptian president.

Being situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba this island, along with its sister, Sanafir, is of strategic importance. Egypt's blockade of the Straits of Tiran was one of the causes of the Six Day War with Israel in 1967. The island was briefly occupied by Israeli forces during the Suez Crisis and following the aforementioned Six Day War.

The island was used as a toll station in the 5th century and was occupied by the Byzantine Empire around this time, although there were reports of the inhabitants refusing to pay their taxes.

The island was then uninhabited for many years apart from military personnel of whichever nation was claiming sovereignty at the time.

The recent transfer to Saudi Arabia follows an agreement between the two countries for the construction of the Saudi-Egypt Causeway, linking the two nations. The original proposal was for plans to be finalized by 2013, however nothing has been decided at time of writing (2022).

The island can be visited by organised boat trips from Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsula. They are primarily for snorkel diving on the surrounding reefs but do spend around an hour on the island.

This YouTube video has some nice views of the island as well as the reefs.

With a population of around 2,200, Kamaran is Yemen's largest Red Sea island. It is in a strategic location at the southern end of the Red Sea.

The first record of occupation is by the Portuguese in 1513, although this was relatively short lived. It was then taken over by the Turks in the 19th century and used as a quarantine centre for pilgrims on their way to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage.

Following the British takeover, the islands infrastructure was greatly improved with better quarantine facilities, desalination plants, landing stage, and small railway and workshops. The islands population prospered immensely with the trade in quarantine services. The prosperity was cut short a few years later by the Saudi government taking more control over the Hajj pilgrimage and Kamaran being bypassed.

The island became part of South Yemen in 1967, seized by North Yemen in 1972, but became part of the unified Yemen in 1990.

The island can be visited from Yemen, however you would need to charter your own boat, or convince a local tradesman to take you, as no scheduled services exist.

This website has some limited photographs of the island.

Also known as Mazeira Island, this landform is situated to the east of Oman in the Arabian Sea. It is quite a large island for this series being 95km or 59 miles long from north to south.

There are many archaeological sites dotted around the island from the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages with some studies finding artifacts from around 6000BC. It was occupied by the Portuguese navy in the 15th century.

Part of the island was used as a repeater station for the BBC's World Service, replacing a similar facility in Somalia.

The island can be reached by ferry, see above photo, from the mainland town of Shannah, it sails six times daily. The only other way of getting to the island is by Omani military aircraft.

This travel website has an excellent report of a visit to the island.

This island is the largest of the UAE's natural islands and lies some 110 miles or 170 km to the southwest of the nation's capital, Abu Dhabi.

The name, Sir Bani Yas, originates from the tribe that first inhabited the Abu Dhabi area. The first settlers arrived many thousands of years ago, archaeological sites have been found all over the island. A trading post from the Bronze Age and an early Christian monastery dating back to 600AD are the most significant finds.

In 1971, the first president of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed, chose the island as a retreat. Subsequently in 1977, he passed a law banning all hunting on the island and declared the area a reserve for endangered species including the Arabian Oryx.

Cruise ships call at a lagoon where a hotel and restaurants have been created on one side of the island along with bars and recreation facilities.

The only way to visit the island, unfortunately, is by being a guest of the Desert Islands Resort. They operate a complimentary water taxi transfer from the mainland at Jebel Danna Port. Or air taxis can be chartered to take you to the island's landing strip.

Here is a website describing the island with several photos. 

Also known as Purple Island, Al Khor is located about 50km or 30 mile north of the capital, Doha. It gets its alternative name from the dye industry that was there in around 1400BC.

The earliest evidence of habitation dates back to 2000BC and the latest to about 1900AD. The island is currently uninhabited.

The island has mangroves, salt marshes, and sandy beaches.

The dye industry obtained colour from the Murex Snail and the island is the earliest known site of production of the dye. The dividers in this blog are the approximate colour of the dye.

The island can be visited by foot via a causeway from a car park on the mainland on the outskirts of Al Khor town.

This YouTube video shows a visit to the island with stunning scenery.

What can I say in this summary? Well, I'm back in the blogging community again. I have been a little lapse as I said in the introduction, but hopefully I will now continue, albeit at a slightly slower pace. I may still make a stand-alone blog next rather than an "Islands series" blog, watch this space.

The next stage in our island journey may be the Indian Sub-Continent and areas around this. This area encompasses Pakistan, India (obviously), Bangladesh, The Maldives and Sri Lanka. It also includes Nepal and Bhutan but seeing as they are landlocked, I probably won't include them, although I did include Botswana in one of the African blogs, so who knows.

For now, that's it, another islands blog finished, one step closer to the end of the series, still a long way to go yet though!

Until the next time, in the words of a 1930's English aristocrat, Toodlepip Old Bean !