Desert Exploring and Mangroves Kayaking

We continued our adventures around Doha the first weekend in January by heading out of the city once again. This time we were on the search for desert rose rocks!

I mentioned to Jason ages ago that I wanted to go out and hunt for this unique rock and that I'd found an old blog saying it was in the Umm Bab area. Jason took he initiate and started researching on his own and found another blog that listed GPS coordinated in that same general area where you could find the rocks. The blog was over ten years old, but we packed up the car and figured if nothing else the girls would get some fresh air and play in the sand.

We walked around in the general area and then all of a sudden looks down and bam there they were! So many of them laying on the surface. Small and intricate ones, larger fragile pieces. They were everywhere!!

We also saw free- range camels roaming in the area. So cool! A Qatari woman stopped by the girls while they were having a snack and told them they were her camels and asked them if they liked them. :-)

We'd booked a guided kayaking tour and scheduled it back in December. However, when Evelyn hurt her finger we had to reschedule. Thankfully they understood and so on Saturday we headed to the other side of Qatar towards Purple Island. These mangroves (shrub or small tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water) are famous for having flamingos and being gorgeous. We didn't get to see any flamingos on our visit, but we all had an amazing time and I think we will be looking into renting kayaks to visit again!

 

The weather was gorgeous and we loved spending another weekend outdoors exploring a different (and green!) part of Qatar.