Al Qudra lake | ashstylegourmet's Blog

Living in the UAE we residents are aware of the life during summer time, venturing outdoors is not a good idea with the scorching summer sun with very high temperatures and humidity levels. So, as the weather starts becoming more pleasant after the summer, the outdoor activities, picnics, long drives, camping activities take precedence. Dubai is one awesome place to live. New theme parks and lot other attractions get continuously added to your ‘to visit’ list, one always has a new location or place that is yet not visited. Recently a new theme park IMG world has opened and one more place has got added to our visit list. I first heard of the Al Qudra lakes a year back, almost all the radio stations and local newspapers were talking about this great camping or picnic location. With the daughter having already seen the place and me having seen a couple of her clicked pictures, this was one place that I had been longing to go.

This weekend the Friday went picnicking with friends in Zabeel park and on Saturday an impromptu plan (with my hubby)to take a picnic lunch to Al Qudra happened. Al Qudra lakes are man-made lakes in the middle of the Saih Al Salam desert. It is quiet far from my residence, but if you live in the UAE no distance is far, we enjoy our long drives. If the weather is cooler, then long drives are preferred to enjoy the desert, the lush greens around, the parks, the beaches, and the various places in other Emirates. For us Google maps were handy to reach the place, we follow Al Qudra road till the tar road ends at this roundabout (seen below) and we are at Al Qudra. The picture below was clicked by me seated in the car while we were returning back from the lakes. Al Qudra has a designated cycling track and we see lot of bikers along the way.

At this roundabout if we are coming straight we reach the Al Qudra Bike shop, and a coffee shop too is seen. After this point the tar road ends, the desert is visible all around with the sparse and dusty plantation. We have to take the mud road to reach the lakes. One needs to turn left from the bike shop and drive ahead into the desert, no sign boards were seen as to where the lakes were nor the lake was visible. The coffee shop guy guided us how to reach the lake-‘just follow the cars that are driving into the desert :).

NOTE: Except a few, all pictures are clicked by my husband on his DSLR Camera.

So we did follow a few cars that were ahead of us on the muddy stretch of the desert road that saw many cars driven over and became a distinctly defined road. Through bushes and zigzag drive one finally is brought in front of the vast stretch of water, few cars parked near lone trees that gave shade for families to picnic. We had reached our destination. I could see lot of new plantation, and am sure in coming years this place that looks quiet and deserted would be having a completely changed look. Living in the UAE one is used to the developments taking place around, the efforts of the government to make the place more greener. Lots of trees were seen planted, these would grow up to make it a more green surrounding.

Al Qudra Lake:

As we drove ahead from the start of the lake, we followed the lake and this is were it ended. All the trees lined far away, as seen above in the picture, gave a beautiful necklaced view.

The area is home to many species of birds, we too saw a couple of these beautiful winged beings. I had read an article of Gulf News that stated that it is home to 175 bird species, some of which are endangered and threatened species too.

This place is a perfect spot if one wishes to get lost in the wilderness, away from the hustle and bustle of the city life, the traffic woes. Sitting and eating our lunch by the lake side, it was most tranquil moment and the only noise heard was of the birds chirping away. Yes, one is sure disturbed by the dust whenever a vehicle passed by from near, people drove to search the perfect picnic spot for them.

Our reflections being captured in the shot.

I have always enjoyed being in nature, did go out for bird watching nature walks as a school girl and hence I loved being in this place. The best picture that I liked from the couple that I have clicked is the one below, the bird footprints on the sand. One gets to see human footprint everywhere, but this lakeside sand was full of bird foot marks, rare sight for this city dweller.

We were fortunate to click pictures of a few of the winged beings in the lake waters, most of them were busy catching fish, the lake seemed to be abundant in fishes.

I have used Google to help me identify the names of the birds, not sure if I am correct in identifying all correctly.

Great White Heron & Sandpiper at Al Qudra

After the lunch and strolling around to see the number of different types of birds that we could spot and click pictures, we finally left the place. It was around after 5 pm that we left and it was still light and the sun was yet to set. As there is no street light or electricity in the vicinity it is advisable to leave before it gets dark as there are high chances of getting lost. We were clueless on how to reach the tar road, and after some zigzag driving we spotted another lake that was full of swans and ducks and even black swans. It was indeed an oasis kinda feel, and this place sure was crowded with visitors. I wondered whether this was the actual lake or picnic destination or the one that we had spent time exploring. The lake was too crowded with these birds, I felt it was over crowded in fact! I clicked few pictures in my iPhone, sharing them below.

The setting sun rays giving a golden hue to the Al Qudra lake

As seen in above picture, it was almost dusk and in no time the sun would go done so we left this lake and again took the help of Google maps to reach to the tar road(roundabout picture that is seen at the start of this post). We drove a couple minutes and were soon at this roundabout and followed the road home, waddling 🙂 our way through the weekend traffic!

Point to Note: This is a good place if one is seeking the tranquil wilderness of the desert outdoors with the lake water near and birds chirping around. It is good for camping and having a barbecue meal, I think I did see a family doing barbecue as we were driving around the lakeside searching for a shaded place to park and eat lunch. The trees are the only source of shade here in the afternoon, not enough shade if many visitors are visiting. And if one is looking out for a more fun and comfortable picnic spot with electricity and concrete structures around to provide shelter, then this is not the place.

I am hopeful to make another trip soon to see if we are lucky and can spot some more birds at the lake site. Hope you find this post helpful if you are planning a visit to the lake :).

ashu