Sheikh Zayed died in 2004 and Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) then assumed responsibility for the area’s expansion, developing the former ruler’s inspiration into an ambitious $3 billion project to build a Maldives-like holiday destination across eight islands in the Arabian Gulf.
The Desert Islands project has Sir Bani Yas Island as its showcase for eco-tourism and sustainability. There are also seven further islands in the scheme and a gateway link via Marsa Jabel Dhanna, 250 kilometres from Abu Dhabi, where there will be a 150-room beachfront hotel and luxury marina. From here, visitors will be able to travel to the other islands by speedboat, water taxi or resort aircraft.
The Discovery Islands will have luxury resorts, over-water bungalows and luxury tented camps, while Dalma Island will showcase archaeological museums and traditional fishing villages. The entire venture is said to be generating around 6,500 jobs.
The first step of the Desert Islands project was the opening of the five-star Anantara Desert Islands Resort on Sir Bani Yas Island in October 2008. Given the place’s remote location and desert-dry conditions, the Thai luxury hospitality group has done a fine job of turning the resort into a luxury beachside playground.
The garden’s palm trees and manicured lawns are tended to by an army of gardeners who work around the clock, but it will surely be years before the foliage becomes as lush and green as it is naturally on a tropical island.
The resort’s interior design is exotic yet chic. Marble, brass, timber and leather are stylishly coordinated to invoke an ambience of grandeur that isn’t out of place in its desert surrounds. Splendid ornamental pots rub shoulders with gorgeous patterned cushions, sink-into-your-seat leather chairs and ornate, Arabian-style lanterns that hand from the ceiling in the main lobby.
The restaurant serves a competent menu of Thai and international cuisine, but future plans include the introduction of Arabian cuisine to the menu along with locally inspired cooking classes.
Surprisingly, the resort’s main building is a four-storey, block-like structure with uncharacteristically little architectural flair, especially when compared to other, more subtle Anantara resorts around the world.
‘The building was built as a guest house, several years ago, by Sheikh Zayed,’ says Anantara Resort’s general manager Andre Erasmus. ‘To honour the memory of the sheikh, we refurbished the existing building which provides most of the accommodation.’
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