from September 2004
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World Legacy Awards
Photograph: Emirates, Courtesy of Al Maha Desert Resort
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Icon of Arab tradition, a hunting falcon stands ready for flight at Al Maha. |
Doing It Right
Our World Legacy Awards go to exemplary operations in Dubai, Australia, Barbados, and Indonesia.
 n June 8, 2004, at the National Geographic Society's Washington, DC, headquarters, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan presented the World Legacy Awards in sustainable tourism. A joint effort of National Geographic Traveler and Conservation International, the World Legacy program attracted almost one hundred applications this year, yielding three finalists in four categories. Our correspondents profile the four winners.
»Nature Travel Al Maha, Dubai, UAE
The doorway of my Bedouin tent frames a scene of primordial beauty. The tawny dunes of the Arabian Desert roll out nakedly to the horizon, dotted with firebush and shadowy acacia. At a nearby water hole a rare Arabian oryx leans over to drink, its horns gleaming like twin scimitars in the fierce sun. To be perfectly honest, though, this is no rugged Lawrence of Arabia-style accommodation. My Bedouin tent is actually a five- star suite stylishly decorated like a nomad's dwelling, the water hole is my private pool, and I sit with a flute of Taittinger in hand. Yet the antique Bedouin camel bags and prayer rugs on the walls, the oryx, and the desert beyond are all perfectly real.
This is Al Maha, a world-class nature preserve and resort in Dubai. Conceived six years ago by members of the ruling Al-Maktoum family and shepherded into being by South African ecologist and game park veteran Tony Williams, Al Maha and its surrounding Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve faced huge obstacles: The emirate's constitution had to be amended, the idea of "national park" had to be made into a legal entity, and a huge 4.8 percent of the emirate's total land mass had to be set aside for conservation. Williams pushed relentlessly for action.
Thank God he did, for this seems the most sumptuous place possible to experience the intense colors and pure silences of wilderness Arabia. From the resort, I venture among the dunes, where guides show me everything from gazelles to geckos. I try age-old Arab skills like falconry and archery, and learn Bedouin lore. I see the desert anew—not as a dead zone, but as a delicate ecosystem trembling with hidden life. Nor am I the only convert: Businessmen and conservationists from other Arab lands are studying Al Maha with an eye to similar projects.
And none too soon. Standing at the Al Maha fence line with conservation manager Greg Simkins, I see the grim alternative in a region where conservation is still in its infancy and the pace of modernization dizzying. Just across the line, ravenous camels have cropped all vegetation to the sand. The land is scarred by unregulated 4WD safaris.
Turning back into the reserve I see gazelles and oryx resting in the leafy shade of ghaf and Sodom apple plants, with the sand-colored awnings and cool greenery of Al Maha visible in the distance. Simkins is a hard-core conservationist, but looking at the luxury resort in the heart of his reserve, he cracks a rare smile. "That's what makes everything else possible." The resort was the raison d'être of the park and helps fund his conservation work. But perhaps, too, he's thinking of the gourmet dinner that awaits us.
—Tom Mueller
Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; +971 4303 4222.
»Heritage Tourism
Anangu Tours, Australia
Good morning," says Sammy Wilson. "I'm on my land, so I'm going to be speaking my language." Dark, with a gentle, middle-aged face, Wilson continues in the Yankunytjatjara tongue, his lighter-toned interpreter always at his side. Anangu is the only tour company at Uluru (Ayers Rock) that has Aborigine guides.
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