Al Noor Island: Exotic jewel in Sharjah’s crown

Gulf News

Transcript

00:00My name is Ahmed Ramzan and I'm a photojournalist at Gulf News.

00:13And today I have come to Al Noor Island in Sharjah, one of the places, one of the destinations

00:17where I always wanted to be.

00:19So today I'm here and let us explore the place together.

00:49The whole theme was built around the butterfly house and we have butterflies from different

01:00countries.

01:26Hi, my name is Ajmal Hassan.

01:28I take care of the operations on Al Noor Island and right now we're going through the

01:34western side of the island.

01:36This, as you can see, is what we call the maze.

01:39It's a maze which takes you around a circle and you have to find your way out.

01:43Want to come in?

01:51Now you have to find yourself out, Ahmed.

01:53I don't want to cheat.

01:54Really?

01:58This tree is the silt floss tree.

02:01It belongs to the Malvasia family of trees.

02:03And the speciality about this tree, as you can see, is its rather obese trunk.

02:08Which really doesn't mean that the tree is fat.

02:11It just means that the tree has a lot of water stored inside its trunk.

02:14The central trunk is, as you can see, bulbous and holds a lot of water.

02:19And the topmost area of the tree is where the leaves grow.

02:29This is actually a Southeast Asian species of plant called Pitithyllium dolci.

02:41We have them in India, Sri Lanka, but it's native to the Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines.

02:48So it's edible. It's called the Manila tamarind in English.

02:51And what was the scientific name?

02:54It's a tough one.

02:56It's Pitithyllium dolci.

03:00So this thing is called Pitithyllium dolci.

03:08Good job.

03:10Although I believe even I'm saying it wrong.

03:12Because it's not a native species. It's an exotic species.

03:15But it is edible.

03:18But now this is completely dry, right?

03:20It's completely dry.

03:22This is white, right?

03:23This is white or reddish.

03:25And it's an edible species that birds mostly enjoy.

03:29But humans also can eat it in times of need.

03:32If ever you have nothing to eat, you can visit the island and eat it.

03:35This, of course, is the national tree of the UAE.

03:39Ghaf. Ghafa.

03:41Tarsapis cineraria.

03:43Or the ghaf tree.

03:44It's in seeding mode right now.

03:46So it's always nice to spread the seeds around.

03:50And eventually more ghafs should arise.

03:53So you'll see a lot of these trees out here.

03:55And wherever there's a red board that says, I was saved,

03:58means that this particular tree was already existing on the island

04:01prior to its development as Al Noor Island.

04:04So in 2015, when Al Noor Island was developed,

04:07already there were a lot of trees on this island.

04:10None of them were displaced or moved.

04:12We just built them into the landscape.

04:14Or rather, had them in the landscape by planting other trees around them.

04:18And of course, they're being taken care of right now.

04:22Ahmed, let me show you these two interesting rock formations

04:26that we have on the island.

04:28They've been specially imported from Brazil.

04:30And the whole reason why they've been placed here is strategic.

04:34They're supposed to promote positivity, good health, good spirits, etc.

04:40So they're kind of like the guardians of the island in many ways.

04:47So this is, you could call this our sunset point.

04:50It's also a platform overlooking the west.

04:52So the west is where the sun is.

04:53It's a great time for sunset very soon.

04:56Plus, it's a great location to see the different other attractions of Sharjah,

05:02such as the Sharjah Amphitheatre to our left.

05:05Further ahead, you have the large Flag Island.

05:07We have Al Muntaza Park out there.

05:09And different hotels and different buildings around the Gwahara Carnation.

05:21Alright, so here we have what you can look and describe as a tree trunk, right?

05:27That looks like a tree trunk to you.

05:29But what if I told you that was stone, but not a tree anymore?

05:32It is a stone now.

05:33It's a petrified tree, or a tree that has turned into,

05:37or the tree remains have been mineralized over millions of years.

05:42Now how many million?

05:44We're talking at least 35 to 36 million years old.

05:47So this tree is older than anything else on this island,

05:50at least all the way until Malaya.

05:53So this is what they call the stone tree, or in literature it's called a petrified tree,

06:02which is basically nothing but a large tree trunk that has turned into stone

06:06because the tree trunk has been replaced by minerals and stony material.

06:11This actually is from Indonesia.

06:13It weighs over 1.5 tons.

06:17This is literally a stone, no?

06:20Yeah.

06:25Yeah.

06:27Interesting you try that with your mobile phone.

06:30There's some information about it here.

06:33Okay, we have information.

06:35It's 2 meters high.

06:36They also call it a fossil tree because it is fossilized.

06:39But it's not an animal fossil, it's a tree fossil.

06:47Oh my God.

06:49Oh my God.

07:00It's coming, it's coming, it's coming.

07:17All right, Ahmed, this is another of the art installations we have on the island.

07:21This is a piece by David Herber, a British artist,

07:24whereby, as you can see, this spherical sphere is actually not glass.

07:31It's stainless steel.

07:32It's been polished for many weeks to get a glass-like, mirror-like appearance.

07:37And the hole in between, which almost makes it look like a donut,

07:41is there for you to understand how nature mixes with its surroundings,

07:45especially this structure, when viewed from the other side,

07:48this is the view you get, which you can see out here if you pan out,

07:51of the city amongst the foliage of trees.

07:54So the feeling of nature mixed with modernity is apparent in this art installation.

08:00This is the Literature Pavilion, which is built in honor of His Highness,

08:04ruler of Sharjah, Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi.

08:07And as you can see, it has cushions, it has a place to sit down and relax.

08:13There's a fountain running out there, there's birds chirping in the background,

08:17and there's a feeling of peace and tranquility.

08:20And this is one of the most beautiful places on the island.

08:24There's a fountain running out there, there's birds chirping in the background,

08:28and there's a feeling of being with yourself out here.

08:34And that's the main reason why this place has been called the Literature Pavilion.

08:39We expect people to come out here, take a book from the cafe or the butterfly house,

08:43sit down here, relax in tranquil surroundings, read the book,

08:46learn more about the place or whatever you'd like to learn about from the different books.

08:53Music

09:22This area is called the Cactus Garden of Al Noor Island.

09:25And as you can see, there's a range of cactuses here, or cacti here,

09:29which have been sourced from different parts of the world.

09:32The tall cactus that you see are called the barrel cactus.

09:36They're from Arizona in North America.

09:39And then you've got smaller pillow cactuses from other parts of the world as well.

09:43So the whole idea about this place is to bring out the different species of plants

09:49that exist besides plants and trees.

09:51Music

10:18Overall, Al Noor Island is a place, a getaway from the city,

10:21the hustle bustle of the city, from the concrete jungle.

10:24It's a tropical jungle in the middle of the city where families can enjoy themselves,

10:28immerse themselves, rejuvenate from their daily activities of life and business and work.

10:35Music

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